Rocky

Fist my bump!

Behind the carving

About this piece

I hadn't done any exposed carvings in a while, and since I needed to make a beginner's tutorial covering them, I decided to put this one together for a video explaining how to make exposed lanterns. It will also be nice to have more than one exposed carving displayed on the site, so I think I'll try to make one every year even though I prefer the layered style.

This carving features Rocky, the friendly alien from Project Hail Mary—perhaps the best movie to come out this year.

Carving notes

This carving lasted about 3 hours, so it's probably only fit to be carved the night of Halloween itself for maximum enjoyment. You may be able to squeeze more time out of it by leaving more of the interior wall intact and/or coating it with petroleum jelly and refrigerating it.

Carving tips

There are so many places to accidentally cut through something which shouldn't be cut; when approaching such areas, stop putting pressure on your saw! Just move it up and down quickly and lightly until you complete the cut you need.