Characters from the USA

Ozzy

 These 2 characters I took from the publication Caricature Carving-The Best of Woodcarving Illustrated, a magazine from the USA.

Wood:  Lime (Tilia x europea)

Height: 10 cms

Finish: Linseed oil and beeswax polish.

Ozzy is an Ozark mountain man, whilst Olgit can be found anywhere in central USA.

Olgit

Both figures were carved quite rapidly with a knife, following very clear illustrations.

Finishing procedure
Creating shadow with deep cuts seems to work well. I never use abrasives to clean up, it destroys detail and ruins the surface burnish achieved by a sharp blade! The procedure I follow for finishing is:
1. Scrub the carving with warm soapy water to remove hand grease.
2. Wipe off water with a paper tissue, then before drying occurs liberally coat the wood with a mixture of 75% boiled linseed oil and 25% turpentine, dabbing off any excess. This prevents the grain from swelling and raising, and it smells nice! Allow to dry over say 14 days.
3. Brush on wax of choice. I initially used beeswax but now I use Rennaissance wax to resist finger marking. Allow to dry for a few days, then burnish with a soft brush to reach into the deeper cuts.
4. Enjoy!