Ten simple whittling projects. With only a knife & a stick. Plus a clothes peg for the crocodile… And possibly some paints. But that’s it 1) Magic wand Select a good wand-shaped stick. Start a notch cut towards the top of the handle section. Strip the bark from the magic end. Deepen the notch into the wood. Start a subtle taper from the handle to the tip. Round off the end of the wand – make sure it's not sharp! That's it… Go and cast some spells. Find a good stick: a 'green' stick can work best for this.
Take thin 'shaves' around the stick, leaving the wood attached. Repeat the process, working back along the stick. Eventually, the top part of the stick will come off. Repeat as required. Strip and sharpen the stalk so you can plant your tree or flower. Put a notch in at the base of the mushroom cap. Whittle into the notch so the base is conical. Leaving a thin line of bark, start rounding off the top. Smooth off the mushroom with some detailed cuts Cut the base, leaving a little bit of bark behind. Find a stick! Thin and straighten the stick to desired diameter. Give it an oval cross section Round-off the hook end.
Start a notch where the 'beak' of the hook will be. Notch out the hook and create a smooth curve from the stem. Bring the head to more of a point, whittling from the back. At the back, echo the curve at the front. Smooth off and thin the whole hook end. You could shape the handle to make it more comfortable to hold. Find a stick! Shave the end to at least the length of the acorn. Start a notch backwards from the top of the acorn.
It doesn't need to be very deep. Start rounding off the acorn tip. Round the bottom into the cup too. Put in a new notch for the bottom of the cup. Deepen the notch and round-off the cup. Find a stick! Shave the end of the stick, at least as long as the pendant. Begin to flatten the exposed section from both sides. Thin the flat section to about half a centimetre. Draw on the arrowhead shape. Start by shaping the curve to the point. Start a notch at the point of the arrow barbs. Be careful. It's easy to split the barb along the grain here. Carefully undercut the notch to form the barb. Start to sharpen the arrowhead from its centreline outwards. Cut the arrowhead off at its base. Round-off the shaft and sharpen the back of the barbs. Put a loop in some twine and whip it to the shaft. Find a peg! Split it into three parts.
Whittle a tail curve into the top section. Draw and whittle the rest of the body curve. Round off the edges of the tail section. Put in notches along both sides to indicate scales. Take a 'scoop' from the centre of the head, with steep ends. Mark and cut two angles for the eyes. Draw and shape a curve for the snout. Round off the edges of the snout section.
Put in a central dip on the snout to divide the nostrils. Turn the top section over. Put notches in the edges for the teeth. Move on to the bottom section – match the tail curves of the top. Add teeth to the bottom jaw – same as the top. Draw in the legs. Use the wire notch as part of the belly. Cut the legs by using notches on the bottom surface. Shape the bottom jaw the same as the top. Put the crocodile back together. You could even paint it 🙂 Find a Stick! (and skin it). Draw a spiral line around the stick Notch the spiral in one direction.
Then notch again in the other direction. Continue making the notch deeper, alternating both directions. As the notch gets deeper, round off the edges slightly. Eventually, the notches will become a spiral… Stop when you're whittling the back of the spiral on the other side. Smooth off with your knife and cut the base to size. Find a stick! Notch and then strip the blade section of the knife.
Flatten the blade section of the knife from both sides. Draw and then shape the blade curve. Depending on how thick the wood is, it might be easier to start this with a notch. Thin the blade more. This can be adjusted even thinner later. Mark the start of the blade bevel. Start sharpening the blade from both sides of the knife. Now is the time to do a final adjustment on spine width. Smooth the blade and add some patterns to the handle. Then add a fork 🙂 Find a stick! Shave the bark off. Start a notch at the bottom of the nose. Leave room for the hat! Make the notch deep – just less than half the stick diameter. Mark the top of the nose as a triangle. Make a steep notch into that triangle shape. Round the top of the nose off, into that notch. Cut off the two bottom corners of the nose triangle. Notch in a shoulder all the way around, just below the nose.
Draw a hat brim all the way around. Notch into the hat brim. Round off the top of the hat slightly. Put a notch in the side of the hat, where it flops over. Whittle a curve into the hat on the other side. Continue to shape the hat and the fold. Remember it doesn’t come to a point until its tip. Draw a bib where the inside of the arms and hands meet the beard. Notch into the bib. Use another notch to define the moustache. Now you can draw the other arm and hand lines.
Notch into those lines to create the arms and hands outlines. Shape the robe into the waistline. Draw in the bottom of the beard. Notch out the shape of the beard and reshape the bottom of the robe. Mark and cut off the bottom of the wizard. Smooth out any rough spots and make sure the robe shape is right. Notch some folds into the bottom of the robe. Cut some vertical texture lines into the moustache and beard.
Paint your wizard!.