How to Carve Characters in Wood

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Andy the Woodcarver

Autobiography.
Wood Carving, an Old Art

A very brief, but complete history of woodcarving, complete with a reference to Grinling Gibbons. There's only one serious omission, which I discuss in Nit Picks.
"How Does One Start?"

Patience, practice, and carving beeswax. Make a mistake? Melt it down and carve it again.
You Can't Whittle and Carve Without Tools

A short list of basic tools, and a description on making a carving knife from a straight razor.
You'll Need a Place to Whittle

Small workshop area... not very big.
Patience Plus Practice

A good re-occurring theme.
Don't Ruin a Good Job With Poor Colors

Wow! Ground oil colors mixed with white gas.
The Wood Chain

If you read between the lines, it sounds like he put this in only because he had so many requests for how to do it.
You'll Need Pattern

...and instructions on using them.
A Roundup

"Don't get the idea or impression that you will be a crackerjack wood carver simply by reading this book."... again, practice and patience.
Nit Picks:


Unfortunately, most of the photography is terrible. The photographer, Bettie Theil, was the wife of the collaborator, Al Paul Theil, and a member of the New York Institute of Photography. Initially, I was going to give her the benefit of the doubt and blame it on the publisher and the technology of the day. Then I noticed there are a couple photographs credited to others, and they were consistently better. A good example of this is the portrait shot by Martha Burleigh (opposite the title page above). A wonderful set of contemporary color shots of Anderson's works can be found in the Harley Refsal article I cited above.