hillbilly.pdf

Hillbilly

Head

Carve a Caricature in

the Spirit of the Ozarks

By Harold Enlow

live in the part of the United States

where Li’l Abner and Daisy Mae

frolicked, where scruffy hillbillies

have long hair, wear stovepipe hats, eat

turnips and drink moonshine. Some even

struck it rich and moved on to Beverly

Hills, California. Well…that’s the way

theme parks, comic strips and television

have portrayed Ozark people.

Although I live in Dogpatch, Arkansas,

I don’t put on a funny hat or let my hair

grow long. But I do enjoy the humor that

surrounds the fictional characters of my

region. Throughout my carving career I

have made Ozark figures with sadly funny

faces, unkempt beards, intoxicated

expressions, big noses and rolling eyes. It’s

a style that people enjoy, and I sell many

of these carvings. This same hillbilly head

might be called a spirit face in another

part of the country, and the techniques for

making one are pretty much the same.

For this project, which uses a piece of

scrap basswood bandsawed approximately

it, I demonstrate how

a few simple cuts can create a hillbilly

head. The advantage of working on a

block of wood with corners is that it lends

itself to the shape of the face. Hold your

hands so that the tips of the fingers meet

in front of the nose and the palms rest on

the cheeks. The angle is roughly 90

degrees.

Only a few tools are needed.

A carving knife makes most of the cuts,

but two palm V tools help with defining

eyes and hair. A small palm gouge comes

in handy for creating the hollow cheeks of

this fellow.

Although the ears and mouth are left

off and the top of the head is not defined,

there is enough anatomy left to get a feel

for making the eyes and nose and for

texturing the beard. What I like to teach

my students is that the nose is not totally

“off ” the face when observed in profile.

Actually, one-third of the nose is behind

the upper lip. This is a detail that applies

equally well to human caricatures as to

realistic figures.

After some experience, you may

decide to put this head on a body. If you

do, be advised that hillbillies don’t wear

shoes, and that a stretched-out hat makes

a great strainer for getting the impurities

out of Ozark whiskey.

A popular carving instructor, author and the

first recipient of Wood Carving

Illustrated’s Woodcarver of the Year Award

in 2001, Harold Enlow lives in Dogpatch,

Arkansas.

& TOOLS

WOOD:

1 1 ⁄ 4 -in-thick by at least 1 1 ⁄ 4 -in.-wide

by 6-in.-long basswood

TOOLS:

Carving knife

1 ⁄ 8 -in.V tool

1 ⁄ 4 -in.V tool

1 ⁄ 4 -in. no. 9 gouge

Hillbilly Head

Wood Carving Illustrated • Summer 2003 25

Materials

Using a carving knife, start by rounding the front corner of the block

at the top.This is the forehead that is flat from top to bottom but

rounded from side to side.

About 3 ⁄ 4 in. down from the top of the block, cut in a notch that

defines both the eyebrow line and nose.

Cut another notch that locates the base of the nose.

Tw o stop cuts with the knife set off the width of the nose.

Carve away wood to create the sides of the nose.

Use scooping cuts to make the eye sockets.

26 Wood Carving Illustrated • Summer 2003

Hillbilly Head

STEP

One side of the nose and its corresponding eye socket are roughly

shaped.Take out some wood to provide guidelines for the width of

the face.

Round the eye sockets so they blend into the cuts made on the sides

of the head.This ensures that the eyes are not flat from side to side.

STEP

Make stop cuts on both sides of the nose for the smile line.

Round the dental mound into the stop cuts.

STEP

Check your progress. If you made the cuts correctly, one third of the

nose should be “inside” the face.

Use a 1 ⁄ 4 in. no. 9 gouge to make the hollows for the cheeks.

Hillbilly Head

Wood Carving Illustrated • Summer 2003 27

STEP

Draw some simple pencil lines to represent the flow of the beard.

Individual strands are not necessary at this stage.

To locate the hairline on the forehead, use a 1 ⁄ 4 in.V tool. Putting a

peak in the middle of the forehead allows the hair to flow naturally

down the sides of the head.

Use the knife to take away wood up to the V cut made in the

previous step.

Carve a few strands of the beard with the 1 ⁄ 4 in.V tool and carve a

notch where the mustache separates on the upper lip.

The major features of the head are blocked out.

After carving more strands of hair, make eyebrows with the 1 ⁄ 4 in.V

tool.

28 Wood Carving Illustrated • Summer 2003

Hillbilly Head

STEP

Round the end of the nose. Shaping it like a potato gives this hillbilly

some character.

After making a stop cut for the upper eyelid, use a 1 ⁄ 8 in.V tool to

give it definition.

Use the V tool in the previous step to shape the lower eyelid.

Overlap the bottom lid with the top lid by making a stop cut and

carving away wood up to it

Make a stop cut along the bottom of the upper lid and top of the

lower lid.

When hillbillies drink a lot, their eyes tend to roll up under the upper

lids. Pencil dots for pupils and irises tell the intoxicating story.

Hillbilly Head

Wood Carving Illustrated • Summer 2003 29

STEP

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