Netsuke Tutorial Page 4

Using my tiniest burr, I've carved grooves where the pencil lines were, and about the depth of the diameter of the burr. I'm really just looking for a hint here, since the bugs are quite tiny.

While I still have my tiniest burr chucked up, I've carved/drilled three holes in each of the ladybugs. One is just behind the meeting place of the head groove and the wing dividing line. These are the starts of the peg holes. I carve/drill holes with the next size burr and enlarged each hole successively until I reach the desired hole size. I like to use successive sized burrs for accuracy, since I find it too easy to wander if I use the final burr without resorting to the smaller pilot holes. I've chosen to show only three spots since any more will be ridiculously fiddly and onerous to do, and won't really add anything to the carving.

I'm ready now to begin making the pegs that will both hold the ladybugs in place mechanically and provide the dark spots.

Above is the setup I use with the bandsaw to cut the small pieces of dark wood I'll make the pegs out of. The peg wood is the dark piece in the center. On the left is a small piece of scrap wood to guide the peg with. On the right is another scrap that I've cut a notch in to push with. These keep my fingers away from the blade. Cutting small pieces like this is very dangerous without such guiding and pushing sticks, since your fingers would be just millimeters away from the blade! Since the pegs are so small, they often become jammed behind the blade or fall into the throat opening. If this happens, shut the saw off and let the blade stop moving before attempting to extract the peg. Let's not lose any fingers or friendships over this!

Here are the cutout blocks for the pegs. We have six ladybugs with three spots (pegs) each, so we'll need a grand total of 18. I've cut a few more since I invariably mess at least one up, although my waste pieces are getting fewer. Each of the pegs above is between one and one and one half inches in length, and maybe three sixteenth inches wide.

	Adding Elements to Carvings: Ladybugs
Using my tiniest burr, I've carved grooves where the pencil lines were, and about the depth of the diameter of the burr. I'm really just looking for a hint here, since the bugs are quite tiny. While I still have my tiniest burr chucked up, I've carved/drilled three holes in each of the ladybugs. One is just behind the meeting place of the head groove and the wing dividing line. These are the starts of the peg holes. I carve/drill holes with the next size burr and enlarged each hole successively until I reach the desired hole size. I like to use successive sized burrs for accuracy, since I find it too easy to wander if I use the final burr without resorting to the smaller pilot holes. I've chosen to show only three spots since any more will be ridiculously fiddly and onerous to do, and won't really add anything to the carving. I'm ready now to begin making the pegs that will both hold the ladybugs in place mechanically and provide the dark spots. Above is the setup I use with the bandsaw to cut the small pieces of dark wood I'll make the pegs out of. The peg wood is the dark piece in the center. On the left is a small piece of scrap wood to guide the peg with. On the right is another scrap that I've cut a notch in to push with. These keep my fingers away from the blade. Cutting small pieces like this is very dangerous without such guiding and pushing sticks, since your fingers would be just millimeters away from the blade! Since the pegs are so small, they often become jammed behind the blade or fall into the throat opening. If this happens, shut the saw off and let the blade stop moving before attempting to extract the peg. Let's not lose any fingers or friendships over this! Here are the cutout blocks for the pegs. We have six ladybugs with three spots (pegs) each, so we'll need a grand total of 18. I've cut a few more since I invariably mess at least one up, although my waste pieces are getting fewer. Each of the pegs above is between one and one and one half inches in length, and maybe three sixteenth inches wide.
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