How to Carve a Nose in Wood

Carving wooden noses helps make your wooden sculpture faces look more realistic.

Wood carvers can create a wide range of sculptures including wooden faces. Carving a nose in wood is essential to creating a good carved face. However, it can be difficult to understand how to approach carving a face and a nose. There are a few basic steps you must follow while you are carving your nose. A basic understanding of wood gouges and how to carve wood is essential before you begin carving your nose.

Things You'll Need

• Wood gouges
• Sandpaper

Instructions

1. Draw your face on a piece of wood using a pencil. Start with the outline of the face, including the top of the head and the chin. Draw the eyes one third of the way down with the nose top between the eyes and ending two thirds of the way down the face. Etch the mouth in the center of the remaining one third.

2. Extend the lines of your drawing from the front of the wood to the side. Draw these back at least 1 inch. Vary the depth of the facial features along their length to make them look more realistic. For example, make the lines deeper at the bottom of the nose so that it will be longer when you carve it out.

3. Carve away the wood around the top of the head using a wide angle gouge. Remove the wood above the eyes as far back as you extended the eye lines. Gouge the wood out around the eyes to the same depth to carve them out.

4. Begin removing wood around your nose with a narrower gouge. Carve along the side lines of the top of the nose very carefully. Use downward strokes to remove the wood evenly.

5. Carve around the wider sides of the nose using a narrower gouge to avoid taking away too much wood. Remove the wood underneath the sides and the bottom of the nose. Keep using downward strokes to avoid carving into your nose or face.

6. Deepen your cuts along the length of the nose, with the shallowest cuts being at the top of the nose. Gradually deepen your cuts along the length of your nose to create a protruding nose.

7. Shave away wood along the nose tip by angling your gouge downward. Create the angle of the tip of a nose in this method. Angle the rest of the nose downward in this way to create a top line that runs down the center of your nose and angles down.

8. Continue removing wood from your nose until you are satisfied with how it looks. Carve away the mouth underneath the nose to finish your face. Sand the face with sandpaper to remove splinters and smooth out rough spots.

References

• Whittlins N Wood: Carving Faces