Buffalo Girl - Finished

All done and she turned out great.  I was kind of bleary eyed painting all the beading but it really sets off the piece as does the Buffalo skull.   I decided not to paint the upper part of the dress the darker color as it would have detracted from the overall piece.   I was a little worried about mounting the skull to the figure but putting dowel from the back of it into the body locked it in place securely.  There are lots of photos in the Gallery and I will look forward to your comments as I always do.


Note:  As I mentioned earlier, Google is no longer supporting Picasa but now is using Google Plus as the host for photos.  Picasa will remain it's just that it will no longer be updated.  All my photos are already on Google Plus so for ease of operations I'm going to just let things stay the same for the time being.  

Buffalo Girl

I've been working on this one for the past 6 or 7 months.  Once it's painted I think it will be one of the best so far even though, after taking the photos, I noticed a couple areas that need to be corrected.  With the walnut base she will stand about 20" tall.  An impressive piece.

She's a Cheyenne girl, preparing for the Call of the Herd dance.  I plan on painting a few ceremonial symbols on the skull to carry that theme.  She has her skinning knife on her belt and will be ready to follow the hunters once the herd is located.  While there is quite a bit of beaded decoration on her dress and more will be added once I start painting her, I added a role of Elk teeth above the strip of

beads on her chest.  I made those with some 3/16th' dowel and inset them into the wood.   The earrings, choker disk and hair feather disk are made from hammered galvanized

tin.  Once carved, I covered the hair braids with texturing material to simulate a fur wrap.   As for the coloring, I'm thinking of using this dress as a guide:
I really like to darker colored cape.

While I had a number of Buffalo skulls aready carved the size of the figure required that I care one more.  I carved the arms and hands separate so they would fit naturally around the shape of the horn caps.  

While this was a pretty challenging project once it's finished it's going to really look nice.  I hope you agree and will look forward to your comments.  More photos in the Gallery. 

Bright Star

I finished this one yesterday.  Thought I might get the nameplate in time for the photo but it didn't show.  Lots of beading on her and also added beaded leggins for this one to add a little more interest.  I think she turned out pretty nice.   More photos in the Gallery.  Hope you like her. 

Winter's Warmth.....Finished!

I put the final touches on this piece this morning.  Quite satisfied with it even though it seemed to take forever to complete.  About the only thing I would change would be the base as I think the snow feature would have looked much better had I done it as previous snow scenes, i.e., elevate the snow above a dark, recessed piece of wood.  The blond basswood just doesn't give it the snap the other would have.

I really like the female figure and now that I'm over the hurdle of carving a decent female face I hope to do more of them in the future.

There are quite a few photos in the Gallery and I look forward to receiving your comments.

The Pot Seller

Well this little lady turned out fantastic!  I will admit though that I thought I was going blind for a while after painting those pots.  In the end it was certainly worth all that squinting.   I think she is one of the best pieces I've done.  The composition and the attitude of the little scene just makes you smile which is what it's all about with my work.

As I mentioned earlier, I turned the pots on my lathe and then whittled them to look more in line with the girl.  Well, while that looks nice it certainly maid painting a lot more difficult.  To get the rings to look good I put the painted pot back on the lathe and with a marker slowly turned the wheel while holding the marker as steady as possible.  Had the pot been completely smooth as it was originally this would have been an easy job but with all those little divots the pen zigged and zagged each time it hit one.  I had to go back with a brush and clean things up the old way.  Another problem was those markers.  For some reason they just don't seem to work well on a varnished surface. Must be some kind of chemical interaction between the pens fluid and the varnish.

Anyway, I hope you like her as much as I do.  More photos in the gallery and your comments are welcome as always.

The Pottery Seller

Here she is in her setting.  Pretty nifty even if I do say so myself.  Should be quite a piece when finished...especially with all the painting to come on the pots.  I think I've figured out a way to add the decoration so that will be a new challenge to look forward to.

I spent about as much time turning and whittling those five pots as I did carving the figure!  I first turned them on the lathe and then, because I didn't want them to look out of place with the textured of the figure, I whittled the surfaces.  The dark pot is walnut but it will be painted over as will the others.  Want them all to look like fired clay which will be a couple of tan colors.  I'm thinking a white/beige color for the blanket with red and blue stripes.  Should balance out well with the black hair and the blue of the turquoise.  The skirt will probably be black or a very dark blue.

I have no doubt that this will be a classic once done and someone is going to get a great piece of original work.  Hope you like her.  No more photos time time but your comments are still welcome.

Hopi Maiden Part 2

Passed on football today to spend some time in the shop blocking out the body for this young lady.  Also gave her some earrings.  Actually, that's the second set of baubles  that I whittled as I made a mistake and brushed off my table and the first bunch fell the floor and disappeared into a large pile of chips.

I've got something really special planned for her setting which should be a real winner....at least I hope so.  She's working on her dowry so she's been busy down at the clay wall scooping out a supply to flesh out her inventory.

Stay tuned!

Native American Woman with Papoose – Part 8

As I mentioned in Part 7, I was considering changing the way the blanket was draped around the lady.  Well, as you will see in this part those changes did occur.  I think this will accomplish a couple of things….it will be a lot easier to carve and it will also look much more realistic when finished.   I have placed two photos of a blanket pose in the Gallery to help you.  I think with those you will be able to modify that original drawing or if you want you can leave things the way they were.

Native American Woman with Papoose – Part 7

Native American Woman with Papoose – Part 6

Here’s the first segment on carving the woman’s body.  I show you how to cut a few corners in sawing out the blank.  Warning!  Don’t attempt this if you’re not that confident with your band saw skills.  

One thing you might be noticing with almost each video I now post…..I’m not giving you as much instruction as the earlier projects.   I’m not doing this to save me time but hoping that with the carving experience from those earlier projects you are getting confident enough to know what to do.  When I see areas that might need a little broader explanation I’ll go into those with more depth.  Hope that’s okay.  I ask for your comments with this part so I can aim the camera at those areas. 

Native American Woman with Papoose – Part 5

Native American Woman with Papoose – Part 4

Here is Part 4.  I even learned something on this one…..I need a haircut!

Native American Woman With Papoose – Part 3

With this segment we finish up the cradleboard container.  There is some pretty fine carving around the outer rim of the opening so be careful and take your time.  A sharp knife is really a must. 

Native American Woman with Papoose - Part 1

It's been a while since the last project and as many of you have ask me to do a series on a Native American Woman I thought that would be a good one to do.  As a little bonus I'll add her Papoose to make it really interesting.
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I originally did this particular figure back in 1998 so the one we'll do will probably be a little different but basically the same and hopefully improved a bit.  To start we'll do the Papoose as you could use this part as a stand along piece.  I've posted a template for the blank in the Gallery and the dimensions for the blank are:  4-1/2" long by 2-1/2" wide by 1-3/4" thick.  For the hole for the baby's head we'll be drilling a 1-3/8" hole with a Forstner bit.  Make sure you don't drill it all the way through!!  The carrying frame will be made out of thin wood strips.  All these steps would be shown in the upcoming video.
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This should be a fun project and not that difficult to complete.  Hope you follow along.

The Mayor's Wife

You're probably wondering why a nice looking dame like this is married to that fat old fart of a Mayor.  Well, if you knew the amount of money he's purloined  away from the honest citizens of the town of Big Thicket during his 15 years in office you'd understand.
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I've got to say that this one really turned out nice.  I wanted to give her a delicate look and I think she does just that.  The eyes are only penciled in as I think to carve them would detract from the smoothness of the piece.  Maybe not, but we'll see once she's painted.   I made the feathers out of aluminum flashing as I wanted them thin as if carved they'd have to be thick for strength and that would make it just look to heavy.  There is not much definition to them now as they're only sprayed with primer but when I paint them I'll try and flesh them out a bit.  As for colors I'm thinking purple & white for the dress with a matching hat with a big red rose.
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Hope you like her and your comments are welcome.  More photos in the Gallery.