Planning The Ark Animals (2)

There are several ways in which you can acquire illustrations of the animals for patterns.

It is easiest to use the profile or silhouettes of the animals.

1.  Draw/sketch them yourself.
2.  Search the Internet for copyright illustrations.
3.  Check children's coloring books.

You may have to reduce the size of the animal before you make a paper copy.

1.  Once you have a paper copy of the animal sized the way you want it, acquire transfer paper (carbon paper).

2.  Next select a piece of wood that you will transfer the image to.  When selecting the piece of wood you must consider the thickness of the wood.  You will generally be using three thicknesses of wood for the animals.  The thickest wood (1") would be used for the thickest animals (elephant, Rhino, Hippo, etc.).  The thinnest wood for the thinnest animals (fox, skunk, chicken, duck, etc.).

3,  In this step you transfer the animals image from the paper copy to the wood, using the carbon/transfer paper.  Be sure to place the carbon paper against the wood carbon side down.  Hold your sketch firmly against the carbon paper and wood; and go over the sketch with a pencil or ball point pen.

4.  Here is the transferred bulldog outline on the wood to be cut out on the scroll saw.  The finished bull dog at the top is for comparison, and to show that the scroll saw can be used to turn the rounded parts of the dog into flat areas in preparation for flat plane carving.  Or the bulldog can be cut out with the rounded outline and the knife used to create the flat planes

5.  This a photo of the bulldog blank that was cut out on the scroll saw, with the rounded edges.  The "flats" will be made with the knife.

TIP:  I am sure that your success in making and carving this Noah's Ark, will lead you to want to make others.  So, not only will you have to cut out one more bulldog, but you'll need a template for each animal.  I would suggest that the first Bulldog be traced onto a piece of wood that is a bit thicker than you need.  Then once the blank has been cut out slice a piece off to be used as a template for future blanks...

It's always easier to trace a template than use the carbon paper.
For the smaller animals or animals with more detailed outline, I use the inside of the ballpoint pen to trace the outline.  This permits me to get into the tight inside corners of the template.

Here's some sketches of some animals.