Carve a monkey from wood. The best DIY monkey making tutorials on the internet! Making a plywood monkey

All photos from the article

In our great power, monkeys have always been considered cute, cute animals, so various kinds of toys, crafts and images of funny monkeys are in constant demand. According to the eastern calendar, 2016 has been declared the year of the fire monkey, and this has greatly increased interest in the monkey theme. In this article we want to talk about how to make a monkey from plywood with your own hands.

Tools and materials

The main tool in the manufacture of plywood products is a jigsaw. It all depends on your financial capabilities. The price for the most common one starts at about 200 rubles. The thing is quite reliable, but it is designed for one-time work.

Advice: if you do not take into account the production of plywood toys on a professional level, as a small business, then it is better to immediately buy an electric jigsaw.
Whether this activity will become your hobby remains to be seen, but a jigsaw is a necessary thing in the household.

In addition to the slotted version, there is also artistic cutting of plywood, this is one of the areas of wood carving. So if you are planning a relief monkey, you will also need a set of special incisors. For starters, a V-shaped and semicircular cutter is enough;
Theoretically, a sheet of plywood up to 5 mm thick can be pierced with a good awl, but craftsmen do not recommend doing this. To prevent the veneer from cracking when pierced, it is better to drill holes with a thin drill; therefore, a drill is needed;

Both the top layer of veneer and the edges after cutting the product will need to be rounded and sanded. For rounding, you can take a set of files, and it is better to sand the plywood with sandpaper No. 40 - No. 160;
It’s not enough to just take drawings of a monkey from plywood and cut out a product based on them; such a monkey will also need to be brightly painted. If this is a one-time event to please children, then you can get by with inexpensive gouache, but this paint is not durable, it is wiped off and fades in the sun. Professionals usually use acrylic paints and varnishes; they are bright, durable, and most importantly, environmentally friendly;
As for the plywood itself, if you plan to make a small toy for a baby or a figurine that will stand in the house, then you should take urea-formaldehyde sheets "FK", they are environmentally friendly. For products that will be placed outdoors, in a playground, garden or cottage, you need waterproof material “FSF” or “FB”.

Making a plywood monkey

Let's start with the fact that such creativity is conditionally divided into 2 directions. This is making your own garden figurines and assembling small children's toys. Accordingly, the drawings of the plywood monkey, as well as the manufacturing instructions, will differ slightly from each other.

Hand toy monkey

One of the options for such toys is an acrobat figurine. The essence of the design is that a movable figure is suspended on a wooden frame made in the shape of the letter “H” between the two upper slats on two fishing lines. When the two lower bars are compressed, the fishing line is stretched and the figure performs acrobatic exercises.

Such plywood monkey drawings usually contain 5 elements. These are 2 arms, 2 legs and a torso. If you do not have the talent to draw all these details with your own hands, then such stencils can easily be found online or bought in a store; this product is not considered in short supply. The big advantage is that the figure itself is small and all the parts easily fit on A4 size.

As a rule, plywood with a thickness of 5–7 mm is used for production. You should not take a sheet that is too thin, the product will look bad. And figures made from sheets thicker than 10 mm are too heavy, and the fishing line will often fray.

To fix the legs and arms of the figure, you will need to drill through holes. But all parts must be movable, so the holes are made 0.5 mm larger than the axis on which the parts will be attached.

As you understand, there will be 2 axes, for the arms and for the legs. The easiest way to make these components is to use aluminum wire with a diameter of 3.5 mm. Aluminum is a soft material, so it won’t be too difficult to rivet its ends.

Once the figure is assembled and all its parts move freely, it's time to assemble the support frame and hang our acrobat. To assemble the support frame, you can take square or rectangular ones about 15 mm. The size of the middle crossbar should be at least 3 - 4 times the thickness of the figure. The figure's legs should be higher than the spacer so as not to cling to it when rotating.

As already mentioned, the figure will tumble due to the tension of the fishing line. In order to thread the fishing line, 2 symmetrical holes are drilled in the upper part of the slats and in the arms of the monkey. Holes are made vertically at a distance of about 15 mm.

Important: while the fishing line is being threaded and slightly stretched, the figure should be in the upper position, that is, upside down in relation to the crossbar.

Thus, when the toy is picked up, the figure will fall down under its own weight and the line on either side of the monkey will cross. But as soon as you press the bars, the line will straighten and the figure will begin to tumble.

Monkeys for the garden

Making garden figures of monkeys for landscape design is also not very difficult. As a rule, such products are made noticeable, so the sheet thickness here starts from 10 mm. Otherwise, the wind may simply break or at least blow away your monkey.

Large figures require the same paper stencils. If you have no luck with drawing, and you don’t have a large printer at hand, then you will have to order drawings of a monkey made of plywood separately, since there are now enough offers on the market and the price for such stencils is quite affordable.

You can immediately forget about using a hand jigsaw here. Firstly, with such a tool it is impossible to cut a product larger than the bend of the holder allows, and secondly, cutting a thick plywood sheet by hand is a difficult and thankless task. The best option is to use an electric jigsaw.

To arrange the internal cavities, first make a hole, the diameter of which allows you to insert the tool blade into it, after which you cut it out clearly according to the markings.

Important: both when working with a manual jigsaw and when using its electric counterpart, the blade during cutting must go strictly perpendicular to the sheet, otherwise you will break it.

Relief carving on a plane, if planned, is carried out after the product has been cut out. The last step before painting is rounding the edges with files and finishing the monkey with sandpaper.

Conclusion

This funny wooden “Monkey” craft is an ideal decoration for flower pots, but can also be a wonderful gift in the coming New Year. Be sure to watch the detailed monkey making video at the bottom of this page.

To make a monkey you will need:

twine rope or linen cord approximately 4 mm in diameter,
wooden stick about 40 cm long and 3 mm in diameter,
4 brown wooden beads, approximately 1.5 cm in diameter,
2 round wooden washers (7.5 cm in diameter for the body, 7 cm for the head),
3 oval wooden washers (two 3 cm for the ears, 5 cm for the mouth),
some brown thread for hair,
black marker or felt-tip pen,
pink watercolor pencil,
brown acrylic paint,
tassel,
glue gun,
scissors.

Assembling a monkey from wood:

First, let's make the ears: for this we take oval wooden washers with a diameter of 3 cm and paint them with brown acrylic paint as shown in the step-by-step photograph.
Next, take an oval for the mouth (5 cm in diameter), draw a nose with brown acrylic paint and a mouth with a black marker.

On a round washer (7 cm in diameter) we draw on top with brown acrylic paint as shown in the photo. Draw eyes with a black felt-tip pen or marker.
Use a pink watercolor pencil to color the inside of the ears. To give them a beautiful, even color, you can rub the painted wood with your finger.

Using a glue gun, glue the ears, hair and nose with mouth to the monkey's head.

Apply hot glue to the back of the monkey's head and glue a wooden stick to it. Glue the body in the same way - a washer with a diameter of 7.5 cm (see video at the bottom of the page).

To make the arms and legs, cut a rope about 32 cm long and string wooden beads onto it. Tie knots at the ends of the rope, trim off the excess rope.

Use a glue gun to attach the arms and legs to the monkey's body.

According to the Chinese calendar, 2016 is the year of the fire monkey. Despite the fact that the New Year is long behind us, its symbol still decorates many homes. In addition, a gift in the form of a cute animal will be an excellent birthday gift for those born in the year of the monkey. These are those who turn 12, 24, 36 years old and so on. Such a gift will be much nicer if you make it yourself. A souvenir can be made using different techniques: sculpted from dough, plasticine or plastic, sewn from felt or fabric, made from paper... There are a great many options, and today we’ll talk about a method such as wood carving. We will tell you and show you how to carve a cheerful monkey yourself from a pre-prepared tree quickly and easily with your own hands with a selection of photos and videos!

Wood carving is an ancient form of woodworking art. There are also different types in this craft: you can cut it using contour, through, sculptural, flat-notched or flat-relief techniques. To begin with, it is worth considering each of the types in more detail.

How to carve a monkey from wood with your own hands with a photo

We analyze the contour technique of carving a monkey on wood

The contour technique involves cutting out the outline of a design on wood. In order to carve a monkey using this technique, you need to draw or print a sketch of the monkey on a piece of paper and transfer it to a wooden blank. To do this, it is advisable to choose a board made of linden or alder - soft wood species. You can decorate a cutting board in this way or simply decorate a craft in the form of a painting.

Idea: You don't have to look for a ready-made monkey stencil. You can open a children's book or find a coloring book with a suitable picture and circle it. You will get a finished stencil. Even if you work according to a template, the thing will still turn out to be unique, because each master, putting his hand to the product, brings something of his own and has a special style.

So, when the template is transferred to the workpiece, you need to take a jamb knife and cut grooves 2-4 millimeters deep in it along the contour of the pattern. After this, sand the craft and coat it with varnish. To highlight the pattern, the inner parts of the pattern can be tinted with darker paint or stain.

Here is a finished stencil for wood carving.

We cut using the slotted or through-thread technique

To do this, you need to take a piece of board 5-10 millimeters thick, and also transfer a sketch of a monkey onto it. Next, do not cut out the grooves, but saw off the excess along the contour with a jigsaw or router. Again, modify the internal parts with a knife or simply draw. Paint or varnish the product. Give to the recipient or decorate your own home with a carved flat toy.

A vase with a monkey is not only beautiful, but also practical

We work with flat-notched and flat-relief threads

To make crafts using these techniques, you need to have a little experience and skills in working with tools.

Flat grooved thread– the design is cut deep into the background, that is, it is concave. To begin with, it is better to practice geometric carving - this is the simplest type of flat-notched carving. After this, you can begin more complex, figured carving.

Flat relief technique– the background is recessed under the design, which looks incredibly beautiful, but you need to wield the tool even better than for the previous carving. To do this, you need to master the technique of deepening the background, and also have a set of knives and other tools for the job.

However, if you really want to try this option, then the technology will be as follows: you need to transfer the sketch onto wood, and then cut out the details of the drawing step by step. Then all that remains is to sand and varnish the truly unique product.

The photo shows the flat-notched carving technique.

This craft will also look very beautiful and impressive. But in order to cut it out, you need to be able to work with knives and other tools, and it is also important to be able to imagine a three-dimensional image. Beginners are advised to first sculpt a sketch from plasticine to get a feel for the volumes and shapes. After this you can start carving.

First you need to take a piece of wood larger than the size of the toy. Then you need to cut off all the excess - hew out a rough piece. After this, using thinner knives, detail the sculpture. And the last step, as always, is to sand and varnish the product.

The most popular style of carving monkeys turned out to be sculptural carving.