"Elphaba and the Tiara"

The idea for "Elphaba and the Tiara" is from Kari, the person who received my last carving, "Kari Minion, The Tour Guide." Chris, the gentleman receiving this piece is an avid follower of everything Broadway. "Wicked" just happens to be his most popular play. The "Tiara" connection is that Chris works with the Miss America Beauty pageant contestants. And that's how a witch from "Wicked" and a Tiara come together.

The piece seemed easy enough to carve. The band saw had a good workout with this piece and saved me lots of time with the hand piece.

 The piece started out with front and side view sketches. Once I realized how much wood I'd need to remove just to be able to actually begin the carving, I thought it best to give myself patterns to work from

(Front view)



(Side view)

 

I trimmed the front and side sketches and redrew the images to make it easier on the band saw and also give me templates for later.

Below, the sketches have been trimmed.

Now I can begin to "rough out" the piece.

Her arms out in front of her, hair to the left of her head and a fold "flying in the wind" at the left side of her dress.

 

Just keep thinking about what areas must be uncut to be sure to leave enough wood for protruding limbs, etc.

 

 I was surprised to see how fast the "roughing" stage was but as they say, "the devil is in the details."

 I spent more than a few hours just reducing the piece to reach the point where a piece begins to look

like the image you have in your mind.

 

 The broom worked up quickly. A 1/8" dowel, a piece of cut wood from the scrap pieces and a few minutes with a burr and I had the broom ready for "fitting" into the piece.

 

 I planned one of her hands to hold the broom and the other to hold the Tiara.

The broom is to be glued into a cut out in the dress and the left hand would be the second point to hold the broom. The broomstick is not glued in.

The Tiara was another issue. I hunted a few of the local arts and crafts stores to see if they had something I could use but all I found was a few rings. I ended up carving one but it took me two tries. The first one I cut it too thin. That's when I decided to not cut away the wood at the opening until I liked the way it was working out. This one worked!

 The Tiara is to set on her hand. I glued it in place so there'd be less chance of mishandling it.

She's ready for a work over with the fine burr.

 

 Time to seal and paint the piece.

 

"Elphaba" in all her "Wickedness."

Elphaba is 7 3/4" tall (including the base) and stands on a 5" base.

"Elphaba and the Tiara" is my 57th piece since I began carving caricatures in 2009.

"Kari Minion, The Tour Guide"

There was no problem trying to figure out the subject to carve for my next "One of a Kind Wood Carving" recipient.  Kari's work cubicle is literally covered with Minions! One of them is nearly three feet tall and takes up an entire corner of her desk. The fun carving this piece was to personalize the little Minion to make it look like Kari.
Three things stand out; her hair, eye glasses and smile. To top off "Kari's" "look-a-like" Minion she is attired in the Disney Tour Guide Costume. This is how "Kari Minion, The Tour Guide" worked up.....

 

Beginning with a 3"x4"x7" piece of tupelo "Kari" is sketched on the front and outline drawings on the sides and rear of the piece.

 You'd think a round carving will be easy. However, I soon realized I wouldn't be rough trimming like I have on past carvings. I decided to cut the sketch off the front and redraw the image on the blank.

 

Drawing the image again was well worth it. Actually, very little wood is to be cut away. The problem to contend with is that nearly all of the features need to remain untouched as you cut "deeper" into the piece. I decided not to use the band saw for any of this piece.

 

A rough burr made short work of the "roughing" stage.

 I also made it a point to "relief" cut the areas that will need to protrude before I can really begin to round the piece off.

 Once all of the features were well identified I could make some progress.

 

 I made great progress! Until the rough burr I was using dug into the wood, pulled the piece out of my hand and caught my thumb! I know, don't say it, where are my gloves!

After swallowing my pride, covering the cut with a band aid and putting the right hand glove on, I was back in business!

(And no, I did not get any blood on the piece!)

 I held off carving her arms as long as I could. They needed to be very thin.

 At last, "Kari" is ready for fine burr finishing.

Her name tag will be added last.

 

After hours of smoothing the piece, the base is centered on the piece,

 

drilled and counter-sunk for the screws that will hold her to the base. Then, the base is stained and the piece is sealed with natural wood stain.

 

At last, "Kari Minion, The Tour Guide" is ready for paint.

  

Mind you, no self-respecting Minion would go without his/her dungarees. I decided to provide "Kari" with dungarees under her skirt!

 

Costume check;

White blouse - yep

Plaid vest - yep

Blue skirt - yep

Black shoes - yep

Name tag - yep

Minion dungarees - approved!

 

OK "Kari Minion" you're ready to go "on stage!"

 

Perfect! The "Disney look!"