Whittling A Blue Tit.

I get asked many times, "How do you set out to whittle a bird?" And I hope you enjoy reading and seeing the block shape start out, and in this example, you will see the added challenge of turning the head.

Marking out the bird is important because you have to understand that when the head is turned, the body takes its own position too. You will also notice below the blue tit's beak I have left on, and as I start to whittle, it will be taken off because a new beak will be added, because, as you can see, there is room within the head for a new beak.

I will be adding more photos as I go, so you can get a feel for how I'm whittling the bird with a Stanly Knife.

I am hoping by the end, I will have a completed blue tit, but as many know, it's not always the case.

I am off now to whittle, and I hope you will join me on the next part of this whittling journey!

Check out the home page next time you visit for more updates.

Part 2 of whittling the Blue Tit.

New Update 7 November.

Welcome back
I will now start to whittle the blue tit from the back of the head and around the front, and from the photos, you can see how the wood has been removed.

You see from the photo below that more wood has been removed from the front beak.

One other thing I have to be aware of is the shape of the head and allowing room to whittle the new beak.

You will see in the photo below that I am starting to work more on the head and the lower body area.

Well, thank you for following so far, and I will be adding more updates when I have whittled the Blue Tit further.

Part 3 of whittling the Blue Tit.

When working on any bird, the head is important, and keeping reference lines helps to keep the shape overall. The line you see on the front is to help keep the beak in the center because there will be wood removed from the top of the head as I work down.

This image gives an idea how far the beak is down from the top of the head

Now I am undercutting on the lower part of the head, and this will help with removing more wood at the front.

Now whittling from the top of the head to the cut I have just made.

Here you can see the front of the head and the angle of cuts I have made.

Keeping in mind the head shape, you can see I am using the tip of the blade and drawing around the head, ready for cutting down to the upper part of the beak.

Now moving the wood up to the head.

Now you can see the head starting to appear from the top down to the top of the beak.

You can see from the arrows why I draw the reference lines, so I only remove what is needed, it also keeps me aware of what needs to be left on.

Well, that is it for now, and I will add more updates later. And if you have any questions, then add a comment below.

Part 4 of whittling the Blue Tit.

In the last part, you can see how I drew out the areas to save and what to whittle, and in the image below, you see I have worked more on whittling the beak and the underside, keeping to the pencil lines.

Now I have an idea where the top of the head is and the size and the thickness of the beak. I need to whittle back from the beak and remove the wood where the eyes will be located, and you can see an example in the image below.

Now you can see by the arrows how I have worked back to the head, and in the next image you see a side view of the blue tit head.

This image gives you a side view of the head on the whittled blue tit.

 I am whittling off the back of the head so I can get an idea of the body's size and how much wood I have for the overall size. 

Now it is time to take an overall look at the whittled blue tit head, and in the images below, you see I am working in the areas I feel need whittling and getting into some order.

Now that everything looks in the right place, it is time to look at the blue tit overall. 

This is a guideline giving me an idea of how much wood will be required at the back of the head and the size of the Blue Tit.

Well, I am off now, and thank you if you got this far. Keep an eye out for more updates, and if you have time, if you would like to ask a question, I will be happy to help.  

Part 5 of whittling the Blue Tit.

Updated 24th November.

Welcome back to the whittled blue Tit, and you see from the following pictures that the bird's head is now starting to take shape. I always find, even at these stages, it is still hard to imagine that this block of wood is going to turn into a blue tit, and now every cut is vital, and I am checking from the references I have, because you can see the head is getting near to its size, and any wrong cuts could be tragic.

I have worked around the back of the head and below the eye, as shown in the image. 

The image below shows you that by adding the reference line down the center of the head running into the beak and the location of the eyes, you can also see where the head meets the body.

The beak has more wood to whittle off it, but again I am leaving this on until I am happy with the shape of the head, and then I'll whittle this to size. 

I have added the image of the blue tit blocks, the one I started with, and see the beak at the front, which was the original block. The only difference is that I turned the head and removed the front beak. 

So, back to the blue tit image below, you will see how far I have got and more reference lines on the blue tit's body, and also, you can see there is more wood to whittle off the body. 

Well, it is that time again to go off and whittle some more, so keep an eye out for more updates.

Part 6 of whittling the Blue Tit.

Updated 3rd December.

Welcome back, and as you can see, the blue tit is beginning to take its shape now, and I forgot to say earlier. When doing any bird, I will make a few rough sketches of the bird in different positions, just to give myself an idea of the bird I'm going to whittle, and the image below gives you the idea of what I mean. 

I will also have on display images of the blue tit on my display board, which I can follow, as you can see below

Now I turn my attention to the bottom of the blue tit and begin to round the bird off, and you can see from the image below that I am working towards the centre line.

Now in the next image you will see I whittle around the front of the blue tit towards the head.

To save you reading time and me repeating myself, I will continue to whittle around the bird, keeping a close eye on the reference images, because this is the time when taking too much wood off would mean I would have to start again. I have whittled more wood off the back of the bird and also worked under the beak and breast area. The images will show you how careful I have to be because the beak is becoming within range of the knife, and if I go too far, it could take the beak off.

You can see now lines I have marked out at the side of the blue tit, and these are guidelines showing where the lowest wing feather will start.

In the image below, you can see I have added more feather guidelines for the wings and tail.

Well, it is that time again where I go off and begin to whittle the next part of the blue tit, and thank you again for getting this far, and I see you next time.