Now, draw several wide triangles along the beard to mark the wood that you will remove (photo 15).
The Craftiest Workshop
I seem to have this fascination with gnomes.
They are, simply put, SO CUTE!!
I notice that my gnomes are getting a fair amount of traffic on Pinterest (The Craftiest Workshop) so I thought I would do a “How to Draw” blog.
Start by finding the right piece of wood.
It needs to be oblong or triangular in shape to really frame your gnome well.
I chose this piece of wood cut from the root of a large Maple tree.
Don’t worry too much about blemishes as you can cover any with paint.
Any spots or knots also add to the originality of the piece.
When drawing a gnome, I like to start by finding roughly the middle of the wood and drawing the nose.
You will notice the grain of the wood always has a center circle; I used that as my nose.
Although this was a vertical oval, I usually draw a horizontal oval for a nose.
Next you want to draw in his hat. It can droop left or right, stand straight up or be more of a beanie. It is up to you. The brim should drape over either side of his nose. You can also draw in some stripes or decorative shapes on the hat.
The beard is next. I find it looks best to make it even on both sides and have the longest point in the middle.
The shirt comes down from the edge of the beard and most often goes down to his shoes. Sometimes I leave out the shoes.
Add some clunky black shoes.
This is where your gnome can become original.
Sometimes my gnomes have arms, sometimes they hold something and sometimes you can only see their elbows. I wanted my gnome to hold some Christmas lights so I drew some arms and strung lights behind him.
I also added a ground line across the wood slice.
I added another ground line to give it some depth and drew in some trees.
This is where my wood burner comes in. The burned lines help to hold the paint really well. I burn over all the lines I have drawn and fill in the trees and his boots.
I like to paint the snow first. I also painted the nose. I prefer to leave the sky as wood.
If you like a natural look, you could be done here; just go back and clean up the burn lines around the lights
If you prefer, add some complimentary colours. I chose hunter green and smoke. Paint the lights.
If your wood slice is smaller and you would like to add a string, you would drill a hole in the wood. I prefer to use a drill press. Although I often use a 9/64 bit, the hole size will depend on what type of cord or string you are using. A drill bit gauge can help to figure out the size.
The last step that I would do is to add multiple coats of matte polycrylic. This will give your project a protective coating but not a lot of sheen.
Here are some of the other wood slice gnomes I have made.
I am not very artistic and am able to draw these fairly easily.
I still struggle with how I do the trees but that is a work in progress.
My next plan it to make a 2 ft gnome on a triangular piece of spruce that I have in my workshop.
My brother Russell, asked on his Facebook page Russell Thomas Art, who or what he should paint next. I challenge him to paint a Christmas Gnome
What you need for your wooden Halloween gnome carving
You will need a 1 x 1 x 3-inch (2.5 x 2.5 x 7.6 cm) block of wood for your wooden Halloween gnome carving.
I only needed one knife (my trusty OCC Tools 1-7/8 inch straight knife. Tip: Strop every 30 minutes to make carving a pleasure.
Keep a pen, pencil, or magic marker nearby for sketching details. Tip: If you make a mistake, simply carve your drawing off and start over.
A ruler or measuring tape will also help when you are sketching your guidelines.
Refer to the painting guide at the end of this page to get a similar look. As always, if you want to create a larger wooden Halloween gnome carving, simply get a bigger wood block (and double or triple the measurements in this tutorial).
Accidents do happen to even the best of carvers. Please protect your mitts with a good carving glove. I use Vet tape to reinforce my gloves, which provides a higher level of protection.Remember to protect your lap with someone hard, too (if you’re a lap carver).
That’s enough gabbing… let’s start carving!
Wooden Halloween gnome carving tutorial at-a-glance
Take a look at this short video to see the important steps to successfully carve your Halloween gnome.
You will carve off the corner to create your wooden Halloween gnome carving. First, use your knife to slightly round down the corners (completed in photos 1-4).
Draw the curved line for the bottom of the hat on the front (photo 1). Start about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) down from the top at each corner (photos 2,3). In the middle, the bottom of the hat is about 1.25 inches (3.2 cm) from the top (photo 1).
Make your nose box about 0.75 inches (2 cm) wide by 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) tall at the middle point (photo 1).
Extend the bottom of the hat around the back, about 1.75 inches (4.4 cm) from the top of the block (photo 4).
Sketch the beard (photos 1-3).
1. Front guidelines are drawn
2. Right view of guidelines
3. Left view of guidelines
4. Back guidelines are drawn
Separate the bottom of the hat on your wooden Halloween gnome carving
Using stop cuts, separate the brim of the hat all around (photo 5). Tip: Start at each corner and work your way toward the middle.
Then, start to shape the top of the hat (photo 6). Work evenly as you remove wood all around (completed in photos 7,8).
Mark wood that you will carefully remove using a V-cut (photos 7,8) to create a notched hat.
5. Separating the hat brim
6. Starting to shape the hat
7. Hat is narrowed
8. Wood is marked for removal
