"Any Complaints?" Carving part Finished!

Better not say nothing bad about his biscuits!  This cook is packin'!   This was a fun figure to carve.  Being larger than normal I could spend a little more time on the details so I fitted him out with a revolver and a meat knife and cleaver.  I also gave him a false shirt front instead of the usual shirt and neckerchief.  It should look interesting when painted with his underwear showing behind it.  Might even toss in a few tobacco stains.

Anyway, hope you like him.  He should be a classic once he's applied his makeup!   As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated.

"Any Complaints?"

Here is the head for one I'm now working on.  He will be a Chuck Wagon cook not to open to any negative comments about his cooking.  He's also a little over sized than normal, standing about 16 inches all without the base.  I want to do some that will stand up to being placed on a display podium by themselves.   As with my previous painting style you might also note some changes in my carving techniques.  With this one I've tried to texture the mustache and hair a little different which works well on a larger figure.

Anyway, there are a  couple more photos in the Gallery and your comments are always appreciated.

Windy - Painted

Here he is .... fresh off the paint table.  I went a little farther on the paint job being as he's headed for a museum exhibit.  Hopefully, you will note an improvement in my carvings, the painting and their overall presentation on future pieces as I think now is the time to really stretch myself beyond what I've been doing.

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

Red Horse

Here's another bust, same size as Windy...about 8" tall.  Again, lots of color which really sets them off.   I have a great opportunity coming up in the future and pieces this size should really be a hit and also most importantly, affordable.  At least I hope so.

As always your comments are welcome and appreciated.

Windy

Here's a bust I put the finishing touches on today.  Looks like he's going to be a colorful one...lots of bead work to paint.  Next to Native Americans I love doing these Mountain Men as, like the other, there is so much detail available and so much paint to apply if you want.   He stands about 8" tall with the base.  Hope you like him.

Fireman – Part 16 - The Finish

We’re actually finish!  With this one we bring everything together…add the smaller details, glue a few pieces together and then mount him on his base.   I think he turned out to be a pretty nifty character.   There are photos of the finished product in the Gallery and your comments are appreciated. 

Thanks again to Stan up in South Dakota for the suggestion and for all of the reference material. 

Fireman – Part 15

We’re almost there.  After this only a little varnish and some fine tuning and we can set him out for display.

The Man With No Name - Finished!

Wow!  I'm sure I wouldn't want to meet this hombre out in front of the Saloon.  He looks a little P.O.'d!   This was really a fun figure to do and as you can see from the photo I couldn't stop even when posting the photos.   He's also pretty impressive....standing about 16' tall.   I like him!

I swiped one of Judy's makeup brushes to do some heavy dry brushing on his hat and serape to simulate dust.  I set the holster about 1/8" off the face of the tombstone to give it a slight shadow effct.  The strap around the holster is made from tupelo, steamed and bent into place.  I just noticed one thing I forgot though and thats the catch part of the belt buckle.  Hmmmm....how'd that get by me?  The buckle is bent wire and believe it or not that strip of steamed tupelo bent around it like a piece of soft plastic.

Anyway, I hope you like him as much as I do and your comments are always welcomed and appreciated.  Lots of photos in the Gallery.

Fireman – Part 14

Mixing up some color and watching it dry!

Fireman – Part 13

Fireman – Part 12

Let the painting begin!

The Man With No Name

I've always wanted to do a carving of the character played by Clint Eastwood in all those Italian movies so here's my firs attempt. Hopefully, I captured that sneer that really makes the character and I confess I had a little help from the movie Rango where this figure made a brief appearance. There will be a holstered gun in the open area on the tombstone when it's finished. Comments always welcome and there are more photos in the Gallery.

Fireman – Part 11

This wraps up the carving segments and I apologize for losing the information on carving the right arm, hose and bullhorn.  But I guess those things happen…just too bad it had to happen here.  Anyway……

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I’ve put the drawing for the horn in the gallery along with a scan of the horn itself and the hose.   I think we’ve covered enough to where it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out how to do these items should you want to following that route.

Fireman – Part 10

We finish up carving the left arm with this one.  He’s really starting to look good…at least I think so. 

Fireman – Part 9

Time to do some serious chopping!  In this segment we carve the Axe and position it into the hand before gluing the arm on.  I didn’t go into actually showing how to carve the axe as it really isn’t that hard to do.  If you’ve made it this far producing that axe will be easy.  Also, Stan send me another group of reference material which will help you in fleshing out your own figure.  Here’s the link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/dakotahope/LynnFFReferencePics?feat=email

As you’ll see at the end of the video the addition of the arm and that axe really gives us a great idea of just how neat this figure will look when finally completed.

Fireman – Part 8

This will be about attaching arms.  Probably take another video to get the job done.

A Cowboy's Coffee

Here's a fella pouring his first cup of the day.  This is pretty similar to the pose of the Road Agent as I used the same body pattern.  The cut is made from some metal roof flashing and filled with a layer of epoxy to give the allusion of coffee.  I still have to add a watch chain.  All in all he turned out pretty good .  Hope you like him.

Winter Warrior

I think this one will start off 2012 in the right direction.  I really like the contrast between the colors and Judy says he looks cold so as far as I'm concerned he's a success.  It took a lot of splattering with a toothbrush to get the effect I was after and I taped over the face to make sure I didn't get too much in that area.  I also tried to increase the snow in the areas that would catch it as it fell.  The base if a piece of medium density fiberboard coated with a gazillion coats of paint as that stuff really soaks it up.  Got to come up with a better way of doing it or search for a different material.
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Anyway, hope you like him and there are more photos in the Gallery.

Fireman – Part 7

Finally, back to work on this fella.  With this segment we get the trunk of the body ready for the arms.