Iron Shirt

Here's the beginning of a new Native American bust.  The plan is to have him not only wearing a highly decorated coat but also a Conquistador's breast armor underneath.  Sounds interesting?  I started the head this past Saturday while at a regional Carve-In we held down at the local Senior Center.  I like the kind of arrogant look he has about him.  The photo is not the greatest as I took it with my phone.  Again, the base is an old one so that will change.   Hopefully, will get him pretty well fleshed out before the Kansas City show coming up this weekend.   Will be glad to see that bunch again as we haven't been able to attend the last two.  It's always been a great gathering and show so we're looking forward to the trip.

Anyway, another is in the works and the creation process continues.

Red Horse III

I gave this one it's final touch-up this morning so he's on his way to make a debut at the Kansas City show this coming weekend.  He's a tall one....topping out at approximately 24".  One thing I learned while doing this one...it's a lot easier on my old eyes painting beading in a larger scale.  This just might be the direction any future carvings will be headed.  Besides, a larger carving just attracts that much more attention.  It's that old Elephant theory again.

As I pretty well explained what was going on in the last post I won't go into it much here.  I added some leather strips to the top of his pipe and also two strings with wooden beads to his pipe bag.  So, along with his earrings and his feathers there is a lot of movement should a breeze happen to pass by.  I've really grown to like that aspect of the pieces I've been doing lately as it just brings the carving to life just a little more while also giving me a chance to try out and do new things.  After all, carving is a creative thing, not something that one should just do over and over.  God makes sure that every snowflake is just a little different and that's the way I want my carvings to be......maybe similar but definitely a little different.

Anyway, I hope you like this new piece and will look forward to your comments as I always do.  Lots of photos in the Gallery.

Red Horse II - Underconstruction

Finished up with the carving on this one this morning and have started adding all the details.   Still have to flesh out the pipe but once that's done the carving should be pretty well finished.  After that it's on to the paint table and the real fun.

 I made his earrings out of brass rod and the dangling bits are from pounded cooper which will be painted.  The cross on his chest, which represents the four directions, is just two pieces of thin wood overlapped and glued to a 1/8" dowel.  The braids are held in place with 16 penny nails with the heads clipped off and epoxied in place...probably the strongest part of the carving.  I haven't really given much thought to the beading patterns but it won't be long before I get the books out and do a little research.  I did do a Google search for pipe bags and there are some really nice ideas there.

Still no additional photos in the Gallery.  Snapped this one with my phone.

Red Horse II - Under Construction

Finished up the body today and then made a new base.  As this piece is approximately 24" tall and rather top heavy I made the base in two pieces to give it a footprint large enough to keep it upright.  I epoxied a piece of 1/2" steel all-thread into the base of the piece so it could be firmly bolted to the base.  The base is walnut.

Tomorrow I'll start with the hair braids and then move on to the feathers and the smaller details.  This one should really be a looker once completed.  Lots of color.

Also, I took the photo with my phone. It's not as good as my Nikon but then it's also not to bad!

Just A Little Off The Top! - Finished!

Disaster!  Why me? Why me? I blame it on the cold weather or my not warming up the shop before applying the mirror as it cracked!  You know what they say about breaking a mirror so I don't know what the future of this piece will be but, so far, it's not looking good.

I waited to the very last minute to add the mirror as I knew it would be the most important step to the piece.  I think the reason it broke was because the heat from the epoxy going off and the coldness of the shop just didn't cooperate with the glass.  If you were in a 50 mile range of my shop you probably heard the scream at about 8:30 yesterday.  I haven't really decided on whether to try and remove and replace the mirror.  In a way it kind of adds to the piece.  Fishing out the broken pieces could easily destroy the mirror frame.  Will have to think about it for a while.

Aside from broken glass, the piece really turned out well.  I used trimmings from a paint brush and some horse hair to make the clippings.  Sprinkled them on while the first coat of varnish was wet and then came back and sprayed on several additional coats to lock them in place.  I did this on a bottle stopper I made quite a while back and it worked out pretty good so doing it on a larger scale was fun.

Anyway, I hope you like him...even with his broken mirror.  There are more photos in the Gallery and I look forward to your comments and sympathy!

Red Horse II - Under Construction!

Here's the beginning of my next project.  It's will be quite a large carving...already testing the limits of my Band-saw not to mention my right arm!  Excluding the head the body blank took an entire 4" x10"x18" block of that good Heineke wood.   He will be holding a pipe and that's his pipe bag that hangs from his arm.  It will have fringe and beaded designs.  I'm not sure I'll use that base as it was just one I had handy so I could take the photo.  Worked on it yesterday afternoon and it about wore me out and that was using the reciprocal handle on my Fordum.  That is one great tool for removing large amounts of wood fast but it's still quite tiring.

Anyway, thought you might like an early peek atwhats going on down the hill.  Sure beats shoveling snow!!  There are no more photos in the gallery yet.  Will keep you up to date as it progresses.

Woodcarvings By Bob!

I'm sure a number of you have been fortunate enough to have seen Bob Cisko's Snowmen.  For those of you who haven't you're really missing a clever and well done bunch of winter wonders.  They might not be Cowboys or Indians but they come as a welcome relief to the myriad of Santa carvings that has been the norm for so long.  The thing that sets these carvings apart is that they are so unique and adorable.  You just can't seem not to admire and smile when seeing them.  Bob says people can't seem to get enough of them and I can certainly see why.

While the poses of the little figures are so well done on their own the painting is something to really admire.  It's just so clean and neat and the color choices really compliment each other.  He's clearly struck gold with them and I can hardly wait till one shows up toting a sidearm and a wearing a Stetson.

Bob doesn't have a website but he does have a Face Book Page: Woodcarvings By Bob!  I highly recommend you take a moment and check out these little wonders along with some other really good looking carvings.

 -                                              Well Done Bob!

Just A Little Off The Top!

The carving part of this piece was finished up today with the installation of the mirror.  Judy and I spent some time in the WalMart makeup section yesterday looking for a ladies compact that I could remove the mirror from to allow him to see his reflection.  I think it's pretty clear that the barber must have been hard of hearing or, like all barbers when presented with a healthy head of hair, kind of went wild with the clippers.  It will be fun painting this poor soul and also adding the hair clippings on the cape around his shoulders.  It should be a pretty neat piece once completed.

Lots of photos in the Gallery and I'll look forward to your comments as I always do.

Old Reliable - It's Care And Feeding

Old Reliable from Out West Woodcarving Videos on Vimeo.

As I am always getting questions about this tool I thought I would do a little video on just how I go about getting it ready to do it's wonders.  Hopefully, this will answer all your questions should you have any.

Fence Work -Finished!

I finished this one up this morning with the help of Judy who was kind enough to construct the barbed wire while I put the final touches to the overall scene.  This is a fairly large piece, measuring just about 22 inches including the base.  I got the idea for it from a painting by Bruce Greene.  Of course, while borrowing the paintings pose, I added my own embellishments and changes to make it unique from the other.

I was a little hesitant to add actual barbed wire to the piece for fear that someone would poke themselves, however it just wouldn't have looked correct with smooth wire.  Barb-less wire is used on horse ranches as horses don't lean on the fence like cattle and if you've ever seen the damage barbed wire can do to a horse should they run or get tangled into it you can understand it's use. But in this case I stuck with the barbed version.

The Del Monte sliced peaches emblem is painted directly on the can and it's filled with staples. The fence post is from an old post I found on our property.  I weathered it a little more than it originally was.

All in all I'm quite pleased with the way this one turned out.  The Cowboy certainly appears comfortable with his work although I'm sure he'd much rather be setting in the saddle, out herding cattle.  People ask why I always put a smoke in the mouth of my figures.  Well, back then just about all of them lit up when they had the chance.  The tag of his makins pouch is hanging from his waistcoat pocket.

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