The moon-gazing hare I have carved here is a popular subject found in many sculptures and artwork. For some, the hare is an ancient and sacred animal and is found in old beliefs and religions all over the world. The Celts & Saxons believed it to symbolise fertility, while Pagans believed moon-gazing hares would bring growth, re-birth, new beginnings and fortune. For others, the hare symbolised purity. It’s also found in many poems and stories, like Alice in Wonderland with the ‘mad’ March hare.
The hare is Britain’s fastest land mammal and generally lives above ground on a flattened hollow or grass-like nest, unlike its cousin the rabbit, which lives in a group and underground in burrows. It is surrounded by myth and is infamous for its courtship rituals where you can see the hares boxing; this is the image that has been most frequently recreated by many artists and sculptors over the years.
I have use spalted beech for this carving project, as the colour and patterns of the spalting make the carving as unique as the hare. The detail of the carving is kept to a minimum as the spalting and grain pattern would detract from any detail, making it hard to see. The simple contours of the carving bring out the best of the grain pattern. Spalted beech can be a challenging wood to carve as it can be very hard on the areas not affected by fungal disease, but the lighter white areas can be very soft to the point where the wood crumbles and tears. Even with the sharpest of tools the black streaks can be brittle and the wood can tend to snap or crack along these parts. The nicer the spalting patterns, the more challenging the carving can be.
Of course, you can use any timber species of your choice for this carving project with its simple detail, but it’s worth trying a wood with a nice grain pattern rather than a plain wood like lime.
Things you will need
Tools: • Personal and respiratory protective equipment • Bandsaw, jigsaw or coping saw • Drill • Hooked skew • 10mm V-tool • No.11, 3 and 6mm • No.7, 14mm • No.6, 8mm • No.3, 16mm • No.3, fishtail
Materials: • Spalted beech (Fagus sylvatica) or timber of your choice • Sanding sealer • Abrasives from 120 grit to 320 grit • Friction polish • Cyanoacrylate adhesive (CA)
Drawing
Pegboard
Making a peg board is quite easy. Use some scrap old wood, such as an old shelf. Chipboard or plywood can be used, although solid wood works better as the holes stay stronger, which means it can be used many times. Either mark out a 1cm square grid across the board and drill some 6mm holes into the board on the crosses of the grid to about two-thirds of the thickness of the depth, or place the carving on the board and mark out a few places around the edge of the carving, then drill some holes. Either way, use some 6mm dowels in the pre-drilled holes to hold the project securely whilst carving. The peg board can then be attached to a carving vice or similar.
Carving the hare
1. After transferring the design to your chosen timber, use a bandsaw or similar to cut just outside the outline removing the waste wood. Then on the side of the moon measure roughly 10mm from the back and draw around the edge of the moon and head. This will be the thickness of the moon2. Now drill a hole in between the legs, then use a coping saw or jigsaw to carefully cut out this area. Try to use a fine saw blade to remove this area if you can. This will make cleaning up later easier and there will be less tear-out of the grain if the wood is soft from the spalting3. Now secure the project ready for carving. Using a peg board is a good way to secure the carving to a vice, then use a deep 11 sweep gouge or V-tool to carve around the outside of the head, separating it from the moon4. Use a deep gouge to lower the moon to a few millimetres above the depth line drawn earlier, then use a shallow gouge to flatten and smooth the moon’s surface to the required thickness5. Use a V-tool or similar to outline and carve around the limbs and the ears, separating them. Then use various gouges and start to shape the body. In this stylised hare the limbs will stand proud of the body and the back leg and the ears will remain at their original surface level6. Use a shallow gouge and carve the front leg so it slopes down and goes under the back paw by about 5mm. Then, round over the front leg and use a small deep gouge to carve around the toe on the back paw. Continue rounding over the paw and leg, keeping aware of possible tear-out when carving down the front leg as your carving across the grain and the soft spalting can tear. Use a slicing cut and take small slithers if the grain starts to tear7. Use a deep gouge and carve around the cheek, then carve across the eye so the cheek stands proud by a millimetre or two, then draw a circle for the eyeball with the very bottom of the eyeball going just under the cheek. Use the deep gouge to carve around the eyeball and around the ear. Use a shallow gouge to round over the eyeball and cheek, blending the features together8a. Use a shallow gouge to round over the back of the ear then using the pattern as a guide8b. Redraw the inner ear and use a deep 11 sweep gouge to carve out the inner ear. Keep aware of the grain direction to prevent breakout
Hardening soft areas
Some parts of the spalting can be very soft and will tear when trying to carve. Sanding sealer and Cyanoacrylate adhesive (CA) can help to harden the soft areas, the adhesive will darken and stain the area slightly and both will blunt the chisels edge slightly so you will need to keep the edge stropped.
9. Draw a line from the top of the ear across to the tip of the nose; this will be the centre of the eye. Then use the sketch as a guide and draw on the top eyelid. Use the best fitting gouges to match the curvature of the eyelid and cut in creating a stop-cut. Use a shallow fishtail gouge reversed to carve the eyeball up to the stop-cut just created10. As before, draw on the bottom part of the eyelid, then use the best fitting gouge to cut create a stop-cut. Use a fishtail gouge or similar to carve and round the eyeball into the bottom eyelid. Use the corners of the fishtail to carve into the corners of the eye, keeping the eyeball round, then use a small gouge to carve a shallow groove under the eye11. Use a hooked skew with a slicing cut to clean up where the body and back leg are and around the tail area, then continue with the skew or a knife to remove any saw marks left around the edge of the front leg or the moon12. This part can be left out if you wish to keep the back flat, but to add some extra depth and shadow to the carving I have back carved it. Turn the carving over and mark out where the moon goes behind the hare and the back leg goes behind the front paw. Make sure the back lines up with the front13a. Once you’re happy with the marking out, use a V-tool or similar to carve around the moon and the front paw, then use a shallow gouge to lower the body so it gradually slopes towards the moon. Remember to carve the front of the head as well13b. Do the same with the back leg so it appears to go behind the front paw. Turn the carving over regularly and place on a flat surface to check how it looks. This will help to prevent overdoing the back carving
Finishing off
14a. Once you’re happy with the carving, the sanding can begin. Start with 120 grit or similar and begin sanding with the grain. If the wood seems to soft and tears or crumbles then use some sanding sealer to harden the area before commencing with the sanding. Once all of the tool marks have been removed and the surface is nice and smooth, brush down before moving onto the next grit size14b. Finish off the sanding with 320 grit or similar, then apply some sanding sealer all over the carving, back and front. Once dry, cut back with the finest abrasive to remove any raised grain, then apply another coat before applying your chosen finish
Top tip
You could carve a crescent moon separately and place it behind the hare’s head by carving away a section from the back of the head so the moon sits flush with the back of the hare
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