The Coal Miner

This post will close out the Coal Miner project. Needless to say, I'm sorry we couldn't flesh him out like I had originally hoped but even without the addition of a coal cart I think he looks pretty snappy. One thing for sure.....he needs to spend a few minutes, maybe an hour, in the shower.

To make the scenic base which he's standing on I just used some small gravel and glued it down with ModPodge like I normally do.  Once dry the entire thing was painted black with a few touches of gray here and there in a few of the open spots.  The overall appearance of the piece might seem a little dark but I think it only adds to the figure and the idea we were trying to express.

I hope you enjoyed following along and will look forward to your comments.  As always, there are more photos in the Gallery album.

The Coal Miner - Part 32 - Let's Get Dirty

Part 32 - Let's Get Dirty from Out West Woodcarving Videos on Vimeo.

The Coal Miner - Part 31 - Painting The Pick & Shovel

The Coal Miner - Part 31 - Painting The Pick & Shovel from Out West Woodcarving Videos on Vimeo.

The Coal Miner - Part 30 - Painting the Overalls

The Coal Miner - Part 30 - Painting The Overalls from Out West Woodcarving Videos on Vimeo.

The Coal Miner - Part 29 - Painting The Shirt

Well, I had hoped to make use of a feature of the video processing program we've been using to speed up certain portions of videos by fast forwarding. Unfortunately, it didn't work so to continue to use the higher definition uploads we'll have to limit video lengths to 15 minutes or less. Anything more than that times out, probably from the limits of our DSL line. Anyway, this one covers painting the shirt.

Part 28 -Painting The Shirt from Out West Woodcarving Videos on Vimeo.

The Coal Miner - Part 28 - Painting The Lantern

The Coal Miner - Part 28 - Painting The Lantern from Out West Woodcarving Videos on Vimeo.

The Coal Miner - Part 27 - Painting The Head

Unfortunately, I had to upload this at a lower video quality setting than normal as they evidently were having a problem at the host site.  Also, I had to break it in the middle due to it's length.

The Coal Miner - Part 27 - Painting the Head from Out West Woodcarving Videos on Vimeo.

The Coal Miner - Part 26 - Burning Some Detail

The Coal Miner - Part 26-Burning from Out West Woodcarving Videos on Vimeo.

The Coal Miner - Part 25 - The Pick

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The Coal Miner - Part 24 - The Shovel- Part 2

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The Coal Miner - Part 23 - The Shovel

It will take two segments to do the shovel so here's the first one:
 
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The Coal Miner - Part 22 - Finally! The Figure Is Finished!

It took a while but it's finally done. Now to move on to the fun stuff!
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The Coal Miner - Part 21 - The Left Arm Is Finished

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The Coal Miner - Part 20 - The Left Arm Continued

Part 20 

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.

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!

The Coal Miner - Part 17 - Overalls Continued

With this one we pretty well wrap up the body work and get ready to move on to the arms.

Part 17 -Overalls Continued from Out West Woodcarving Videos on Vimeo.

The Coal Miner - Part 16 - Overalls

The Coal Miner - Part 16 -Overalls from Out West Woodcarving Videos on Vimeo.

The Coal Miner - Part 15 - Moving On Up

The Coal Miner - Part 14 - Finishing Up The Legs

Spent the morning out in the field mowing to beat the heat but it was still HOT! It's was nice to get into the shop where it's nice and cool. In this segment we pretty well finish up the legs and get ready to move up the trunk in the next one.

Part 14 -Finishing The Legs from Out West Woodcarving Videos on Vimeo.