Finished “Mr. Myrtle”

After a bit more refining (and discovering the usefulness of rubbing alcohol) I finally got it to the point where I liked the look.  The eyes leave quite a bit to be desired, but from a moderate distance…not too shabby for scrap wood carved with an X-Acto knife.

photos taken with a cell phone. sorry.

I wasnt aiming for realism, but didnt want cartoony either. So it ended up slightly minimalist.

Just another closeup

Okay, storytime:

I’ve been working on this on and off for most of the semester, usually during a study break.  Over the course of about 3 months, the wood picked up a fair bit of whatever microscopic crud was in-between the ridges of my fingerprints.  So, I rubbed it with alcohol, then with a bit of laundry detergent, and scrubbed it clean.  Looked like new, smelled dryer fresh.

You cant see it very well, but yeah, thats my trademark

Figured it out!

It’s been bugging me forever that no one can name this tree species that’s all over campus.  After wandering through Wikipedia, I came across this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagerstroemia.  It fits, with its tendency to inosculate to itself, its prevalence in the region, and the appearance of its bark after a quick Google Search.

Anyhoo, that’s what I’m carving into a wood spirit face.  Here is my current progress:

Start of a wood spirit face

I finished de-barking this chunk of a yet-unknown type of wood, and I decided to ad-lib a wood spirit face.  I’m about 30% done with the nose.  Oh, and I’m doing it all with an X-Acto knife.

A bit of nose

I’ll try recessing the face a bit before making eyes.