Black Buffalo - Finished!

Put the final touch to this piece this morning and while it turned out just as I had planned it sure was good to get it off the workbench and next door in the Gallery.

The trickiest part of this one was the necklace.  I had originally though about prepainting everything before assembly but then thought, being as the teeth, the robe and the necklace fur are all pretty much the same color I'd just paint them once it was together.  To set the claws, once the fur was textured I cut the slots for each claw which was numbered along with the slot.  When setting them I started with a back claw, working my way forward and around, drilling a small hole in each one for the wire which holds the beads.  Had to do it this way so the wire would match without any kinks.  Once the epoxy was dry I strung the beads which are held on the wire with superglue.  Then it was off to the paint table.

For the drops off the headress, the ermine tails were carved, doweled and inserted into place, the ribbons were made from Tupelo which was first, boiled, twisted into place, and then clamped until dry.  After that they were removed and painted and then doweled and glued in place.

The war club was in two pieces with leather decoration on one end and a pounded brass point on the other.  The decorative nail head are just paint dots.  The cloth trailer on the back of the headress is another piece of Tupelo with added wooden buttons.  I put a drop of epoxy on the top of the painted nail heads which gives the appearance of beads.   The base is walnut.

This was a great project resulting in, what I think is a great piece which I'll probably hang onto for a bit.  It will look good setting next to the Warbonnet bust.

Lots of photos in the Gallery and your comments are always appreciated.