Merry Christmas From Out West!

Just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from the two of us here at the Out West homestead. Believe it or not we got a nice dusting of snow yesterday to make a pretty photo of the Out West shop and Gallery. You can see that I have a fire going in the shop but come Friday all work will stop as our time will be devoted to teasing Grandkids and celebrating the many joys of the season.

Merry Christmas!!

War Bonnet - Part 7 - Adding Some Color

With the carving finished it's time to get the paints out. It's hard to put into words how to do a visual medium so I'll take as many photos as I can as I work my way through these next steps. Just remember, it's not too easy to paint "wet" while also stopping occasionally to take a photo.

First, let me talk a moment about my views of flesh paint as I think a lot of carvers just destroy their work by applying the wrong skin colors. Take a moment and look at the skin on your hands. Do you see any white? If you do then it's time you got up from that computer to go outside and get some sun! However, if you spend a lot of time outdoors like I do you'll probably see the same colors that I do and there is no white in that mix except maybe on my backside but we're not going to talk about that area. The best flesh to me is just a mixture of Red Iron Oxide and Yellow Ochre, at least for the techniques I use. For Native Americans I mix in more of the red. For us white folks I use a little more yellow and thin things down a bit. The important thing to remember is that the wood you're applying the paint to also has a color that works to balance out those other two colors. If you put white in the mix then your figure will take on a pinkish appearance. Well, I've never seen a pink Indian or a pink Cowboy so let's save the white for the feathers and the beadwork.

If you're just beginning to use this "wet" technique of painting use thin washes at first and practice on a piece of scrapwood. You can always add more color as long as you keep your surface damp and those burn lines will keep the colors from crawling in the other areas and that's a big help when your first starting out and working wet.

So....get your brushes, mix up some paint and have some fun.

War Bonnet-Part 6 Tassels & Feathers

Okay...before you fellas out there get excited thinking that Tassels & Feathers might mean a gallery of photos of Dita Von Teese, get your mind out of the gutter.......we're still working on this Indian bust!
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Getting back to serious things, this post will outline how I add the tassels to the headress and also how to make the feathers. The tassels on a headress can be just about anything....animal tails, ribbons, feathers. In this case we're going to simulate Ermine skins. They will be painted white with black tips. It might take you a while to get everything to line up correctly, it took me a whole day to do this part. But I enjoy setting there whittling a bit, testing the fit, whittling some more, testing some more, whittling a bit more, and so on and on. Eventually, things will fit together but it will take a while. The important thing on this part is that the pieces will be firmly anchored and look natural hanging from the headband and resting against the body.
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The feathers are much easier to make and after you make a couple you will probably be adding them to everything as they really make a piece "snap"! The little wire loop at the end of the quill and the associated loop on the piece will let them dangle and move which really creates interest to the viewer. Besides the two feathers on the shield and the two on the lance there are three more that will go on the back of the skullcap once the piece is painted. Don't glue the attaching loops to the lance or shield, we'll do that once the piece is painted.
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So, now that the carving part is finished it's time to set down at the computer and do some googling for reference beadwork patterns, shield designs, Dita von Teese...............Opps! Here comes the wife!!!!!

Lots of photos in the gallery.

War Bonnet-Part 5 The Braids

As everything outside is frozen solid with an ongoing ice storm I thought I'd go ahead and post the work I finished today. As you can see I've added the two braids and burnt in a lot of the detail. The reason for burning now instead of waiting until everything is finished is that when I add the decorative tassels to the headress a lot of the areas will be impossible to reach with the burning pen.
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You might find adding the braids difficult but it is doable so just take your time and have fun. Just remember you want them to look natural, they have weight so they have to hang and lay across the shoulders and droop straight down. Where the lower part of the braid hangs over the shoulder I hollowed out the sleeve of the warshirt so the braid dips a little inside. This helps to get things to fit snuggly. Also, do only one braid at a time and when you're ready to glue them in place do one side and let it dry completely before proceeding to glue the other. You will see in the photos where I used those innertube strips to lock the braids tight against the body so there is no space showing.
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In burning the beaded areas just use a crosshatch pattern with your burner. I realize that beads are round where the crosshatches are square but what we're after here is the texture not necessarily exact detail. Once it's painted it will look good. Trust me! Once I can decide on a pattern for the shield I'll burn that detail in.
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We're beyond the hard part now. Ahead lies only fun!!!
Photos in the gallery!

War Bonnet-Part 4 The Shield & Lance

While before we had just a figure, now, with the addition of the shield and lance we have a figure doing something. To me that's what makes a really interesting carving. Also, with the design we'll paint on the shield and the feathers hanging from both the shield and lance it will knock the viewers socks off!!
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First, to help you do your research go over to that search bar on the right and search out some photos of shields and lances. I like the trade cloth draped look. That cloth will be painted red which is a great background to the black and white feathers that will come later. For the lance I'm going to repeat a technique I tried on a smaller bust to indicate fur so I've put a fur wrap on there. Feathers will be hanging from there too. Another great source for reference is to go to http://www.prairieedge.com/. This is one of the most fantastic stores I've ever been in. It's in Rapid City, South Dakota. If you're ever in that area take my advice and stop in. It's right in the middle of downtown. While you're on their site request a catalog. It's free and filled with great photos of native american dress, weapons, just about anything associated with plains indians. It's also a great source for books and costume supplies.
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In the next post we'll add the braids and the bonnet tassels.

Lots of photos after the jump to the gallery.

Warbonnet-Part 3

That's not the best photo but it should give you an idea of my progress so far. With this post I start to get into the detail of the figure. I've decided to due a bust vs. a complete figure. I've also decided to make this my last large figure as it is too big to comfortably carve with the knives I use. It's chisel territory and I'm no chiseler!

I really hope that before you start any of the details of the various pieces of costume on this piece you will take a moment and do the research to learn just what they're about.

Lots of photos after the jump to the gallery.

War Bonnet!! - Part 2-Carving the Face

With the head and headress pretty well roughed out I'll devote this post to carving the face. I want this warrior to really have a stern or threatening look to him so I set up my little mirror on the workbench so I can see that type of expression as I go along. So in a way this will be a self portrait. As you can see by the end result I'm not a fella to be messed with!!
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To do the face I will bring in Old Reliable to do the cleanup work. As this piece is a lot larger than my normal size it's just too big for him to work on large surfaces. But around the eyes, mouth and nose he's my numero uno! No matter what type of knife you use make sure it's sharp.
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I really like working on faces as you can literally watch the piece come to life with each chip. One thing that I would like you to notice is how I use the underlying skull of the head to help establish the features. To me this is the most important rule to follow when doing any part of a figure whether human or animal. If you don't know what's inside you'll never fully understand how to do the outside.
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So grab those paddles Nurse.....let's bring this guy to life!!!

War Bonnet!! - Part 1 - The Headress & Head

All that Thanksgiving Turkey got me to thinking I should carve something with feathers so how about a War Bonnet? Of course I'll put a head in there to make it more interesting. One thing for sure though, as this piece will be a little larger than I normally carve it will tax my 6" bandsaw to it's limits.
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A Native American plains headress is one of the most beautiful pieces of costume from any race in my opinion and being as I carve figures from the old west it's a good project for me. The feathers, the plumes, the beadwork and hanging attachments will really present a challenge. But hey! I'm up for it.....how about you. I haven't really decided on what will happen beyond the War Bonnet and head...maybe a bust....maybe a full body. We'll face that decision once we get this part of the job completed.
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Before you start please take a moment and do the necessary research to learn as much about this piece of headgear as possible. I did a quick search on the web and there is tons of good information free for the taken. Do an image search and you'll find hundreds of photos of this feathered article of clothing. Want to make a real bonnet for yourself? Go to http://www.crazycrow.com/ and ask for a free catalog. There are kits you can buy to construct one. Also, that catalog is a goldmine of info, books and photos of various Native American gear. As a favor to me, do your search from the little Google search window to the right on this page. You will enrich me by a couple of pennies if you do. Thanks!

Now let's get to work!

Unnamed Cowboy And His Pal Squint!

While I was painting the fella on the right his Bunkhouse buddy Squint dropped by so I thought I'd just put them together to wrap up this post. You're might be wondering why I always seem to have a tailor-made dangling off the lower lip? Well, remember that my Cowboy characters are set in the period of about 1860-1930. I would venture to say that most if not all members of a cattle crew lit up back then. That, plus the fact that it gives a lot of "character" to the character even though it might be a bad habit are two good reasons to do that little detail. You will also note that those cigarellos have a slight bent look to them. If you've ever rolled your own you'll recognize that no matter how hard you try you'll never get that "factory" look to your product.

I mounted these two wranglers on oak bases with a pony shoe. That's a perfect size for the scale I work in. If I had carved an entire body a full sized shoe would work. For the larger shoe I like to use the shoes the Farrier removes from our horses when he gives them a retread. Funny, up in Dayton there was a guy eyeballing one of my figures mounted this way but he said he didn't like the "used" shoe on the piece. I told him it was from my horse Boomer and that that worn look was from the good times the two of us had had roaming around the hills of Oklahoma. I thought it added a much more personal touch than if I'd tacked on a new one. Evidently he didn't agree as he looked a little longer and then wandered off. His loss not mine!

It's Thanksgiving tomorrow and we hope you all have a good one. It will be a quiet one for us with just my Mom coming over. But, as she just turned 92 that's probably the best thing we could be thankful for. Our two sons will be home for Christmas this year so we're thankful for that too.

Lots of photos after the jump to the Gallery. Don't overload on the Turkey!!!

Carving A Cowboy's Horse-Part 8-Wrapping it up!

We're done!!! In this post we'll paint the horse and put him all together. I've made him a "Strawberry Roan" in color, sort of a pinkish brown. I've always wondered how this color would look as a woodcarving and I think he turned out pretty good. For a color guide I went to the Rio Rondo website at www.riorondo.com. Scroll down to the bottom of the first page and click on "Site Index". Now scroll down to "Books" and under "Reference Pics" you find just about all the colors of a horse you can imagine. If you want more you can scroll further down to the galleries. This is a terrific reference site for horses. I also buy my little buckles here.
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I think this project turned out pretty well. Should you be in Dayton, Ohio this coming weekend you can check out my pony at the Artistry in Wood show. I'll also be giving a talk on carving horses. If you can't make it but still have a question just drop me a comment and I'll try to give you an answer.