Carving the Whittle Pup

Rounding the body

With the nose established, and the very rough curve of the face defined, it's time now to round the body. This is the first step in blending the nose into the face. It also will define to a large extent fhe final shape of the figure.

Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules here. I don't have measurements to give or exact instructions for what is "right" at this point. Instead, you want to begin rounding the hard edges from the sides of the dog, especially those edges where the depth lines used to be. Take it gradual, removing a little bit of material at a time. You want to take thin cuts to prevent going too deep and splintering the wood. You'll also need to take a little bit off the corners of the feet. Be careful when you're doing this or you'll end up chopping off a whole foot.

Don't be afraid to remove material, but don't be too aggressive about it. Especially towards the bottom. In fact, you might want to leave the bottom half (below the bottom of the nose) a little bit wider until the next step. It's not required, and I didn't do it in my example. But it wouldn't hurt, since we'll be taking a little more off the bottom half in the next few steps.