Carving Classic Female Faces in Wood: A How-To Reference for Carvers and Sculptors [Paperback]

Ian Norbury (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2004

From renowned woodcarver and instructor Ian Norbury, this handy reference covers the basics of bandsaw woodcarving and demonstrates how to accurately portray the female face in wood. One step-by-step project guides carvers through the details of female-face woodcarving, including outlining the project, modeling the figure in clay, and carving, polishing, and mounting the final piece. A comprehensive reference section with full-color photographs of women's faces provides anatomical explanations and working drawings to help the carver better understand the female anatomy. An additional appendix features design notes on women of varying ethnic backgrounds and ages.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ian Norbury is one of Great Britain's leading woodcarvers. He is the author of Carving Facial Expressions, Fundamentals of Figure Carving, and Relief Woodcarving and Lettering and is a frequent contributor to Carving. He judges and demonstrates at major woodworking exhibitions and teaches woodcarving in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and throughout Europe.

Product Details

• Paperback: 81 pages
• Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565232208
• ISBN-13: 978-1565232204
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #864,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Norbury has a carving system that actually works!, January 3, 2005

By 

Lynette A. Alexander (Hayward, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Carving Classic Female Faces in Wood: A How-To Reference for Carvers and Sculptors (Paperback)

My husband is a woodcarver and is pretty darn good at it, with one exception --the human face. He carved a clown, an indian and a man's head, a Roman and Don Quixote and he was not satisified with any of those faces. Then he got his hands on this book. When he finished the bust of the female, I was startled to see just how good a carving it was. Now I'm afraid that he's decided that his problem was that he had not carved women's heads. He's looking around for a camera and a model to photograph from a multitude of angles, just like Norbury showed him how to do in this book. I'm just not too sure how far I want him to go with this new found talent....

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top of the line book, October 31, 2004

By 

Wood carver/reviewer (Texas, the United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carving Classic Female Faces in Wood: A How-To Reference for Carvers and Sculptors (Paperback)

This is the best book I've seen about carving the female bust. Norbury works from photographs and goes into great detail about using photos to make the pattern for the bust of choice.

His directions are excellent, especially for determining the removal of unwanted stock. This could almost be considered a textbook.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Teaching Tutorial, May 30, 2009

By 

Thmas E. Reec "Thomas E Reed" (Brownsburg, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Carving Classic Female Faces in Wood: A How-To Reference for Carvers and Sculptors (Paperback)

Ian Norbury has provided the key essentials of three dimensional bandsaw guide (front, rear, and both sides) and 78 progressive picture of the carving on the women on the cover as it is developed. What really helps is the series of 14 photographs of the model's face - focusing on the same dimensions, then looking up and down the face, and giving pictures of the lips, nose, eyes, and ears. I was pleased that Norbury used standard gouges, rotary tools, and files that we all have in our shop. I expect that this text will come down in my shop, and accompany me as I attempt to duplicate Norbury's techniques.