Listen to the Call of the Wild

Imagine the beauty of a deer running through the forest, a buffalo standing on a prairie at sunset, or a mallard drake winging through the cattails-all stunningly carved in wood less than two inches thick. This is the art of wildlife relief carving, where elegant portraits of animals and birds are brought to life with carving techniques that are easy to master and applicable to any type of woodcarving you choose to do.

Join renowned carver Lora S. Irish at her workbench as she shares a wealth of expert carving information to guide you through all of the steps that transform an original pattern into a realistic and superbly finished carving that can be proudly displayed in your home.

Inside this revised and expanded second edition, you'll find:

" New patterns and a stunning gallery of wildlife reference photos
" Realistic patterns presented in both outline and pencil illustration
" Instruction on selecting woods, tools, and finishes
" Essential tips for mastering the basics of relief carving
" Special techniques for creating facial features, fur, and feathers
" A comparison of relief carving styles, including low, high, stylized, and realistic

With almost 50 dramatic wildlife patterns to choose from, and an abundance of carving styles to explore, the variety of beautiful relief carvings you can create with this book is practically limitless.

Lora Irish is an artist who runs an internet carving studio with her husband at www.carvingpatterns.com. She is a frequent contributor to Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts and Wood Carving Illustrated and the author of Great Book of Dragon Patterns, Great Book of Fairy Patterns, Great Book of Tattoo Designs, Great Book of Woodburning, and Wood Spirits and Green Men. She lives in Mt. Airy, Maryland.

As woodcarvers we take inspiration from what's around us, and nature is one of the biggest influences
from which we draw ideas. Some of us choose to focus on plant life, whilst others just can't' resist the
lure of the animal kingdom.

If you are among those who get a buzz out of turning blanks of timber into reliefs of flying ducks or mischievious wolf cubs, then you will enjoy Wildlife Carving in Relief. Now in its second edition, this popular book has been revised and expanded to include new patterns and a useful gallery of wildlife reference photos.

Starting with understanding patterns, transferring to wood and carving cuts, Irish moves on to exploring techniques such as features, hair and feathers, before providing a step-by-step of a buffalo portrait. And then what follows are pages and pages of patterns and illustrations of a variety of animals such as a red fox, a bear catching salmon, fighting rams, howling wolf, and a beautiful scene of a woodland gathering.

The wildlife carver certianly has much to draw inspiration from.