Learn to Carve with Harold Enlow’s Study Sticks

Enlow’s carving style is fun and whimsical with plenty of expressive looks and poses that always tell a story. 

Examples include Ozark Flossing, a barefoot fellow wearing overalls with a furry critter popping out of his rugged stovepipe hat, as he takes a piece of string between his toes and seems to laugh through imperfect teeth as if maybe it tickles a bit. 

The Fisherman depicts a gentleman who appears to have fallen on hard times, as his once-nice dress shoes are now exposing his toes and his yellow tie, holey pants and button-down shirt are crumpled and patched. His stubbly beard frames a satisfied look on his face as he chews on a cigar stump, and his “fishing pole” holds a hot dog that’s perhaps fresh off the campfire. 

Finally, this close-up of The Cowboy shows how Enlow’s attention to fine details makes his carvings so intriguing. The slightly askew bandana, the bent cigarette hanging precariously out of the side of his mouth, the ruddy complexion and steely gaze all combine to create a gruff looking character with attitude straight out of a Western movie. Enlow adds so many fun details into his carvings that one can discover something new and amusing with each fresh look.

Learn to Carve a Wood Spirit

Wood spirits are popular carving subjects, and, according to Enlow, one of the easiest to carve. “A wood spirit is really just an ugly old man carved with wild hair and a beard,” he said. “The more ugly you make the face, the more people will like him.”

Enlow prefers to carve wood spirits in found wood because he feels that the coarse nature of the wood really emphasizes the feelings of the wood spirit. “I consider carvings like this in ordinary wood wizards; a similar carving in found wood transforms into a wood spirit.”

Learn to Carve Santas

Santa is one of the best-loved and most popular carving subjects. Enlow’s Santa is a mixture of realistic features with a few exaggerated features that pay homage to the classic poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”

Most of the facial features that make this Santa look kind and jolly can be adapted to other carvings where you may want to illustrate those feelings.

A tip for carving Santa’s eyes: Carve his right eye – the left eye as you look at it – first. That way you can see the eye to match it as you carve Santa’s left eye.

Learn to Carve a Cowboy 

Cowboy caricatures have a long history in America, dating back to the classic work of Andy Anderson, who is credited as one of the earliest American caricature carvers.  Even today, broken-down cowboys find their way into almost every carving competition.

As with most caricatures, the success of the carving depends on a blend of realistic and exaggerated features. Most good caricature artists know how to create a realistic face in order to do a good caricature, and it doesn’t take much to turn a realistic carving into a caricature. On this cowboy, the ears are a little oversized and the teeth are slightly larger than normal. Both of these features give the carving a fun and happy look.

Learn to Carve a Female Face

According to Enlow, a beautiful woman’s face intimidates many carvers. But as he instructs, the overall bone and muscle structure is the same for all women, young and old, attractive or not. “Gravity, age and a little bit of genetics are all it takes to turn a beautiful woman’s face into a less attractive one,” he says. If you learn to carve a beautiful woman’s face, it’s simple to thin the lips, add a few wrinkles, or reduce some of the thickness of the cheeks to age the woman or tone down her beauty. 

A tip for carving delicate features: Clean up your carving. Make many small cuts rather than a few large cuts.

We hope you’ll be inspired!