tributesinwood

Fightin’s Done

Bruzer is now complete in all his glory.

The base is made from a nice piece of red oak that I cut in a circular fashion to match the contour of the back of the carving, and cut straight across the front to match the flat hockey boards.  I did steal an idea from Lynn Doughty’s beautiful carvings (Outwestwoodcarving link at the side of this page) and added in a nicely engraved brass nameplate.

I’m very pleased with this little hockey player and am looking forward to showing it at the Ontario shows starting this Fall.

Painting Finished

Here are a few shots of the finished paint job.  I’m pretty pleased with the way that he turned out.

I darkened the recesses of the wrinkles throughout the carving to give them more depth.  The blue portions were darkened with red, and the red and yellow portions were darkened with brown.  I then used a slightly lighter blue than the jersey to dry brush over the entire figure.  The boards just got a few streaks of red, blue, yellow and black and then a light wash of a beige to make it look as if it’s had a bit of use.

Early this week I’m off to the lumber yard to get some nice hardwood for a base.  Stay tuned.

Some New Lumber

Bruzer was in need of some lumber so Rosie and I chose a piece of cherry today and cobbled up a good strong hockey stick.  That bulb at the end of the stick was to allow me enough room to carve a really wicked hook along with many wraps of hockey tape!  Rosie was only mildly interested in the whole thing.

Following the shaping and fitting to the gloved hands, I carved in wraps of tape along the blade and the end of the shaft and painted them black highlighted with grey.  I also added a number of knicks along the whole stick to indicate where it’s been hit in frustration along the boards.  After staining the  unpainted portions, I dabbed some black and white along the stick and then used Letraset to add the “KOHO” brand name as well as the two pinstripes that you see.  The whole thing was then coated with satin polyurethane.

I think it turned out pretty reasonable.  I’m not sure that Bruzer is employed for his stick handling skills, but at least he has something to hold onto while he’s sitting things out in the penalty box.

Jersey and Gloves

The painting of the jersey and gloves is underway.  I’ve carved all of the lettering and numbers that you see so that they stand out a bit from the rest of the jersey.  You might also be able to see from this photo that I made some straps for the helmet out of roof flashing ( thin gauge sheet metal ) and painted them black.

Everything is in primary colours at the moment but I’ll be adding highlights and a variety of smudges to give the whole carving greater character.

I thought that a name like “Bruzer” would get the point across…

That Toothy Grin

Here’s a bit of time put into painting the head and helmet.  The brass nails holding the chin strap support will be painted and non-brass looking before I’m finished.  The chin strap itself will be a combination of copper wire and light gauge metal ( roof flashing, likely ) and will wrap around the ears and loosely lie under the chin.  I used some old “Letraset” that was lying around to duplicate a beat-up looking CCM emblem on the helmet.  More to come…

Detailing the Arms

Spent a bit of time on the Hockey Player’s arms today adding some wrinkles here and there and providing some general shaping.  Mostly used a knife but did add some detail with a couple of different gouges as well.

I need to add some detail and folds on the back of the jersey this week.  Then, after just a little cleaning up of a few spots, I should be ready for the start of painting.  I’m picturing an older jersey, gloves and helmet just to give this guy some additional character…he’s not your NHL calibre player…just a weekend warrior that might take the game a bit too serious from time to time.

Hockey Gloves

I’ve pretty much completed the hockey gloves on this carving.  Right now he just happens to be holding a chopstick…but, that’ll change to a hockey stick at some point soon!

I had originally entertained the idea of carving the gloves separately and attaching them to the arms later, but given that the grain direction is up-and-down already in the carving, I felt that the gloves would be plenty strong even if I carved them into the one block of wood.  Having said that, it was a bit difficult carving in behind the gloves between the glove palms and the “boards.”  I think that when I carve this particular figure again, I’ll give the separate glove carving a try.

If I can steal away a few more hours here and there, I’ll start work on the arms and sleeves and get some of those nice wrinkles and folds in place on his jersey.

Roughing-in a Ruffian

This ruffian is going to slowly turn from clay into a basswood carving.  Although I could still add a little more detail to the clay as guidance for the carving, I started to rough-in the body of my hockey player.

I actually didn’t have a piece of basswood quite deep enough so I glued two pieces together.  Between some work on the bandsaw, a bit with a handsaw and some shaping with the Foredom tool equipped with a Typhoon carbide bit, the basic shape of the arms and body hanging over the penalty box boards is coming to life.

The only thing I’m fighting at this point is the nice weather and getting outside to enjoy the yard-work!  Maybe a remote shop on wheels that I can park on our patio is the way to go.