Carve a Miniature Tiki Mask and Color It Cheaply and Eco-friendly

In this instructable I want to show you how you can carve a miniature tiki mask from scrap wood.

For non-toxic coloring and finishing, I used boiled linseed oil and coloured pencils.

I only used the most basic tools and materials, so almost everyone should be able to do this for free or at a very low cost.

A warning to all woodworking/carving professionals out there:
I am not a professional carver. In fact, this was my very first attempt at carving anything.
Please forgive me if I made stupid noobie-mistakes, but feel free to comment.

Also, I am not a native english speaker, so please excuse my spelling or grammar mistakes but please feel free to correct me.

Update:

I made a second tiki mask which I posted as slideshow:

https://www.instructables.com/id/miniature-tiki-mask-second-attempt/

Material:

scrap piece of wood from the hardware store (probably pinewood)


Tools:

for marking
- pencil
- ruler

for carving:
- optional: chisel for shaping the piece of wood
- various types of exacto knives (try to figure out which blades work best for you)
- sharpening tools for the blades
- a bristle brush to remove the wood shavings (you could also blow them away but that's more messy)
- superglue to replace wood pieces that broke away and to seal cuts in your fingers
  (you don't want blood on your wood and band-aids are annoying when handling small objects and knives)

for coloring and finishing:
- colored pencils
- Blu-tack
- steel wool
- boiled linseed oil
- cotton swabs to apply linseed oil
- paper towels to remove excess oil

A tiki mask usually has a convex face.
So, the first thing you have to do is make the face of the rectangular block into a convex face.

For this step, you can use a knive or try to use a chisel.
I used a chisel for the big parts that needed to come off and then made the surface even with an exacto knive.

I would not recommend using a belt sander or sandpaper for shaping the wood.
The sand paper will leave tiny abrasive particles in the wood that will blunt your blades as you work.

It helps to draw the convex shape to the faces of the wood and then work it until it has an even shape all the way across.
You can either control the shape by using a straightedge lenghtwise along the surface or just by feeling and eyeballing it.

To get some inspiration for this project, I looked on the internet for the various styles of tiki masks.
I tried to figure out what elements I liked best and then combined them to one design.

Drawing a grid onto the piece of wood helps to get a symmetric look.

After you have drawn your design,  it is time to carve the wood.

Try to start with easy cuts such as small and straight grooves. This helps to get used to the material and the tools.
try out different tools to finde those that work best for you.

Remember to keep your fingers out of the knive's way. It might help to somehow fix the piece of wood onto your table.
I used clamps to fix a wooden board onto my table against which I could support the piece I was working on.
This way I didn't have to hold it and my fingers were out of harms way when the knife slipped.

When you are satisfied with your carving, start to clean up any pencil marks. The wood might also be a bit dirty from handling it.
I used blu-tack for the pencil marks and steel wool to clean the surface.

For coloring, I used coloured pencils. Just paint you work with the pencils and take off excess pigment with blu-tack.
Then apply the boiled linseed oil with a cotton swap and let it soak for a few minutes. After that, you can take off the excess oil and pigment with a paper towel. The linseed oil needs quite a bit of time to dry (actually, it doesn't dry, it oxidizes) so leave it at least overnight. Then you can add more color and a few more layers of oil by repeating the process and letting it dry after every layer. If you feel that the wood is saturated, your work is done!

Boiled linseed oil is a natural, non-toxic treatment for wood that has been used for centuries. Since the coloured pencils are made for kids, I would assume that tey are non-toxic too. Although the linseed oil has a very specific smell, I think it smells a lot better than other wood treatments.

After the tedious drying process, you have your own miniature tiki mask!

Now you can hang it somewhere or give it to someone as a present.

To hang it, I bent a triangle shape out of wire and attached it at the backside with tape.
You could also use a self-adhesive picture hanger.