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Carving the Faces of Buddhist Figures

１：Determine the basic proportions of the figure and draw an outline. When carving an entire figure, always keep in mind the relationships between length, width, hairline, etc. and the overall balance of the figure. The head of an infant is about 1/4-1-5the length of the entire figure; that of an child or adolescent is 1/5-1/6;that of an adult is greater than 1/6.

２：Draw the center line. Divide the head into three equal parts. If the figure has a hairline, divide the face in three from the hairline to the chin.
◆If the head has no hairline, the upper line marks the brow and the bottom line marks the bottom of the nose.
◆For a figure with a hairline, The brow is placed slightly lower than the upper line. The bottom line marks the base of the nose.

３：determine the position of the ears--The height of the horizontal line marking the top of the ear should match the top of the brow or be placed slightly higher. The vertical line marking the center of the shoulder should be extended up the side of the head to determine how far forward or backward the ears should be placed.

４：Use a round knife to carve the space between the eyes--in other words the ridge of the nose. The blade should enter at about a forty-five degree angle somewhat right or left of the center line.
These two cuts should intersect at the center line and form the ridge of the nose. They must also be carved somewhat deeply because they determine how far the nose protrudes from the face.

５：Using the curved line marking the eyebrows as a guide, insert a round blade at about a sixty degree angle. This cut ends at the upper line of the eyelid, so it should not be carved too deeply--see figure 6.

６：With a shallow round knife or an extremely shallow round knife, carve the lid of the eye from the bottom of the uper eyelid to the upper line of the eyelid which you just carved in 5. Make sure the right and left sides of the face match in depth and placement because they will affect the following steps. Check it many times from different angles to get it just right

７：Using a V-bladed knife, determine the position of the eyes by carving from the inner corners of the eye to the outer corner of the eye--where the cut marking the brow and upper lid meet. Don`t worry about the shape of the eye yet, but definitely concern yourself with the actual placement and position of the eye.

８：With a small round knife, starting from where the slightly lower than the base of the nose, carve upward in a straight line from the outside of the nostrils to the inner corner of the eye--in other words both cuts slant inward slightly from the nostril to the inner corner of the eye. If you try to carve this all at once, you`ll most likely cut the eye off, so carve it a little at a time. Also, you must start slightly lower than the base of the nose, you will not be able to carve the nostrils and wind up with a round pug nose.。

９：Using the same knife as in ８ carve from both sides of the nose downward along both sides of the chin. Make sure that you carve these two cuts deeper than the inner corner of the eye.

１０：With a shallow rounded blade, carve the bottom of the nose like this.
When you do this cut, don`t stick the blade straight into the face. Rather, cut at a slightly shallow angle so that the nose points up slightly.　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

１１：With a round knife, cut off some of the extra wood below the nose--just enough so that the mouth still protrudes from the face, but less so than the nose. Then with a V-knife, cut a horizontal line for the line of the mouth.