A Close Call

Here's one I did demonstrating carving down at the local Community Center yesterday and today. I had a hat blank left over from the Gabby project so I passed it on to this fortunate Corporal who stuck his head up just a bit too far. I think he turned out real well. Stands about 12" tall with the base which is made out of Sycamore. I was thinking of putting in a few extra arrows but decided the one was enough to carry the thought.  Several more photos in the Gallery.   Hope you like him and your comments are welcome as always

Here's Gabby!

I gave Gabby a thin coat of polyurethane satin varnish and once dry use a little Testors DulCoat to flatten any shine.  Lastly, I put a couple small drops of epoxy on his pupils and he came to life.  I'm quite satisfied with him and think he won't be around the ranch too long.  I never measured him but he probably comes in at around 10 inches with the base.  A nice impressive size.
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There are a number of other photos in the Gallery and as always, you comments are welcome.
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Now.....what to do  next???

Gabby Hayes Bust – Part 12 & 13 – Painting the Body & Finishing Up

With these two videos we come to the end of this project.  I hope you enjoyed it and were able to pick up a few new tricks or techniques.  The purpose of doing these is to show the complete process from the very beginning to the point of setting the piece on the shelf.

As this series is approximately 5 hours in length I was wondering if any of you were able to get it on one disk? 

I’m not really sure what the next project will be but I’ll try and make it interesting.  As always your comments are welcome and if you happen to drop a couple coins in that Tip Jar over on the right that would be appreciated too.

Gabby Hayes Bust – Part 10 & 11 – Painting the Hat & Head

I had to break this part of the painting process into two parts due to the length of the videos.  I know a lot of you are interested in my painting techniques so I wanted to get in as much of it as possible. 

 

I’m  really satisfied with Gabby so far.  I think he’s going to be a real winner.  As always your comments are welcome.

Special Note:  I received an email asking which is the best way to download and copy these videos from the Blog.  If any of you have done this you might make a comment about how to do it.  Thanks.

Yellow Hawk - Unpainted

Yellow Hawk is my latest Native American.  While I have done similar figures in the past he should be able to stand out from the others once I get him painted.  I really like this pose as it allows the blanket and it's folds but still exposes the figures body and the costume underneath.  Should be pretty colorful once completed.

There are more photos in the Gallery and your comments are appreciated as always.

Gabby Hayes Bust – Part 8 & 9 – Finishing Up The Carving Part

With these two video segments we finally finished up the carving portion of this series.  A couple of you ask how to save the first hat blank being as you already cut it out so I offer a couple of examples…one that didn’t work for me and another that did.    Up next is the painting which will hopefully go pretty quick. 

 

Special note:  Some of you have asked where I get my name plates now that I lost my earlier source.  Well here’s the link to the company in New York:  www.halexawards.com.  The plate number is not on their site yet however they said it would be in a couple of weeks.  If you need one before then ask for item number 0994A.

As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated.

Gabby Hayes Bust-Part 7 – Carving The Hat – A Better Way To Do It!

Proving that I still have a few grey cells up there working, I came up with this idea of carving the hat brim that is a easier than doing it the normal way.  It sure saved some time and effort.  One thing though….if you try it make sure you drill the large hole on the larger block of wood as I did as you just can’t hold a smaller one, especially one where you’ve already sawn the hat blank.  Those large bits will just jerk it right out of your hand.  Dangerous!   One more thing….that piece of masking tape around the bit shank is to let me know when I’ve reached the correct depth on the brim.  Don’t want to drill completely through!

 

In the next post we’ll finish up the carving and head over to the paint table.  Almost there!!!

Gabby Hayes Bust – Part 6 – Laying Out The Hat & Cutting The Blank

 

 

The Grandkids have returned to Bahrain so it’s back to the videos.   With this part we layout the hat on the block and cut the blank. 

Gabby Hayes' Hat - Some Reference Material

In getting ready to come up with a design to capture the shape of Gabby's hat,  I've added some additional photos to the Gallery album.  Also, I came across this video clip which really gives a great idea of it's shape from all angles.  Take a moment to watch it as it is exactly what we want to accomplish.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7koigiUq7GE