Whittling Fox Earrings

In an earlier post I shared some small earrings that were not to difficult to whittle.  Some of the earring were more difficult than others, but here's a simple little fox.

Steps:

1.  Transfer the fox pattern and scroll saw it out of from 1/4" thick Basswood.
      Be careful to consider the direction of the wood grain.  The grain should run from the tail to the nose, or the nose to the tail.  This grain orientation should keep the tail from breaking off.

NOTE:  When scroll sawing this blank, you may wish to leave a piece of wood on the legs to use as a "handle" when whittling.  This piece of wood could then be removed after most of the whittling is done.

 

2.  Make a shallow stop cut around the base of the tail, where it meets the body.

 

3.  Remove small slices of wood to this stop cut from the direction of the tail to the foxes body.  Remove enough Basswood so that the tail is narrow where it attaches to the foxes body.

 

4.  Whittle a pointed tip on the tail.  Pay attention to the direction of the wood grain.  Make very thin slices.

 

5.  Using your knife, begin to "round" off the sides of the tail.  I don't like to round off these sides too much.  I like to keep the "Flat Plane" look.

 

 

6.  Next, make a stop cut around the foxes neck, where it meets the body.

 

7.  Remove small slices of wood to this stop cut, from both the foxes head and its body.

8.  Using your knife, remove the edges from the wood at the back.

 

9.  Remove small "chips" of wood at the top of the legs at the belly area.

 

10.   Separate the foxes ears.

 

11. Narrow the foxes head so it is narrower than the body.  Narrow the foxes face to nearly a point at the nose.

 

12.  Shape the foxes face by removing the sharp edges.

 

 

13.  Remove a small slice of wood from the sides of the legs.

 

14.  Either sand the fox or leave it with the "flat plane" look.

 

Sorry about the fuzzy photos.