If a roughed-out piece seems to have potential I will first concentrate my initial carving time on the facial area of the bird. Finding the personality of each new bird is something that shows up as the facial detail is carved. When the eyes are correctly set, and the facial detail is defined, the carving starts to come to life. Not every carving makes it past this stage.

I normally use glass eyes on all of my carvings. The facial feathers around the eyes (especially owls) look like soft hair. Small 1mm V-tools define each feather of the face. I usually drill the eye sockets 2-3mm smaller than the glass eyes themselves. I create larger eye sockets behind the drilled openings to hold the glass eyes. I keep testing each opening for fit until I'm sure that the cavity is ready for the glass eye. The glass eye can be carefully "pushed" into the cavity. A piece of soft foam is placed into the eye cavity before each glass eye is pressed into place. The foam pushes the glass eye back against the eye socket opening creating a perfect "real life" fit.

There is no glue holding the glass eyes in place.  It takes time to fit the eyes into each carving using the above technique, but the end result is worth the investment.  Click on any photo to take a close look at the facial detail of these carvings.

The detail or veins of each feather are individually cut into the piece using a 1 mm V-tool. My newest Bald Eagle that I recently completed for 2010 has over 40,000+ individual vanes creating the soft look feathers of this carving. Check out the close-up view on my newest Bald Eagle carving or one of the other recent carvings.