Carving Out Monsters In The Laboratory
Recently I conducted a new, frightening experiment: Releasing a monster from a dead tree using electricity and a handheld grindstone. Did it twice, in fact. And the experience truly sunk its teeth into me.
“Braaainsss…”
Most of the time, if I’m making monsters, I’m scribbling them in two dimensions. Done it hundreds of times. But a few years ago, my studio partner and I started working with different mediums, experimenting with all manner of materials from inks to watercolors to wool, clay, and resin. And while those experiments still continue, there was one grave I hadn’t yet dug: Carving a monster out of wood with a rotary tool. This week, we dug in deep.
Some burrs and the rotary tool I used to carve these monsters
Perhaps our research wasn’t as extensive as it could have been. I’m certain, at bare minimum, Doctor Frankenstein pumped some lightning through at least one or two dead frogs to see the limbs twitch. We were less scientific. We watched a handful of Youtube videos where more experienced craftsmen used a Dremel. We noted the various bits and burrs these artisans used, the woods they preferred, and the marks the burrs made in that wood. You see a lot of expertly carved gnomes, wood spirits, and spoons when you do your research this way, but you don’t see a lot of monsters. So I adapted, refocused, and crossed my fingers.
The early stages of turning a woodblock into a ghost
We started with a humble sheet ghost. Hesitantly. I was a little nervous about ruining the project, having trouble remembering which burr was used for which effect, and I had some vague anxieties about driving a miniature medieval weapon through my tender fingertips.
Where’s the teeny-tiny knight who dropped this morning star?
As the project moved along, though, I became more comfortable, and more confident. At some point I realized I was genuinely having fun, and it wasn’t long before I had a passable phantom.
Despite the mounds of sawdust, this still needs a lot of sanding.
Turning it over and over in my hands, I saw a ghost, no longer a block of wood. Had I been a little more bold with my cuts, perhaps, the tiny specter might have had a more fluid, flowing shape…not so stiff. But it was a first attempt, and we learn from doing. So I grabbed another block of basswood and began carving out the head of the Tarman zombie from 1985’s Return of the Living Dead. Maybe a leap for only my second attempt, but I’m not really a spoon guy.
A face begins to emerge from the wood.
The process was slow. Marking the wood with pencil, hewing it out, adding new marks, making new cuts. After what seemed like an endless carving session bent over the workbench with the tool grinding away and the dust filter humming along, I took a look at my progress. The zombie sat uncomfortably somewhere between a cheap Planet of the Apes mask and Charlie the Robot from Scooby Doo. I’m sure Victor Frankenstein wasn’t always pleased with his results at first. So I dug back in.
This isn’t the face I was hoping for. More carving is in order.
Eventually, slowly, the shapes started emerging from the wood. My hands weren’t able to do everything my brain wanted them to do, but that disconnect fades with experience. And I was having so much fun cutting away blocky basswood to reveal the curve of a cheek, or the slope of a nose, or the bulge of an eye, that I knew I’d be returning to this craft sometime in the near future.
Some elective rhinoplasty.
At some point in the process, the Tarman was about as good as I was going to get him, so I put down the Dremel and picked up some fine sandpaper. Later, I’d stain him and try to match the unsettling peach and dark umber tones his skull and skin take on in the movie. I know this is just the first step in a long learning process, but it was so rewarding I can’t wait to try it again. With all the new mediums we’ve been learning these past few years, it’s baffling that I waited this long to run this particular experiment. I must have a block of wood for a head.
the zombie, right before the final sanding and staining.
Our video this week follows my entire process of making the little ghost and the zombie head, taking them from block of basswood to stained, finished projects. You can watch it at the link below.