and then there were 10

Well since my last post in regard to carving I have gotten a few more carved for the church bizarre in November. These two I really like for different reasons, the first I like because it was a concept that my younger son thought up and the second because I tried a new technique for carving the beard.

Tonight I will stop carving and focus on painting a few that are ready so that I can get them to be dipped in a sealant. I like to dip multiple carvings in one session whenever possible. Since I only have two painted at this point, I need to get the brushes out and get busy. I have to say even when using simple color and leaving a greater portion of the carving ah la naturale' the color has great impact on the carvings. I will mostly paint the beards and add color to the cap for the majority of my carvings. One or two I may add a hint of color to the cheeks.

I know a lot of the old school carvers use the linseed oil and then a wax treatment but with linseed being combustible and me working out of our one car garage attached to our house I don't utilize this technique at this time. I will look through my carving magazines to find the treatment that I currently use, for a carver on a budget this for now works just fine and gives the protection to the carvings which is the main purpose.