Making It Big(ger) - part 1

I have started selling some of my carving from my Etsy shop. But it hurts a little each time something sells and you know you'll never see it again. It's a little like having one of you kids grow up and move out. (That's not always a bad thing). Recently, I was carving from scraps and without a plan and this little guy popped out. I've grown to like him quite a bit, but I wished I had made him larger. So I set out to see if I could scale him up without loosing too much of his personality. Two things are working against my creating a larger replica. First, I'm not so good a carver that I can duplicate my own work perfectly. Second, the larger versions are still being made from whatever I have lying around in my scrap box, so scaled up in height, but not to scale for  the width/depth of the block. So keep in mind, I will be talking about transferring proportions on the height of the blank only.

This will be a 2-part blog enter since there are several ways to scale proportions. Each has a different set of expense, ease and process. But it all starts with some simple math. Like I said, I am not starting with a scale amount and then cutting a blank to fit - that's a different lesson. Maybe a subject for a future blog post. Here. I'm taking the original (about 3 1/2" high) and transferring proportions to a couple larger blocks I had on hand.

First, I have to convert all my measurements to decimal so I can use my calculator. I have been doing this for years, so it's second nature. Pardon me for this if you haven't memorized decimal conversions.

So 3.5" is the original and my two blanks are 4 1/2" (4.5") and 6" tall. I want to come up with a scale factor. I do this by simply dividing the larger by the smaller. 4.5 divided by 3.5 = 1.28. 6 divided by 3.5 = 1.71.  We're shooting for "close" so I'll round off the numbers I get. I still use conventional measure. If you use metric, it's a little more accurate and the math is easier.

So for the middle size figure, I will multiple every measurement I take from the original by a factor of 1.28. So if the original figure is 1 3/4" (1.75") from bottom to top of nose, then the 4 1/2" figure will be 1.75 X 1.28 = 2.24. That's darn close to 2. 25 or 2 1/4". Close enough. This project is not about getting an exact scale enlargement, as I said, but the principles are exactly the same, if that's what you set out to do.

In part 2 of this post, I will show at least four ways to scale a figure, or a photo of one. One method of transferring measurements does not even require math at all beyond the first calculation.

More to come ...