Free cardinal wood carving pattern and tutorial

Cardinal wood carving pattern: Trace the shape

• Use our free cardinal wood carving pattern (at the end) to trace your bird on one side (photo 1).  You can use Scotch tape or glue to affix it.
• Reverse the cardinal wood carving pattern (white side will be up) to draw the opposite side of the bird on your block (photo 2).
• You can also trace the back of the bird on the top of your block (photo 1) or just eyeball it like we did.

1. Attach and trace an outline of the pattern

2. Reverse side of template

Cardinal wood carving pattern: Roughout the shape 

• Using a roughout knife, start to remove wood around the pattern on both sides (photos 3,4).
• Use a stop cut to cut the underside of the beak, removing wood from underneath (photos 5,6).
• Draw a line to indicate where you will reserve wood for the head (photo 6).
• Remove wood from the back of the cardinal (photo 7).

3. Remove wood around guidelines

4. Continue roughing out wood

5. Use stop cuts to create the beak

6. Beak is cut and wood for head is reserved

7. Shaping back of the cardinal

Cardinal wood carving pattern: Shape the head and beak

• Shave wood off each side of the head to narrow the shape (photo 8).
• Mark wood on the top and the sides of the head where you will use 2 pyramid cuts to remove wood (photos 9-11).
• Use an angled cut to remove the wood from the back of the head (marked in photo 11 and completed in photo 14).
• Mark the wood that you will remove to shape the tail (photos 11,12).

8. Narrowing each side of the head

9. Wood is marked for removal

10. Starting first pyramid cut

11. Pyramid cuts are made on each side

12. Removing excess wood

Some terrific knives you will love!

The knives pictured below are easy to use and hold an edge extremely well. They are also very sturdy, which is awesome for beginner wood carvers. The FC001 is a great all-around carving knife. The FC016 is my go-to for making clean pyramid cuts with ease.  I use the FC015 when I need to remove a lot of wood without too much effort. Lots of great wood carvers on Instagram use them. They are also readily available, which is a plus these days. Check ‘em out! Every purchase you make via these affiliate links helps support this website. Thank you! 😀

Focuser carving knife FC001 (affiliate link)

Focuser chip knife FC016 (affiliate link)

Focuser whittling knife FC015 (affiliate link)

Cardinal wood carving pattern: Refine the bird

• Continue refining the cardinal until you reach the desired shape (photos 13-16).
• Make a line cut on each side to define the underpart of the wing (photos 14,15).

13. Front view of cardinal

14. Right view

15. Left view

16. Back view

Cardinal wood carving pattern: Wood burn to add texture (optional)

• You can use a wood burning pen (affiliate link) to create texture and interest on the beak, head, wings, and tail of the cardinal (photos 17-21).
• Look at photos of real cardinals to help guide you (photo 22).
• If you do not have a wood burner, you can use your knife to make cuts and use brown paint.

17. Creating texture with wood burning pen

18. Front view

20. Right view

19. Left view

21. Back view

22. Use real pictures for guidance

Cardinal wood carving pattern: Time to paint

To get this look (all brands listed contain affiliate links):

• First body wash (including beak): 1 drop of ArtSkills red paint mixed with 5 drops of water.
• Second body wash: 1 drop of Badger crimson paint mixed with 3 drops of water.
• Beak: 100% Badger yellow paint on top of wet red paint (blend).
• Head and back accents: 100% Badger crimson paint.

Photocopy this pattern to size

If you prefer to carve with a pattern, photocopy this to size to fit your wood block. 

Cardinal wood carving pattern and tutorial summary

• Our cardinal wood carving pattern is easy to use and carves up very quickly.
• You can carve the entire piece from a basswood block with just a knife.
• A wood burning pen is optional for texture (you can use your knife if you don’t have one).
• The paint is applied in layers so the top is darker than the underbelly.
• Click here to see more pictures of real Northern cardinals for reference.

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