This blog follows on from my earlier blog about researching ideas for this carving. This is not a technical guide to carving a lioness head, but illustrates the processes used in carving, finishing and mounting a woodcarving.
I developed my ideas by drawing and modelling in plastercine, after which I thought about the wood for carving. For this project I had a lovely piece of hawthorn cut from a tree as it was felled. It had been seasoning in my shed in a black bin bag for a couple of years. It was not fully seasoned, but with care it could be carved. It has a lovely grain and the right proportions for the piece, but is very hard wood for carving. I decided to do the piece in lime. If it goes well I may do a larger version in the hawthorn at a later date.
The lime is about 220x150x150mm. It has an even grain and is much softer and easier to carve. I started by marking the midline that will indicate the middle of the nose, head and neck onto the block. This is always marked and remarked onto a piece as I work to help to ensure symmetry.
The outline of the head was drawn onto the block from the side showing the neck, the slope of the head, nose and the positions of the nose and mouth. As the plastercine model was nearly the same size as the lime block the drawing could be done without scaling.
The lioness head was then roughly shaped creating the line of the top of the head, nose and neck, being careful not to remove too much wood so that the ears could be formed later.
Then the sides of the head were roughed out, the widest points are the ears, so again wood was left here. The nose is narrower than the main part of the head, where the widest area is the just behind the jaw, where the jaw strength comes from the large bone and muscle structure. The head narrows to the mouth and nose. The neck was then shaped and rounded under the ears so that the ears stood out.
The ears were then roughly shaped, on a lion they are rounded like a teddy bear. I chose to carve them partly flattened back to help to create expression. The sides of the nose were then carved.
The eyes of a predator are always on the front of the face as the have binocular vision. They are positioned so that the lioness can see down either side of the nose and give a clear field of vision. The eye positions were carved so that the eye brows appear and are symmetrical on each side of the head. At this stage I looked at the piece from close ups, from a distance, and from a variety of positions to ensure symmetry.
From the brow the head slopes back between the ears to the neck, and from the brows the face drops away infant of each ear. The eyes have a very large socket in lions. the eyeball within the socket can now be carved, Eye lids and details can be added later.
The nose and muzzle was then formed. Then time to get brave and take a saw to remove the wood from the open mouth, whist leaving wood for the large canines and teeth. This was achieved with a combination of sawing and carving. Wood for the teeth was left with lots of extra bulk to protect them from breakage.
I then took a couple of days out to look at the piece and check the eye position, symmetry. I added details to the eyes, and created the muscles in the cheeks joining different areas of the face and increasing structural integrity.
The surface was smoothed using chisels and scrapers, so that I could start to see the impact of the forms on light and shade. Fine adjustments are then easier to make. The whisker ridges were then carved and the curvature of the nose shaped, and nostrils created. The teeth and inside of the mouth were then refined.
The lower canines fit into the gap between the upper canines and upper incisors. The lower canines are closer together and smaller than the upper canines. My study of the lion skulls really helped me to understand how all of this fits together.
I then started to hollow out the neck and the inside of the head so that the hollow area joins with the back of the mouth. Enough wood has to be left in the skull to support the pole that the lioness head will be mounted on. I then hollowed out the area behind the eyes and pierced the eyes through removing most of the iris and leaving the pupil attached by a bit of wood to the top of the eye.
The final smoothing proceed was done using chisels and scrapers both inside and outside the piece, smoothing until a great finish is achieved. A tool finish can be used, but I felt a smooth finish was more cat like.
The lioness was finished with two coats of Danish oil and two coats of wax, buffed up to a satin sheen. It was mounted on a plinth made of American black walnut using a piece of 22mm Dowling also finished with Danish oil and wax.
