essentÊrving±34

E $ S E N T I A I. W O O D C A R V I N G T H C H X I Q U F. S

Fic; 12.16 The pine head (lefi) showing the deeply sunken eyes caused by too deep undercutting of the brows at an early stage. NotÄ™ also that the rnouth is too far back font the tip of the nose, the result ofa deep saw cut when roughing out.

FlG 12.15 The walnut head roughed out showing the planes of the face prepared after the oval top view had been shaped.

The Neck

Necks are not cylinders (see Figs 12.17, 12.18). There is a muscle that spreads from the base of the skuli down towards the shouldcrs (Fig 12.20). This makes a slope upwards from the collarboncs to the back and can causc saltccllars’ in front. While this rrapczius muscle slopes up towards the skuli there is a pair of ropc-likc musclcs (the sterno mastoids) that run around the windpipe down from the mastoid process, a lump of bonÄ™ just behind the car canal, to the top of the breastbone (the sternum) with smali attachments sideways to the collarbones. To sec how it is formed look at a thin woman turning her head. The napÄ™ of the neck is always higher than the junction of this muscle with the collarbonc (see Fig 12.17).

Bones and Muscles

Other points to remember arc that the arms and legs are neither cylindrical nor madÄ™ of rubber. The bones give them direction and they bend only at joints. This sense of the rigid undcrlying form is essential for treatment of the figurÄ™. Although muscles and flesh may make limbs appear curved or morÄ™ or less rounded, they comprise mixtures of hollows, swellings and flattened areas. As with all muscles, it is important that these fearures arc not carved separately. It may be possible to see where a muscle runs from one end to the other but usually they blend subtly with hollows and grooves or ridges, merging with neighbouring flesh in places. The same, of course, is true about any features. Language tends to make us think of ourselves as madÄ™ up islands of parts. whereas we arc covered by a unifying flesh and skin.

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