This book is adorable n the pictures are great. The author obviously lives carving small woodland animals, creatures and objects. I believe this is better suited to someone who already dabbles or has experience in wood carving because this isn’t geared towards beginners without experience. However m, it’s still a fantastic resource for ideas and patterns for projects if you like the theme of woodland gnomes and animals. I suggest this book for anyone interested in woodcarving it’s a fun book with adorable ideas and tips.

Not only are the projects enchanting and adorable, this book is an inspiration. When the author wanted to continue her family creative history and entertain her young daughter, she took up carving.
The projects shared run the gamut from beginner (even if a bit intimidating) to more advanced. I seem the results appealing to all ages!
While I may not feel competent to do each of these projects I can imagine having fun attempting this as a group activity.

This was a really interesting book with step by step detail, but I still don't think I could make some of these intricate and beautiful carvings.

I just really enjoyed looking through this Learning to Carve book. My neighbor was a master carver and so we have greatly enjoyed carvings over the years with us not doing much carving ourselves. This book makes me want to grab out some wood, supplies, and tools and get carving. This author makes it look so fun and she gives great ideas to get started. She included measurements for the wood blocks along with painting ideas.
I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

***Also posted on Amazon, B&N

This is a good book for beginners except for one thing, it assumes the reader/woodworker has a relatively expensive piece of equipment: a bandsaw. There are other less expensive tools you can use to cut out the blanks like a scroll saw or just a knife to rough out the shape. I think it would be better for a book that includes projects intended for beginners to have some discussion of other ways to accomplish the same tasks using more basic tools.

But that being said, the book has some cute projects that are fun to do. It also offers good tips for finishing & painting the projects. This would be a good book for a woodworker who already has the required tools (like a bandsaw) to try some carving projects.

NetGalley gave me a free eBook copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a wonderful guide to wood carving. It gives step-by-step instructions and photographs to each procedure. Love it!

LEARN TO CARVE GNOMES, TROLLS, AND MYTHICAL CREATURES by Sara Barraclough

This is a great how-to book, it teaches you how to carve, starting with finding the wood that is most suited to carving. A lot of reviews have claimed that the book is too advanced, for just anyone to pick it up and start carving, I disagree. It specifies that you should probably have a lot of specialty tools, but there is absolutely no reason you can't pick up your favorite knife and begin carving.

In fact, the book mentions that you can carve on soapstone and other materials. Depends on what materials you have or what you can get.

My idea when I requested the book, was to carve faces or mushrooms onto the handles of my wooden spoons or have someone else do it for me.

I appreciate the complimentary copy of #learntocarveglomestrollsandmythicalcreatures from #netgalley I was under no obligation to post a review.

Learn to Carve Gnomes, Trolls, and Mythical Creatures: 15 Simple Step-By-Step Projects
Sara Barraclough
Have you ever considered woodcarving as a hobby? Then you must pick up this book. Author Sara Barraclough begins with a list of materials. She recommends using basswood because it is lightweight and soft; other woods can be used. She touches on using wire, glue, and acrylic paints. There is a list of safety gear such as carving gloves. It is important to get the knife that fits you. If you have petite hands you will want a knife with a smaller girth handle.
There are step-by-step plans for 15 woodcarving projects ranging in difficulty from beginner to intermediate to advanced. The instructions are written in easy and understandable terms. The photography is beautifully done. The beginner projects include an owl, a bear’s head, a mushroom, an acorn, an oak leaf, a sleeping fox and an adorable woodsman. Among the intermediate projects you will find the Sassy Squirrel, Romantic Raccoon, Cheeky Toad, Friendly Gnome and Oma Elf. The advanced projects include, Darling Dragon, Forgetful Wizard, Ogre with a Will-o’-the-Wisp, and Starlight the Unicorn.
The author makes woodcarving less daunting.

Not For Rank Beginner Carvers, But a Lot of Fun!

Don't let the “Learn to Carve” in the title fool you; you need to have some basic knowledge carving or whittling to make these projects. While the author does divide them into beginner, intermediate, and advanced, you would need to have some background in carving and the use of a band saw already to make these a success. But if you are at that stage in your carving level and you like whimsical, mythical creatures and “people,” the projects in this book look like a lot of fun. The simplest projects are surprisingly detailed and look like more than just beginner-level projects. I especially liked the owl with its tummy feathers and wide-eyed multi-toned face. More advanced projects include gnomes, elves, a unicorn, a dragon, and even an absolutely darling mushroom house. If carving these kinds of mythical creatures and habitats sounds interesting to you, you will most likely enjoy this book.

GNOMES!!! I can not get over how wonderful this book is! It makes me want to go out, get ingredients and make my own gnome!! There are pictures of all different kinds of gnomes and the little things that go along with them. It gives you step by step of materials needed, painting, and so many different examples of the gnomes that you can make!!!

The overview of materials needed was helpful. However, when seeing what tools and materials are needed, I realized that this craft would probably require too much of a learning curve, especially because I didn't feel a strong connection with the finished products. A long time ago I briefly got into carving bars of Ivory soap, so I thought that the projects in this book might intrigue me, but it just wasn't for me.

I asked for this one for my husband as he loves working with wood.... I havent seen him out of his shed since lol. But I've got some wonderful wooden gnomes and stuff. Thank you for a brilliant book cant wait to buy it so I can get my kindle back.

I found the majority of the projects to be very appealing, specifically the ones with a more realistic look. A few, for example the unicorn, were more cartoonish and not to my taste. This is just a personal preference.

My biggest issue with this book was that it is geared to those with more knowledge than a beginner would have. For example, we are reminded to keep our tools sharp with no explanation as to how to do so. What is a stop cut? And so on. Many terms are used without explanation for the novice such as myself.

I was dismayed to realize all projects start with using a band saw. The author states that this is optional but without explicitly showing how to do so without using one. This is not something everyone will have or be able to acquire.

Lastly, I feel significantly more pictures would have improved the clarity of this book. There are some, but with projects as detailed as these it would have been helpful.

I hope at some point in the future to be able to make some of these delightful carvings, but at my current skill level that's just not possible. I'm sure a more experienced carver would be delighted with this book, however.

I love this book and the designs.... but oh my! You really need the skills and expertise of which I don't have. Would love to learn but will take a while :-).

Not for beginners. And what the book doesn't say: power tools required. So much for mindless hands on wood whittling. THanks NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this with no strings attached.

I didnt read the description and for some reason thought this was more of a clay thing. Its not bit thats fine. I cant say if the directions were easy enough to follow due to knowing nothing about the hobby but i can say it did not seem like a beginners book

Oh my goodness, the characters are super cute! Projects are divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced projects so the maker can choose one that suits their experience level. Supplies are discussed and then we get into the projects. Each project includes a supply and tool list and a template for developing the basic shape of each character. Clear photos show the step by step process along with helpful hints and written directions. The author is clearly talented at creating fun characters. I think my favorite is the squirrel!

Thank you to Fox Chapel Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Learn to Carve Gnomes, Trolls and Mythical Creatures" by Sara Barraclough is a beautiful book. The carvings in the book are stunning and the instructions seem very clear. I have never tried carving, but after looking at this book I'm inspired to try my hand at it...with a very simple project! I would be willing to try a heart or acorn. I am going to have my husband look at this book because I can see that some of the projects would appeal to him. He has expressed interest in carving and has even tried chainsaw sculptures. The carvings in this book seem like they would have faster success.

Great projects from beginner level to advanced. The explanations of techniques, as well as all needed materials, are easy enough to follow even for those with no previous knowledge base.

If you want to learn how to carve simple yet magical mythical creature, look no further than this beginners guide!
The projects in this book are easy but beautiful, and would make wonderful gifts for young and old alike.

This how-to book is completely adorable. As a new carver myself, I found the photos alongside the instructions to be invaluable, and I would almost use them without reading the words as I went along. The projects are just simple enough to be easy to figure out, whilst being complex enough to be a challenge, and to be a genuinely interesting finished product. I like that the author points out a few times that you could really do most of the carvings with just a simple knife of you wanted to, which is more my style at the moment. I also really enjoyed that she encourages the reader to do their own thing with the designs, and give their carvings their own style.

I am super excited to give some of these ideas a try, and look forward to seeing how my own magical beasties turn out!

Thanks NetGalley for giving me access to this lovely book.