Bought some wood

Well I recently bought some bass wood and I have to say I was thrilled with the service. I had a few options but nothing locally so I decided to try a company in Wisconsin, HeineckeWood Products. I placed my order on the 11^th of this month and I received my shipment on the 17^th. Now let me start by saying the shipping time was impressive but not the most impressive thing about the product, the most impressive was the wood itself. I order both 1 ½” and 2” and to my surprise it came at the exact size. Some places tell you it can be a 1/4” off due to surfacing, not this it was the exact size. Shipping was competitive and timely. All in all this is a great company to buy your wood from. They charge no minimal amount, a competitor on the web required a purchase of at least 25 dollars, and they were priced higher than Heinecke Wood Products which meant I would have to pay more for less wood. All in all it has been a pleasant shopping experience and would recommend them again. I have seen a link to their page on many wood carvers sites but thought you might want to know why so many wood carvers promote this company. 

color contrast pt 2

Well the king is finished and his name is Ryan, which happens to be my son’s name who told me not to give up on this carving. We found out as well that the name Ryan in Gaelic translates to “little king”, what better name for the king of the leprechauns. This carving started out as a corner piece, you know, a carving from a practice stick that is only done one half of the block. Well after I had carved out the front side and Ryan (my son) showed an interest in having him in his room I thought I should carve out his back side as well. The funny thing was I had already begun to paint him, you see for some reason my son not only wanted me to save this carving but he also wanted him to have a red beard. So I started to carve him, broke his nose (trying to muscle the wood, bad idea), finished the initial carving, but I’m not done yet. Second half, started to paint him, decided to carve the back side, carved off some of the old paint with minor changes to original design and repainted him. 

From all this was born Ryan, king of the leprechauns. I have added more pictures than I normally would but wanted to give you a good look at the transition he went through. All in all it was worth it and it taught me a lesson in carving. No matter what mistake was made and no matter what you thought it would end up to be complete each carving and see how it looks complete.

Michelangelo once said “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it”.

color contrast

Color truly brings a contrast and I have openly said that with my current supplies, I am limited in painting supplies. Now of course I could go out and buy a full supply of paints but I am not ready for that yet. Although most carvers use similar techniques to paint their carvings, there are variations from carver to carver. I will be researching this in the near future but I want to find a way to paint my carvings to have a water color look to them. Right now the paint is heavy and covers the wood completely. I know there is a way to apply paint and still have the wood have a presence, more on this later.

There are three factors (in my mind) in getting a completed carving. I know I might be breaking it down into too simple of terms but for now I am not only trying to improve upon my skills but also trying to form a process to my carving that will keep me consistent in my work. I have broken it down this way, basic carving; where you proceed from rough out to the basic form of a carving. This will be followed by the detailing process. This will be when you go into the details that make this character come through and stand out from other carvings that you have done. This will be followed by the painting process and I truly believe that this can be a make or break it time. Color can reduce a wonderful carving down to a cartoon like character. It can also diminish the idea that this was carved from wood if put on too heavy.

I have painted some of my cravings just to get into the process and to pick and choose what I do and don’t like from each, the main thing as I have said before is I don’t like it covering the wood completely so that it (for me) takes away from the wood itself. Isn’t this why we carve we love the wood, the look the smell and the feel of a carving made from wood? I have attached a picture that show a carving I have been playing with before some of the detailing work.

This one I was carving and the wood on the nose chipped away and I thought I was going to have to discard the carving. My youngest son told me he still thought it could look nice so I continued on with my efforts. See for yourself if he was right. I am in the process of painting him for my son, and will add those pictures shortly. 

to paint or not to paint

Well after I painted the last two pieces and was not happy with the outcome I pondered whether I would or would not paint lil’ billy. Well last night I decided to paint the little man and here is how it came out. This one I am very happy with and here is why. I toned down the colors, the last one I painted had really bright strong colors and it just looked to cartoony, I know right, you would think from my perspective that this would be a good thing. But if you have ever looked at my water color work or my color pencil work I don’t like bright colors. I try most of the time to give it a toned down, one person referred to it as antique-ish in style.

The beard is actually layered colors where I started with a pretty strong brownish orange and then every layer after that I darkened the color.

The hat band was a little bit of brown with a touch of red and a small touch of white in trying to give it a leather look. I almost did the same with the vest but decided to go with the green instead.

The jeans color was made from three colors, a deep blue with some white added in with a small bit of black to give it a worn look.

All together I am happy with the way it came out and like the look it gave the carving. The way a carving is painted can either make or break a carvings design. I still have a lot to learn about the proper way to finish off a carving, remember these are my practice pieces, but for the most part am happy with the progress so far.

Should there be a call to arms for lil' billy? 

To arms

You may have noticed that the character on the previous posting was seemingly arm less. I thought for this one I would try to carve the arms separate and attach them. I got one of the arms mostly carved out and attached it temporarily with some glue but not sure that I am happy with it. It to me looks way to stiff so I will try and carve out arms with a bend at the elbow and maybe having the hands bent and resting on the belly. I am still struggling with getting clean detail in tight areas but will probably improve upon that when I get some gouges. I still want to find a way with getting into tight areas and still getting clean cuts out of them. So here is a glimpse into the arms and how it looked when it was added, like I say not happy with it but will possibly attempt a different arm for it.

 I have also included a few pictures of the little guy now that I have added more detail. You can see that I am still getting fuzzy cuts at times and not getting a clean carving. More work ahead, much more work ahead.