http://www.woodreview.com.au 77WOODCARVINGand dense enough to hold detail,
but for larger puppets, I don’t want
a dense wood that will make the
puppet too heavy, so I opt for lighter
woods like poplar or cedar. Pine
is fine, appropriate too because
Pinocchio is thought to stem from
the Italian word for pine (pino).
Things to look for in the tree are the
conjunctions of twigs coming from the
main stem as these produce a fantastic
looking Pinocchio nose that is stronger
than any drilled and jointed nose. They
also make convenient thumbs when
carving hands, as well as fantastic
dinosaur tails.
While you’re pruning the tree look
out for bent branches as these come
in handy for other puppet projects:
Viking horns, rabbit feet, dragon
puppets, they’re all lurking in a tree
near you!
Making Pinocchio
So let’s bring this log to life and
hope it’s better behaved than the
original wooden boy. The small log
I’m working on here is the stem from
a black sheoak tree, complete with a
built-in branch conjunction that will
become Pinocchio’s nose.Mark out the sections of the head
and body, keeping in mind this is
a caricature, so any feature can be
exaggerated, shrunk or simplified. I
love staying fairly close to the original
Carlo Chiostri illustrations, which
interestingly show Geppetto carving
with a half-crescent knife similar to
those used for centuries by the wayang
golek puppet carvers of Indonesia.With an axe, start carving either a
conical shape above the nose (if you
would like a hat wearing Pinocchio), or
a rounded shape if he’s without a hat
like the little fella here. Still with the
axe, roughly shape the rest of the body,
moving first to the neck by carving a
notch around the circumference at the
base of the chin, and then onto the
bottom of the body and hip.With the head and body roughly
shaped, it’s time to refine the surface
with a knife, aiming for a finish that
shows off the tool marks.13 14
12
15
16
- Drawing on the features.
- The hairline and facial features are next carved.
- Knee joint is ready for assembly.
- Drill tiny pilot holes so the wood won’t split when you
screw the eye hooks in or cause the hooks to snap. - Tying the legs to the hips.