Welcome to part 3 of our series on building a Cuckoo Clock. For this section we are going to discuss how to carve out an animal for the sides of your clock. And the first thing you are going to want to do is to sketch.

Think of it like those old learn to draw an animal books, in fact, some of those books might be helpful in breaking down an animal's shape. When sketching one thing to remember is that you do not have to be, nor should you be, incredibly detailed. What you are looking for is the main outline of the animal, both side and front. Once you have an outline picked out and a look that you like, it's time to select the wood.

Here is a rough cut of a Raccoon, it still needs to be detailed and sanded.
Note that many of it's features can be broken down into basic shapes.

What wood to use is up to you. I used a Maple for mine, however, remember hard woods are, well, hard and not very easy to carve with your hands, which is exactly why I used a Dremel tool to carve the raccoon seen at right.

The wood should be flat on the area you will be carving. If you are carving a log, you may wish to plane it if you are going to draw on the sides. If you are a little iffy with drawing and free hand, trust me, you will want to sketch the outline on the side of the wood.

First start by cutting out the side of the sculpture, AKA the profile. when you are done with that, carve the face of the sculpture, this should leave you with a shape that looks as though you pulled your 2d Drawing out and gave it another side. From there simply smooth the sides of the animal until you have an organic shape. (such as the raccoon.)

The best advice I have is to take your time, be careful, and try it out. Also, remember to start with basic shapes and whittle your way down until you get to small details.

(to see previous story in this series, click here)