Old Man - cane -Hickory

I got this piece of Hickory from a friend and was intrigued by the small knot at one end of it.  The more I looked at it, the more it stared back at me and took on the shape of an eye and its brow.  One eye became two and then the rest of the face quickly followed.  This was one of my earlier pieces, and one of the first in which I explored carving the human face.  Initially it was one of my least favorite carvings.  Since then it has actually been re-carved to cover up flaws in the original mouth and face, and the beard has been burned to heighten its intensity.

Originally, directly below the mustache that you see now was the upper lip of the man....the entire upper lip, including the part where the mustache ought to have been.  So not only did he have a mustache, but he had room for a second one right below it.  It was not immediately obvious what was wrong with the poor man's face, but once I realized, I had to perform surgery immediately.  I booked an O.R. and he came out of it a far more handsome cane.