Carving Wooden Finger Puppets and Cane Toppers

Attention, woodcarvers! Here are instructions for a frog, a cat, a relief-carved covered bridge, and more, all carved from basswood eggs. Each pattern features detailed front, top, and side views; helpful carving tips; a handy list of paint colors; and a color photograph of the finished puppet to ensure that each project is a success. Design ideas and instructions for incorporating these endearing characters into coat hangers, cane toppers, and bottle stoppers are accompanied by five bonus patterns for miniature, relief-carved landscapes. Begin by learning basic carving techniques and following the detailed guides to make two wooden finger puppets: Tom Cat and Fred Frog. The instructions for these two animal puppets take you step-by-step to master the skills you need to complete more projects. Each design features top tips and advice from the author. There are also painting suggestions for finishing each wooden ornament too. Projects take a couple of hours each to complete. There are 20 cute ornaments to make, including a parrot, chimp, squirrel, dog, cat, alligator, panda, ostrich, and more. While the basic patterns are for charming wooden finger puppets, each set of instructions also shows how you can easily adapt your carvings to make bottle stoppers, cane toppers, and coat hangers. Once you've completed all 20 projects, there are a further five bonus ideas using wooden eggs. Follow the step-by-step tutorial to carve a charming covered bridge landscape scene. As you develop more carving skills, you can then create more lovely scenes. You can take pride in each beautiful item, and either keep the ornaments for your own pleasure or give them away as thoughtful, homemade gifts. Your children and grandchildren will be especially delighted by the fanciful, animal-themed woodworking.