tributesinwood

That Dam Carver

Yup, the dam carver is coming along nicely.  I actually haven’t been able to spend much time on it as of late, but I’m enjoying the bit of carving that I’m doing.  It’s surprisingly cold here today with a wind chill of -15 C, so being indoors and carving felt about right.

I’ve been using a medium sized gouge to scoop out a depression here and there along the beaver’s coat.  This makes the coat look a bit more realistic with some sections that will look a bit tufted.  I’ve also made sure not to make the carving too symmetrical.  By not having each side a mirror image of the other side, I think that it makes the little guy more life-like…plus, the tilt of the head and the sway to one side looks pretty good, I think.

As you can see, I added some more wrinkles to his apron and, with the end of a very small gouge, made the outline of a couple of beady beaver eyes.  Finally, with a fine v-shaped chisel, I made many short cuts that produced pretty reasonable fur.  Those little v cuts look especially nice where I had made the larger gouge marks as the fur seems to be following the contours of what you’d imagine as the folds in his skin.

Wildlife carvers would be very proud of me…