tributesinwood

Creating an Oak Base

I picked up a beautiful piece of red oak at my favourite lumber mill just north of town.  Card Lumber.  What a great spot for someone who likes wood.  I found a nice length of 8″ wide oak that was planed down for me to about a 3/4″ thickness.  After a few quick saw cuts, I had it clamped down and laminated to produce about the 14″ by 14″ base that I would need.

That Black & Decker Workmate that you see the boards clamped down on was given to me as a Christmas present from my much missed Dad about 30 years ago and has served me very well…and has seen a lot of projects big and small.  I used that table to carve a rocking horse for my 2 year old daughter ( she’s no longer two ) and I used that same table for some pretty major house renovations over the years.

A nice piece of red oak emerged after gluing.  Now, how many people do you know who would take a picture of a piece of wood to post on their website?  You have to love wood.  It’s a sickness, really.

Then to the bandsaw to create a nice flowing contour around the carving.  I like the contour work around the carvings of docks and such as it leaves me with the impression of water without actually trying to add and paint a water scene.  I’ve never come across a wood carving that includes a water scene that looks right to me…I much prefer a hint at a flat surface for water.  Plus, that red oak will just make the rest of the colours in the carving “pop” once it’s stained and urethaned.

The base is substantial because the carving is quite substantial.  The pencil mark that you see will be where the flat surface ends and a router with a Roman Ogee contour will begin…a nice flowing line from the “water” to the tabletop where the carving will be displayed.  This is going to look really nice.

Lucy the Squirrel Chaser

This little hound got a few facial features over the weekend.  The colours are a little duller than they will be once a urethane coat is applied…the urethane tends to accentuate the colours and, of course, provides a matte, protective coating to the acrylics.

The real Lucy has a combination of lighter brown, white and some black in her face and I tried to indicate that with a few various washes of colour and some “dabs” of browns and white.

Painting the Howler

I’m not nearly complete on the painting of the Howler, but I had to put a quick photo up to show you the progress.

This little hound is tri-coloured and I used several ( many ) washes of chocolate brown, asphaltum and carbon black over the light cream coloured base that I applied the other day.

I’m pretty pleased with the way the Howler is turning out.

Final Touch Before Painting

Just a final touch on the figures before they get some paint.  I know this isn’t much of a photo of anything but I wanted to show a shot of what the tails look like with the coat of epoxy covering the twined copper wire.  The epoxy is just that…a two part “glue” that sets within five minutes.  You can get epoxy that sets at different rates, but the five minute version seems to be just right for coating these tails without too much dripping or sagging before the epoxy cures.

I’ll give the clear and smooth epoxy a very light sanding with fine sandpaper to give the acrylic paints something to bite into and adhere to well.  

This is a long weekend coming up and I know that at least one of those days is supposed to be rainy…so, maybe I’ll get a little ways into painting up my three little hounds.

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.