Olde World Santas - my version

I decided to give the "Olde World Santa" (from WCI-Holiday 2007 Issue 41) a try. I like the boldness of this character. The lacy, through-cut beard is a fun challenge and the seriously wrinkled face and hat gives him a wonderful quality not typical of the traditional Santa with his round, rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes. He could easily be a wizard or a mountain man with a few alterations. The eyes were a challenge, at least for me and I feel I will have to carve a pile of these before I master them.

I'll be honest, I dd not really try or even want to follow Mark Gargac's process to the letter and once I got started, I just kept referring to the photos of his finished work. That let me find my own way by exploring different tools and techniques. My video here is part 1 of 2 and only shows certain details of techniques I explored, but does not chronicle my efforts start to finish. My feeling is that this is Mr. Gargac's process and design so I didn't feel I should present it as my own. But I hope you'll get something from watching my videos that may be useful for this and other face carvings.