Wood spirits and green men - Lora S Irish

The 40 patterns included in this guide for carving green men and wood spirits out of wood are appropriate for carvers of all skill levels. A recent term for a loose archetype -- usually the head of a man within nature or a man as part of nature -- the green man can be documented as early as A.D. 30 as a Roman architectural accent. The patterns show the green man in his wide range of emotions -- happy, sad, miserable, or mischievous -- with descriptions of how the wood spirit is anchored to nature not by the imagery of leaves and foliage but by the media on which he is depicted. The wood spirit walking stick patterns show realistic human faces that appear out of the bark or grain of the wood branches or logs in which they are being carved.