Project #21 - Winter Hiker, off the paint bench. Still like carving better then painting. True in most things for me, enjoy renovation and furniture building hate the act of finishing…enjoy the end result though, it’s just not as fun as the actual making is!
Well I finally made good on my promise…I painted one of my carvings!
I took the advise of another whittler and made a second Turtle. The first I finished with Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) and kept the natural wood look that I like so much. The second I added a touch of color before sealing with BLO. I will say I was having my doubts after applying the first wash (the logs bark), but, I forged on.
Once painted and sealed, it all came together for me. I think it came out pretty OK!
Think I’m ready to try some more exploration with paint on some of my unfinished back log!
I usually post pictures of the finished (or near finished) projects I am working on. Several people have expressed interest in seeing more of the transformation from block to finished carving. For this project, I have included a short slide show starting with before and after pictures followed by a couple at the end of my first carving session and ending at the pre-cleanup and finishing stage.
Now that the secret is out, I found a tutorial on carving a Turtle on a log and thought I would base my next project on it. This is a fairly small carving, starting with a Basswood block measuring only 1 1/4 x 1 1/4 x 3 inches in size. Due to the size and shapes involved, roughing out was all done by hand using knives, no band saw this time!
Still have some cleanup etc. to do on the carving and then deciding on the finish. I am thinking about trying some Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO), which while that is a wood carver’s standard, I have not used before. Maybe a touch of paint will win out this time…
For me it usually begins with a block of wood and some guide lines. Sometimes there will be a sketch involved, rarely is it freestyle, there is usually a plan.
So, what will this become? I know what I want, we’ll see…
