Eye Size

This is one subject most all carvers need to consider.
When we start out carving eyes, we make them a bit too large.
How can you tell if you are experiencing this problem?

Simple, your finished carving will look like it was zapped with a cattle prod. *

I have some 'Wide awake Santas' stored somewhere.

There are a ton of books that will tell you how wide to make your eyes, but few
(if any) tell you how 'open' to make them.

I finally reduced the opening size by half, and that seems to look pretty good.

Another common mistake is bringing the corners of the mouth up high to create a smile. *If you look in a mirror, you will see that the corners of the mouth only move approximately halfway between the mouth and nose. *
The things that do move are the cheeks, they rise so high that the eye openings become even smaller.

My point here is, if you want to make a smile appear real, you need small eye openings. *Spend some time making faces in a mirror and watch what happens to your face.

Just for fun, do it in front of your better half. *
That should remove any doubts.

My concern is for my mirror....

Not his wife LOL