Santa and Fawn

Santa figures are always fun to carve for the Christmas holidays.  I looked through many internet pictures and carving magazines and finally found and inspiration in Wood Carving Illustrated's winter 2017 issue.

I used an 8 inch diameter by 14 inch long piece of Colorado pine from my son's ranch in Coaldale, Colorado.

One of the major disadvantages of this pine is that it splinters very easily plus by the time I got it, it had several large splits known as checking.  This is because the log was very dry before I started to work on it.  It took a bit of creative carving to work around the splintering.

I enlarged the basic drawing from 10 inches to 14 inches using Photoshop then drew the outline on the log with a marker pen.

The next step is to remove the excess wood.

The bark was stripped off and a saw was used to remove large chunks of excess wood.

With any large carving make sure to sweep up the wood chips often in order to keep the work area clean.

Rough cutting takes the most time in order to develop the proper shape.

Start adding the details to each section.

Now comes the really fun part, the painting.  The paints used will be listed at the bottom of this article.

A dark base color is added to the beard and trim areas then white is dry brushed over the dark areas.

Lightly dry brush a bit of brown over the black boots

The eyes are a four color combination.  See the color list below.

The final process is to apply the sealer and antiquing. The antiquing mix is brushed all over the piece, let set for an hour then wipe off the surface excess. Try not to wipe off the antiquing in the low spots.  

Paint Information:

All paints are Ceramcoat acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby.

Face: AC Flesh - 02085

Eyes:
  Base color which forms the outer dark edge:  Midnight Blue - 02114 
  Iris: Denim Blue - 02477
  Pupils: Black
  Life light - white dot in the upper area of the iris:  White - 02505

Coat and Pants:
  Base color: Fire Red - 02083
  Dry brush shading: Navy blue

Mustache, Hat Fringe, Coat trim, and cuffs:
  Base color:  Black
  Dry brush over color: White - 02505

Boots:
  Base Color: Black
  Dry brush over color: Medium brown

Fawn:
  Base color: Raw Sienna - 02411
  Dry brush over color:  Medium brown
  Eyes, mouth, and hoves: Black
  Spots: AC Flesh - 02085
  Breast, inside ear, and rear end:  White - 02505

Antiquing:
  Base: 1 quart Boiled Linseed Oil
  Color: 2 inch extrusion of oil base Burnt Umber
  Note:  Mix thoroughly together then brush all over piece. Wait one hour then wipe off excess.

Optional Antiquing method:
Brush Walnut Translucent Gel Stain over a small area then wipe off the excess.  Continue until the piece has been completely covered.
 
Sealer
Spray using either Deft or oil based polyethylene semi-gloss.

Oldman 5 - Wood Spirit

Oldman 5 starts from a length of Live Oak tree branch.

Remove the bark from the desired area.

Using a V-tool, cut the brow and nose lines.

Cut the nose sides.

Cut out the eye sockets and excess wood.

Smooth the cheeks and face.  Cut in the upper eye lids.

Cut the lower eye lids.

Cut in the beard and mustache.  It is easier to cut the whole beard and mustache as one area, then cut in the mustache line and mouth.

Copyright © 2011-2018. All Rights Reserved.

Fisherman

What to do with left over wood from other projects?  Start a new project of course. Originally, the fisherman was to be a dog catcher but, as time went on I changed my mind.

As usual, I started off with a plain block of basswood, 2 x 3 x 12 inches and rough cut the initial figure on a band saw.

The hands for this piece will be carved separately and added later.  Start carving the various parts to shape them to the desired size.

 

I had forgot to take some pictures of the rock carvings for the base so I’ll re-create them using a separate block of wood. Draw a rough pattern for the rocks.  Nothing has to be exact.  Actually, the rougher the better.

Using a V-tool carve out the groves of the rocks.

Using a gouge, deepen the groves and round off the edges until they resemble rocks.

Join the figure to the base.

 Paint the fisherman and base separately the glus the fisherman to the base.  Add the fishing rod and string.  The fishing rod is a twig off of our peach tree cut to the desired length and soaked in boiled linseed oil to keep it soft and preserved.

After much consideration I determined that his right hand just didn’t fit the scale and theme of the carving.  Therefore, I carved a new right hand and replaced it with one holding a bottle.

Painting
All acrylic paints are Ceramicoat from Hobby Lobby.
The head and hands are painted with “Fleshtone”.
The jacket and boots are painted with a 4:1 wash of “Burnt Umber”.
The pants are painted with “Navy Blue” then highlighted with a dry brush of “Sand”.
The bottle of Bull is painted with “Iron Oxide”.
The stones are painted with a base of “Gray” then highlighted with a dry brush of “Black”.
The grass is painted with a base of “Leaf Green” then highlighted with a dry brush of “Burnt Umber”.

Finally, the whole carving is painted with a mixture of Boiled Linseed Oil and a one inch extrusion of oil based “Burnt Umber” mixed in a quart can that can be sealed when you are finished with it.  The excess is wiped off with a paper towel and let dry for several days.   Then, after the carving is completely dry it is sprayed with a “clear non-gloss” or “clear satin” polyurethane.

Copyright © 2011-2018. All Rights Reserved.

Continental Soldier

The colonial period, the birth of our nation, has always fascinated me.  In my younger years I had the opportunity to apprentice under my uncle and eventually became a colonial period gunsmith.  The flintlock firing system for rifles and hand guns started in Europe in the early 1600’s and continued until the mid 1800’s in America.  The percussion cap firing system was introduced in the early 1800’s and continued to be in use until the 1870’s when the metallic cartridge style ammunition was widely adopted.

The flintlock rifles known as the Pennsylvania Rifle and Kentucky Rifle were the most commonly used by the Continental armies in the 1770’s.

The Continental Soldier carving below was inspired by the book “Continental Infantryman of the American Revolution” by John Milsop and can be found on Amazon.com.

Initially, the block of basswood is shaped in preparation of tracing the pattern onto the wood.

Several sample pictures were found on the internet on the Land Of The Brave web site and a composite drawing was made on the wood block.  Excess wood around the drawing was removed using a band saw.

The block is rough cut along the various lines to establish the legs, arms, head, and hat.

 The various portions of the figure continue to be refined by carefully carving away excess wood.

 Details of the uniform and accessories are carved into the figure.

 Gradually, more details are carved into the figure.

Painting is always fun. I use Ceramicoat paints from Hobby Lobby.  Here I used Royal Navy Blue, White, and Black for the body and hat.

 Making the flintlock rifle was a bit harder than I originally thought.  At first I tried to make it with basswood, however, the basswood was too soft and would split along the grain very easily.  I finally settled on using walnut.  You need a very sharp knife when working on small objects so that your cuts will not tear the grain and splinter the wood. The metal parts were made from a large metal paper clip that I pounded flat with a small hammer and anvil. The bayonet is also made from a large metal paperclip pounded flat.

Copyright © 2011-2018. All Rights Reserved.