Whittling Little Folk

First, I want to tackle the elephant in the room - you do NOT need a band saw to carve these Little Folk. You can carve any of them from a block using either a rough out knife or coping saw to rough out. There is no doubt a band saw makes things faster - but since when is whittling supposed to be fast? Now for the book - absolutely delightful! There are many very flexible caricatures that can be easily modified and adapted. The carving itself is flat plane, which lends itself well to beginner carvers. I would highly recommend this book to any first time or experienced carver. Harley Refsal captures the spirit of what carving for pleasure should in my mind be - strop a knife, get a block of wood and make some hours disappear. These are low pressure carvings with simplified features and lots of options, and each tell a story. I enjoyed it very much.

This is a solid book I would recommend to anyone. Very good forward which explains the history of this style of carving in Norway. There are two step by step projects to get you going. The photography through out the book is very good. After that there are number of variations you can experiment with. These include 3-4 Santas which I will definitely be carving. If you want to carve these bigger simply enlarge the very good patterns. Also you do not need a bandsaw as someone suggested in an another review. Simply saw out the patterns by hand with a coping saw!....Jack Hackle

When I decided to pick up a caricature carving book I was thrilled by the number of titles available. This excitement soon turned to confusion as I tried to decide which books to add to my cart and which to leave on the Amazon.com shelf. A large part of the problem was that most of the books within the field of caricature carving seemed to carry a 4 or 5 star rating which prevented me from enacting Rule No.1 of my AMAZON RULE OF PURCHASE which states: All things being equal, purchase the item with the highest customer rating. So with Rule No.1 nullified I found myself pouring over page after page of LOOK INSIDE in an attempt to narrow down my choices. Unfortunately, that wasn't much help either so I took the unprecedented step of just buying EVERY caricature carving book I could find that carried a 4 or 5 star rating. 10 days and 5 titles later I'm ready to offer you my feedback, based on a few essential criteria, in the hopes that I'll save you both the time and the money I invested. Before I get to my ratings, let me run down the criteria I used to make my assessments: 1) Larger books with good color photography trump smaller books with black & white photography. 2) Books that provide step-by-step instruction are far superior than photographic collections of finished projects. 3) Books that provide complete instruction, from wood selection to painting techniques, are better than books offering scant or piecemeal instruction. 4) Because individual carvers have unique styles, I found that the books that contained the works of numerous carvers were far more instructional than those containing the works of just one carver. With those 4 criteria in mind, my top 5 caricature carving books are: 1) Caricature Carving: Expert Techniques & 30 All-Time Favorite Projects ~ The BEST of the bunch. Wonderful photographs outlining the steps required to carve the works of numerous different artists. Instructions run from wood selection all the way to paint selection with everything in between including which tools to use. If you have a limited budget or you just want to own one caricature carving book then this is the one for you. 5 STARS 2) Caricature Carvers Showcase ~ Unlike the #1 selection, this title does not include ANY step-by-step instructions on carving so if you're looking for an instructional guide, this ISN'T it. So why do I rate it so highly? Because it contains wonderful color photographs of the work of 50 different carvers; and while it's a mystery HOW the artists created their work, you can't help but shake your head in amazement at the finished product. 4½ STARS 3) Whittling Little Folk ~ A smaller text from a single artist. The work here is more basic than most caricature carvers which is not necessarily a bad thing for the novice carvers among us. Good step-by-step color photography. The first 2 projects are covered in detail from wood selection to final coat of paint. The final 15 or so projects are described in far less detail. Not as flashy as some of the other titles, but this one grew on me and was actually the source book for my very first carving effort. 4 STARS 4) Caricature Carving from Head to Toe ~ A decent text that contains thorough, step-by-step instructions and photographs leading to the creation of an elderly gentleman caricature. The book contains the work of just one artist so you'll garner just one perspective which I think is a major limitation. A gallery of the artists work rounds out the text, and while his work is of the highest quality it's not as varied as that of a collection of artists. 3 STARS 5) Carving the Little Guys ~ With just 31 pages this is more of a pamphlet than a book. The text is again the work of a single artist who's forte appears to be basic caricatures. Good photographs instruct the reader in the production of just a single, basic caricature (is the black thing under his nose a tongue or a moustache?). Overall, rather disappointing. 2 STARS So there you have it, I hope that saves you the time I lost as well as the money I spent!

A wonderful collection of Scandinavian characters to carve, written in a clear manor with clear instructions and step by step pictorial to get you started. I would recommend this for intermediate to advanced carvers.

This little paperback will get you started on the Scandinavian flat plan carving tradition.

It is very well done. It has photographs and instructions of step by step, and very good patterns I am just learning how to carve and this book was a good choice..

This is a nice book. It has good instructions and cute designs.

So so~