tributesinwood

Squirrels and Tails

Our little squirrel received a bit more detail attention and also found a little acorn to bring to the party.  The little guy also received a light coat of gesso as a paint primer and is ready for some acrylic colours.

The tails are made from regular household wiring.  I simply remove the protective plastic from the copper wires and twine together the “black”, “white” and “ground” wires into a tight little braid.  The way that I do this is to pinch one end of the three wires together in a vise and the other ends into the chuck of a hand driven drill.  You could also use a battery operated hand drill…but, make sure that you go slowly.  I would not do this with a drill that doesn’t have a variable speed as this would be just too fast and dangerous to you.  You end up with a “braided” wire that you can epoxy into a drilled hole in the carving and then shape to the curvature that you’re looking for.

Once I get the tails to this point and positioned the way that I want them, I mix up some slow setting two-part epoxy and coat the tails with this mixture.  As the epoxy sets, you can form the epoxy around the wire to make a nice smooth surface that hides the wire and makes a great, slightly roughened surface for painting.