Carving the Whittle Pup


Now you want to create some space on the sides, between the legs and the body. Start by drawing a line from the top of the "A" between the legs, back to the side lines of the figure. Then, draw a line from where the back paw meets the back leg, straight up to the horizontal line you drew. Finally, draw a line from where those two meet, down to where the side line touches the back leg. See the picture.

Make a stop cut along the outline of the back leg, that joins the ends of these two lines. Then, angling the top of the knife in towards the center, cut along the two longer lines to form a hollow between the front leg and the body.

As with separating the legs, take your time here. You will probably need multiple cuts in order to make that space deep enough. Be sure to keep the tip angled in towards the center, as you want to give the space a somewhat rounded look. The space is about as deep as the space between the frong legs, but is not flat inside.

Once you have the space hollowed out, carefully round the edges of the space. Also take the time to gentle the hard edges of the back leg and paw.

Make the same cuts on the other side of the figure. Then strop your blade, being especially mindful of the tip, which has been doing most of the work.