Footstool update- ball and claw foot

Here's the fourth and most challenging foot- the ball and claw.  As with the rest of what we do it looks very complicated, but there is a process.  The roughing out, fairing and layout are similar to the other legs.

The knee is flatter for the carvings and the ankle is more square in order to lead into the toes.

This is the layout.  The outer circle is the max diameter of the ball.   That happens around the bottom knuckle.  The inner circle is the bottom circumference of the ball.  The toes all point to the corners.

We sawed in to define the toes.

We then carve straight up from the outer circle to get the maximum circumference of the ball, which we mark with a pencil line.

 We then chop down from the ridges we created when we bandsawed out the rough blank to find where the ball goes under the claw.  Once we have that point we can start to shape the ball.  This is done with a chisel whose sweep is the same as the circumference of the ball, which helps guarantee consistency in the shape.

The ball is starting to take shape.  We also form the bottom of the ball at this point.

Next we remove the web between the fingers to facilitate the carving of the fingers.

With that done just the shaping of the claws and fingers is left.   This is the part with the least process and most "doing it by feel" and "making it look good."

I am happy with the way it came out.