Captain Jack

Finished this fella up this morning.  The reason the colors on the face look mottled is because I went back after he was varnished and darkened the red.  As the wood was sealed the additional color is setting on the surface and did not soak in as it normally does.  It actually looks much better than it does in the photo but it's a good reminder of what sealing the wood prior to painting can do.  There is a photo of him prior to retouching in the gallery album where you can see the change.

Hope you like him.  He stands about 13" tall with the base.

The Old Scout II

Here's a new carving of an old subject.  Hope you like him.

Carving A Pair Of Vultures - Part 3

Here's part 3.....spider bite and all!

Carving A Pair Of Vultures - Part 2

In Part 2 we pretty well finish the body before running up against the clock. There's enough of it to get you on your way though.

Carving A Pair Of Vultures-Part 1

How about a couple of sinister looking, shifty birds to flesh out one of your scenes?  Well I think I can help you do that with this next video series.   'm not exactly sure just yet what type of scene they'll be flying into but I can see these two yahoos showing up just about anywhere.

In this first part we lay out the blanks, cut them on the band saw and get ready to do some carving.

Frank Phillips - Oilman

I know it's been a while since I posted anything but I have a good reason for that.....I've been working overtime on this figure.  With Woolaroc offering me the chance of a carver's lifetime I thought I would repay them a bit by carving a caricature of founder of the museum.  

Frank Phillips not only created the setting for the museum, it was his lodge and hideaway outside of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, he was the founder of Phillips 66 petroleum company back in 1917.   Here's a link to the museum which I consider houses one of the best collections of western art and artifacts in the U.S.: https://woolaroc.org/pages/museum-and-art.  Along with the additional photos of this piece in the Gallery, I've included a picture of Frank dressed up as a cowboy which I used as a guide. From what I've read and seen, he liked to dress up and play the part of one while at his lodge.  Considering this I thought I would alter that photo just a bit and really make him into a working wrangler.  Hopefully he'd approve.  The carving is pretty large....standing just short of 24" on it's base.   While the carving part was a little more difficult than normal considering it's size it was the lettering that was the hard part.  My eyes just ain't what they used to be.   I think it turned out pretty good overall.  It's difficult to capture a live person in a caricature without distorting the features which is something I didn't want to do.  


Anyway, I hope you like him and now, with this behind me, maybe we can get back to normal ops and turn out a new video or two.  As always your comments are welcomed and appreciated. 

Short Circuit - Finished!

I finished this one several days ago but with all the work around the place this is the first opportunity I had to photograph it.  Turned out pretty good and I like the larger size.   I used some nylon soaked with super glue for the burnt remains of the fabric.  You can't use cotton with the glue as it becomes brittle and breaks.  Nylon will not do that.

Hope you like him and there are more photos in the Gallery.