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	Red-headed Woodpecker

See the Wood Carve section for more instructions, hints and tips.

For this project, have the grain of the wood running vertically.

Print and cut out the template and glue it to the wood using a glue stick. Cut out the woodpecker with a scroll saw.

1. Round the edges of the head, neck, top half of back, breast, and tail. Leave the bottom half of the back (which are the wings). Leave the beak till last.
2. On the back side round all of the edges up slightly (about 1/3 the depth) the way towards the front. You are basically just knocking off the corner and rounding it a bit.
3. Using a V gouge:
   1. Carve the line of the curved (front) side of the wing (#1 in the drawing).
   2. Carve the line at the bottom of the red on the head and neck (#2).
   3. Carve the line of the back of the wing (#3).
   4. Carve the curved lines for feathers of the wing, inside the white part of the wing.
   5. Carve the straight lines for the feathers of the tail.
4. Use a U gouge to make the feathers on the breast, the black part of the wing, back, head, neck, and the little sliver of black on the bottom of the wing next to the white part of the wing.
5. Now you can round the beak. Set it back so it isn't at the same level as the rest of the head.

Remove any remaining paper using your knife and/or sandpaper. Clean up the carving if necessary.

Now you are almost ready to paint. The woodpecker can be made into a neat looking neckerchief slide, ornament, pin, SWAPS, or necklace. Whatever you are going to make, it will be easier to hold for painting if you glue something on the back now. You can glue something on temporarily using hot glue. Later, you can remove this and glue on a permanent fastener using E-6000™.

Paint the head red, then paint the black, and finally the white. Paint all the way around onto the back so that no plain wood shows. Mix the black and white to make gray for the beak.

After all the paint has dried, draw the separation of the beak with a pencil.

Take a toothpick to apply a small dot of black for the eye. Note the location of the eye just above the center line extended through the beak.