The Head and Face

The face of your Bitty is probably the most engaging part. It takes a lot of patience and control. When pencilling on the mouth, make sure it is wide enough, or you'll get a pickle-eating mouth!

Step 1: Remember your thumb protection!	Mark the future face on the blank. The "body" makes a convenient handle.
Mark the line where the hair will fall. Be sure to keep the hair back far enough to allow the face to come forward - otherwise it'll be flat!	Here we see the face and the hair from the top of the head.
Carve the face to a vertical ridge that will become the nose and the lips. The convex-curved knife can help with the eye hollows.	See how the mouth area and the chin protrude. They can always be cut back later, but they can't be put back once gone.
Carve a bit away under the nose - leaving the lip area. Light sanding will show you how the face is shaping up.	Here's a view from the top of the head.
Pencil in the line of the mouth. It should be half-way between the nose and bottom of the chin. This one is a bit high (more on this later...)	Cut precisely on top of the pencil line. Then cut a bevel on the top lip and on the bottom lip. Then hollow out gently below the bottom lip.
Don't forget to take frequent play breaks! It's nice to have an assistant to remind you to stop and play!