Hard Luck Horse Ranch - Part 1

This project will show how I go about making a scene for a cow pony I just finished. I've made this same scene a gazillion times and folks seem to really like it as it sells just as soon as the paint dries. As we just finished carving a horse back in November I won't cover that again. This one is about 3/4 size of the one in the earlier project.
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While this scene is for a particular theme the steps I take here pretty well match the steps I would take for any scene I might do. Here you will build a ranch gate, set some gate posts, make a ranch sign and then anchor it all together by creating a nice looking set of bases.
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One of the things that always irritates me when I look at other carvers work is that a lot of them stop without doing what I consider the most important step and that's creating a base or setting for their work. It would be the same thing if you painted a nice picture and then hung it on the wall without a nice frame. You can make a bad painting look really good with a nice frame. The same applies to woodcarving. And no.....I'm not implying that you do bad woodcarvings! You do great work as I've been lucky enough to have seen some of it.
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This will be a three-parter.
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Lots of photos in the gallery.

Billy Black Bear

This figure was an experiment in making a Bear Claw Necklace. I have done this type of detail on other full figures so this time I thought it would be a challenge to try something completely different. I guess you could say that I worked backwards, first making the necklace then the base and finally the head and other details. Sometimes this is necessary just to see if the concept will work out. While I did have a close call with the first attempt at mating the head to the necklace after a little overnight thought was able to work the problem out.
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When I first cut out the blank for the necklace the wife commented that it looked like I was carving a toilet bowl lid. It does sort of look like that. However, once the claws were added and then the head it would be hard to imagine a bathroom fixture somewhere in there. In laying out the necklace I ran the grail of the wood with the length of the piece for strength. It is held to the base by three dowels...two 1/8" dowels on each side and one 1/4" dowel on the bottom. I was a little worried if this would support the weight of the piece but once glued up it's really quite strong.
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If I were doing it again I would change the eyes a bit. He has sort of a "Deer in the Headlights" look about him which I find a little off from what I was after. Also, I would have liked to have the central hat detail to look more mirror-like but couldn't figure out how to do it. The next time I'm in WalMart I will be scouting out the women's jewelry section to see if I can find something that would allow me to add that detail. Overall I think he looks pretty good and once the name plate added on the bottom of the base he should really sparkle.
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Lots of photos in the gallery.

War Bonnet - Putting It All Together!

Finally! Boy, for a while there I thought I'd never see the end of this project. But, feeling kind of lonely after taking my little helpers to the Airport for their return home I lit out for the workshop and really applied myself for the past two days.
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When I first started this piece my goal was to do something that would really catch the viewers attention while also displaying my carving and painting abilities. I know that might sound a little egotistic but I see nothing wrong with that. If we can't be proud of the talents we've been blessed with what's the purpose of having them. Anyway, I think I did a pretty good job.

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There is one area that I could have improved on and that's the feathers on the headress. If you look at the photo of a real headress you can see that the feathers are really seperated at the ends. While you could probably do this I think the feathers would really be weak and apt to break so that detail can be excused. I would have liked to add the plumed tips but there was just no way I could think of to really do it to where it would look good. Other than that I think I came pretty close in reproducing the headress to match the photo.

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Another detail I wanted to try was to attach some real hair scalplocks to the shoulders of the body. I was going to use real horsehair as we have an abundance of that around here. However, I think that would be just a little too much detail for one piece. Even I, the Prince of Detail, have to limit myself sometimes. But someday on some piece I will try that effect. One little detail I did add was some burnt lines to the edges of the breastplate to simulate the ties of each strip.

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So, overall I think this little project was a success and I have a vision of a Blue Ribbon in it's future. But even if the judge feels otherwise it's a winner to me and that's what really matters.

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Lots of photos after the jump to the Gallery.

War Bonnet-Part 8- Finishing Up The Head

I don't know which I should be more afraid of ..... that guy with all the feathers or those two smiling Leprechauns. That's Miriam on the left and Hannah on the right and they're our Grandkids visiting from Bahrain. They stood on each side of me while I applied the finishing touches to the Warrior's face so if the lines are a little squiggley blame them not me!

In a comment Arnie ask how I was going to hide the glue line down the center of the nose. Well, the steps outlined here take care of half of that problem. The rest will be hidden at the very end of the project.

Do a little research to find some nice beading patterns and carefully paint them on. You can see that just painting the head and bonnet this figure is really starting to sparkle with all the colors we're applying. I can just imagine what he'll look like as the end gets nearer.

Lots of photos after the jump to the Gallery.

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.