Best Easy Whittling Ideas and Projects for Beginners

If you are in wood carving for some time, you know how it is when you get up in the morning, and you would like to do some whittling, but absolutely nothing occurs to your mind. Perhaps you heard about the so-called blank page syndrome – it’s a name writers have for the creative block that sometimes happens to them. It happens even to the best writers, and it happens to anyone involved in creative work. Including us working with the wood.
Well, we are here today to break any creative blocks you might have. I spent quite some time in woodcarving, and recently I realized that I have a decent collection of small works that I collected during years, so I thought why not share these. They are mostly super easy to make, won’t take you much time, and will be a great contribution to your personal collection.

Best Whittling Ideas: Images You Will Turn Into Sculptures

Usually, when carvers want to make a 3D shape out of a squared wooden chunk, they draw their designs in all four perspectives or at least three, and then paste them on each side of the chunk. In such a way, patterns enable carvers to know where and how to cut. 

That’s exactly what I’m about to give you now. I must say, you are going to see some of the best whittling ideas photos you’ve ever seen! And you are free to download them, print in whichever size you wish, paste on the wood, grab your favorite whittling knife and start carving! 

Best Whittling Ideas Pictures: From the Most Famous to the Most Kooky

The first design I wish to suggest is the bird. It’s no wonder this is a very famous little sculpture among the carvers: we work with the wood, and birds live in their branches. 

Besides, it’s not so hard to carve it out. Birds are animals whose bodies have elegant and gracious shapes, which are very inspiring for sculpting in wood. There are no unneccessary details – you don’t need to carve out every feather. What it takes is to simply shape a tiny body and indicate the position of the wings, the head, and the beak.

Remember that you aren’t obliged to strictly follow the suggested design. It’s here only to spark your imagination, and you are free to modify it as you wish.

The next is the spoon. Traditionally, spoons were very important objects, because we use them to bring food to our mouth, which is the most important daily activity. Back in times, you couldn’t just go somewhere to buy it – you had to make it, or have someone make it for you.

That is why the craft of wood carving is strongly connected to spoon-making. One of the most important tools used in carving is even named after spoons – the so-called spoon knife. As there were a lot of spoons that had to be made, and spoons are mainly very simple objects, craftsmen would sometimes become more creative. I guess it was in such a way that so many wonderful spoon designs came into being, which inspire carvers to this very day.

Usually, when carving out the spoons, craftsmen get creative around the handles, as the hollowed and curved part is the functional one, and can’t really be modified without disturbing its functionality. There are hundreds of possible spoon designs, but here’s one simple but very nice for you, where the handle is turned into a leaf.

Now, let’s get onto something more unusual. The next one is the cat. It is particularly challenging to translate a cat’s personality into a wood design. If you look into history, you will see that ancient Egyptians were amazed by these animals, and drew them on the walls of their tombs, on pottery, and even mummified them!

Carving a cat is not something you see often in the carving workshops, but nevertheless, it looks amazing when finished. I’m honestly more of a dog person, but the graciousness of the cats never fails to fascinate me. If you can’t persuade your cat to pose for you, I think the following whittling idea really catches the dignity and charm of a kitty. 

Now, let’s get a bit exotic. Why wouldn’t you carve out an elephant today? Living in savannas across Africa and Asia, elephants are among the smartest animals that exist on the planet. These intelligent mammals live in big herds and are very affectionate with each other.

For all these animals are and symbolize, I think carving a sculpture of an elephant is a great gift for your kid or grandchild. Otherwise, it’s a great design pattern for teaching the children to work in wood. 

Finally, we get to outer space and meet the astronaut. So many kids dream of becoming an astronaut one day! That’s what makes this design another great pattern if you want to make a gift for an upcoming birthday or end-of-school celebration.

Remember, with some colors, you can make a real Niel Armstrong out of this one. Also, in case you decide to carve this one out with help of a child, you can carve some spaceships, planets, or add Moon surface to it. That would take this little sci-fi woodwork to the next level.