tributesinwood

Some Paint Added

Below are a few items that I’ve painted so far.  I’ve stained the furniture much the same way as you would stain full size furniture and then have used a lot of browns and yellow ochre to give the furniture an aged and used look.  Everything is followed by a light dry brushing of an ivory/beige colour and a final coat of satin polyurethane.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Ready to Start Painting

I still have a few things to tidy up on the carving portion of this project, but I’m itching to start painting so I thought that I’d put the knives away for a while and pull out the paint brushes next.  Here’s what I’ve accomplished recently…

The lamp stand now has a lampshade made of brass.  I used a .010″ thickness of brass sheet and soldered the one edge to create the open ended cone for the shade.  Brass sometimes isn’t the easiest thing to solder, but I find that if I really burnish the surface up with sandpaper and then use a torch and solder ( rather than a soldering gun ), I can get a pretty good bond.

I also added a bit more interest to the birdcage that I carved by opening up the bottom portion a bit and inserting some copper wire to resemble the cage.  I also soldered a small washer over a short piece of copper wire and with a bit of bending and hammering ended up with a pretty reasonable looking hook.  With a few wrinkles carved into the wood, it’s starting to look like a cloth draped over the cage.

So, prior to some dabbing of paint, this is what it’s looking like.  I’ve added an old-time vacuum cleaner and the little bird that escaped the cage prior to packing.  You won’t be able to tell from this photo, but the cat’s eyes are now less evil thanks to Peggy’s prompting…

On With the Carving

It’s time to put the clay aside and start some carving.

I glued a couple of pieces of basswood together to get the right thickness and used the clay sculpture to come up with a pattern to cut out on the bandsaw.  Again, I’m doing the head and body separately.  I’m also going to try to do the body in one piece and so oriented the grain in a way that will run up and down the arms as they’ll be fairly slight once the carving is finished and will require a bit of strength.  Another weak point will be the legs, and the grain is running in the right direction for their strength as well.

I’m cooking up a couple of ideas about the load that he’ll be carrying and how part of that load might be touching the ground so as to provide another contact point for the carving.  More to come on that.