http://www.woodreview.com.au 75WOODCARVINGYou can of course use carving
chisels and gouges, as is commonly
used by wooden puppet makers in
Europe, but a knife is a one-handed
tool that improves your connection
to the puppet taking shape in your
other hand.
The material
Straight from the tree is best as the
wood is green and soft to carve. That
said, if you are carving from round
branch or stem wood you’re best off
allowing the wood to dry in longer
sections if you want to avoid cracks.
Try experimenting because some
woods shrink and crack more than
others; banksia, for example opens
up wide chasms as it dries, but black
sheoak is fairly stable.
The other thing to consider is
lightness and the capacity of the
wood to hold detail. On small-to-
medium size puppets I’ll commonly
use black sheoak as it’s nice to carve
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