The Coal Miner - Part 19 - The Left Hand Continued

The Coal Miner - Part 19 -The Left Arm Continued from Out West Woodcarving Videos on Vimeo.

How To Photograph Your Carvings

I was looking over my Blog and Video stats this morning and thought I'd repost the first video I made on taking photos of your work.  I uploaded it back in September 2009 and I think it still has a lot of information you can use to take some almost studio quality shots of your pieces.

  It's hard to believe that since posting that video it was followed by 292 more.   Total Blog entries are bumping 800 with 791.  Hope it's all worth it!

Here's that video:

The Coal Miner - Part 18 - The Left Arm

Things are starting to settle down around here so it's time to get back to the Coal Miner.  A funny thing on our trip to Yellowstone....we rented a historic log cabin just outside of Gardiner, Montana that was built back in 1907.  Setting inside the living area was a antique coal cart which was just the type I had planned on making as an accessory to this figure.  There was an old mine up the hill from the cabin so evidently they just moved it down the slope and into the house.  Neat!

Snake River Sam

With all that's been going on around here I finally found a few moments to finish this one. I've also changed his name to something more reflective of the piece. Funny, when people look at carvings, sculptures, or paintings, they never seem to look at the titles. That's a real shame as the artist generally gives a lot of thought to that area to ensure that the title amplifies what they're trying to express. More often than now it is the key to the whole piece.  Take my advice and read that title....you'll appreciate what was done a lot more.

 I tried something new to try and give his coat the look of sheepskin with the wool on the inside. It wasn't that hard to do. I just chucked in a Kutzal bit and bumped it across the surface of the wood to rough it up. After that I used a butane torch to burn away all the fuzz. Enough was left to accomplish the thought. It did take a lot of dry brushing to get the correct coloring as that rough surface really soaked up the paint. I like it.

 This bust stands a little under 15" with the base. There are more photos in the Gallery and your comments are appreciated as always.