Into The Folds

I'm back to working on Big Santa. I have made progress on the vest with buttons, the folds in the pants and boots and the draping folds on the robe. I found the robe folds to be very easy and enjoyable. It was a simple matter of sketching the curves at the bottom of the robe and bringing those curves up the robe. Various sizes of u-gouges helped make variation a breeze. The buttons gave me a little trouble. Two popped off and had to be glued back on. The fabric folds in the pants are coming along nicely, though not as soft as velvet santa pants might be. The boots are still giving me trouble. Getting those folds are tricky for me, but I'm starting to run out of material, so I might have to live with them on this piece and try to refine them on the next carving. I'm getting very close to being ready to glue the arms on. Next decision- will he be holding a walking staff or a lantern?