Recently I was given a copy of a current special issue of Woodcarving Illustrated magazine. It’s title is Whittling, 30 Easy Patterns. Even as an experienced carver, several projects caught my attention. One in particular was a scrap wood crescent moon with a face. The article was prepared by Dave Stetson. I liked it for it’s simplicity and the way Dave broke the project into ten simple steps. If you get a copy of your own, you might notice the printing error. Some of the steps are pictured upside down. A casual glance would miss that fact. You can see the corrected article at www.woodcarvingillustrated.com.  Look for the Man In The Moon article.

Anyway I used the picture in step one to create a cardboard template and cut out 8 copies. I made mine 3/8 ” thick. The work went fast and I soon had six finished moons. I started to think about different faces with different expressions. I lightly traced around my template on a tablet sheet. Then I started enlarging noses, mouths and eyes. I left simplicity with Dave and just tried lots of variations. Dave’s moon didn’t have ears so mine were without ears. I could have created more variations if I used mustaches and beards but everybody knows the man in the moon doesn’t have hair except when he’s a Santa lookalike. I’ve painted them Turners Yellow with Gold Oxide shading, White for the teeth and eyes and Red for lips.     Here is Dave’s original and my variations.