"Francis the Ladybug"

The latest carving is "Francis the Ladybug" from the Disney movie "A Bugs Life." "Francis" is going home with a true Ladybug lover. I know he'll have a special place of honor and will never have to defend himself from any teasing from any bug again.
He started out in a solid piece of basswood.

I picked this picture because his arms and features were larger for carving ease.

I try to do a decent job of sketching the piece on the front and one side. Then, I use "guidelines" on the rear and side to identify my carving limits as I reduce the image throughout the "rough-out" stage.

Then its time to get carving.

I work to remove the excess wood for the entire image first.

I got to the above point and realized I didn't want to make his overall shape that much smaller. A few aspects of the carving made it difficult to keep his head and neck in prospective to his body if I reduced his body shell. So, I had to give thought to the base he was standing on.

I decided to remove the base and make his body shell more pronounced rather than "bury" it into the wood base.

I cut his base off. That meant I'd need to glue his feet to the base. I added a "tip" of a blade of grass.

Now, if I can pull this off, I can add more to the "story." (You'll understand when you see him completed.)

Now the finishing touches...

Then a face and antenna...

Now you have "Francis" standing on the tip of a blade of grass ready to fight for his honor!

"Jeremy's Muppet Trio"

Back in the carving seat again and here is the latest piece. Jeremy just happens to be a "Muppet Officiando Extraordinaire." His favorite three Muppets are; Kermit, Gonzo and Scooter. I toyed with a number of ways to put the three of them into one carving and decided to go with just their heads all in one carving.

These little guys were going to be easy.... right!

You'd think that carving out three little simplistic heads would be simple to carve out. Until I started.

After a carving session I soon realized that working them is such close proximity to each other would make for some frustrating carving.

At a certain point of defining each carving things did get better, I just had to work each head in small steps to help me keep their prospective in relation to one another.

It all worked out. I managed to refrain from carving one or the other's cheek, ear or eyes off and make some great progress.

After "cleaning"the piece from burrs and dust they're finally ready for some color and their final clear coat.

...and there you have it!