Log Cabin Hitty Day Four

Today I have no helpers sadly.  Mom and pops have gone home and my husband is at work, so I plan to do what I can do, grab a few planks from the cabin for Hitty Boxes and begin carving one of the completed blanks into a Hitty.

Yesterday (Sunday) Mom taught me some sewing tips, so I did not work in the shop much.  But pops did cut me one more blank and some more planks and blocks that I can cut into blanks later using the scroll saw.

Pops also grabbed another beam from the field and brought it to the shop for me.

After removing the beam from the truck, me and the children head back out to the log cabin.

Here Hitty Dot helps us gather planks that I plan to make into boxes, Hitty furniture etc.

Here are the planks that were gathered.  Some of them are in pretty bad shape, I may not be able to do much with the worst ones, but I am excited about 3 that I pulled from the front wall still standing.  Those three have been protected by the elements much better than the others, and are in very good shape.  They will make beautiful boxes and furniture.

Here is Hitty Dot unloading the truck, she’s having such a good time working with us.  After we unload the truck, she begs me to go inside and start carving her sister.

I should have known she was only helping so that she could bribe me later.

Hitty Dot runs inside and grabs the first blank cut, and carries it to my work table.  She’s anxious to see her sister emerge from the wood, and I’m anxious to begin carving.

First I plan to shape a leg to see how well my dremel works with the wood.  I plan to use barrel sanders to remove the majority of the excess wood.

Here the leg has been sanded down a bit.  I see now that my dremel can handle this hard wood just fine, so I begin work on the body.  I need the bottom half of the body to be completed before I can complete a leg, so that I can determine just how to shape the leg for a better “fit”.

Here is the body blank.  I have traced the front template on the blank so I can determine how much to sand away without messing the body up.

Here I have sanded down the lower half on one side of the body.

And here I have sanded down the lower half on the other side of the body.

I am taking breaks while I work, and during one of my breaks my daughters have been writing in the dust left on the table.

After sanding the body down to size, using the template as a guide, I can now begin working on the leg again.

Here I have sanded the leg to “fit” and am extremely pleased with how things are progressing.

Next I use a cutting bit to carve the basic head shape.  I alternate between cutting and sanding to shape the head.

Here I have shaped the top of the head.

And here I have shaped the neck.

Here I have shaped the upper body into a smaller shape, and cleaned up the head and neck areas so that everything is as even as possible.

I am now ready to begin shaping the hair.  Here I have drawn the hairline that I wish to have for this Hitty.  I measure certain points and draw something as close to the same hairline as possible on the other side of the head.

I use my cutting tool to carve away the wood from front of face to the hairline.

Here I have carved away the wood on both sides of the face, back to the hairline.  The basic head shape is now completed.

I mark the center of the face for later reference, then move the body aside and begin to work on the legs again.

Here are the legs after they have been “roughed” out.

And here are the legs after they have been sanded down to the size I wish to use, and after the feet have been shaped.

I then do a rough shaping of the arms.

And finally, I cut out the thumb and shape the hands.

This is all I get done today, it’s been a long day but my carving attempts have been successful and I now see that this wood will be something I can work with.

It is more difficult to sand and carve than basswood, but it certainly is beautiful wood to work with.

I love the grain, but am beginning to wonder how her face will look once she is completed.