Jump to content

Is Cody in this log? Carving my dog Cody from an ash log.


ScottR

Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, Mr Natural said:

how much left do you have to do? and what kind of finish will you use?

Cheers Scott!

I'd guess this is a quarter to a third done. His head still has some refinement and probably get tweaked throughout the entire carve. The body will mostly be shaped to get it proportionate, but won't get too much detailing, because, frankly you can't see the details on the real dog. If he's got his butt on the ground, he pretty much looks like a head on a haystack.:D I normally sand these to a high polish and finish with Danish oil and paste wax. I drill out the pupil of the eyes and scoop out the iris area and then fill all that with epoxy. The drilled depth makes a deep dark pupil, and the concave scoop creates a nice iris with some depth and then I'll shape and polish the surface of the epoxy to create a shiny cornea. I may decide to dye the iris and pupil, since Cody's eyes are so dark. Elsewhere the ash is almost a perfect match for the color of his fur.

SR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ol' Blues Lizard is still hanging out and jamming to the blues with me. It looks like I caught him in the midst of a color change and skin shed at the same time. I'm not sure I've seen him in both those conditions at the same time.

IMG_3152.JPG

IMG_3155.JPGIMG_3156.JPG

This last shot is just before he jumped up into the bushes. A few hours later he was back with new skin, new color and ready to hunt up some lady lizards. He did his mating dance there but I was out of focus every time he preformed.:angry:

IMG_3162.JPG

SR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Mr Natural said:

looking good Scott- so- question for you- how often do you have to sharpen your chisels?

I touch them up on the strop every twenty to thirty minutes or so. And they get a few strokes on a stone every hour or two. This would be for a gouge I'm using steadily. 

SR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had family in town over a long weekend and did not get a whole lot of time in this piece of ash. What I did get done involved slimming the front legs and feet and shrinking the head some. Can you see the weight loss or do these pictures make Cody look fat?

IMG_3241.JPG

IMG_3242.JPG

 

IMG_3249.JPG

IMG_3253.JPG

SR

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got a whole day to work on Cody this weekend. I had a college graduation and celebratory dinner to attend in San Antonio. I love San Antone and the food was great, but the trip up and back from Houston eats the hell out of a day.

This past week I discovered a blues player from Britain, that is exceptional on guitar and has an amazing voice, by the name of Aynsley Lister. Any of you Brits heard of this guy? He got a lot of air time in my garage this weekend.

So, for the bulk of you watching, (:P) any changes I made in the 10 hours or so I got in this weekend are probably going to appear to be quite subtle. To Cody and me however, they are rather substantial. They went a long way towards pulling Cody out of the ash log, instead of some other dog that looks sort of like him.

IMG_3264.JPG

IMG_3265.JPG

IMG_3266.JPG

IMG_3267.JPG

IMG_3268.JPG

IMG_3279.JPG

SR

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I almost hate seeing him sanded. The carving marks and gouges were like fur almost. Still- he is looking good-

So- his right ear- in previous pics those areas were light- but now that his ear is sanded- they appear orangish- are you treating those areas with something? or is that coming from the wood itself? I am assuming this is the fungus you referred to on his toes previously?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Mr Natural said:

I almost hate seeing him sanded. The carving marks and gouges were like fur almost. Still- he is looking good-

So- his right ear- in previous pics those areas were light- but now that his ear is sanded- they appear orangish- are you treating those areas with something? or is that coming from the wood itself? I am assuming this is the fungus you referred to on his toes previously?

 

To sand or not to sand; that is the question I come up against every time. I always want to see how the wood looks all polished up.  And you are correct, the tool marks do a good job of imitating fur, particularly this fur. I can always go back and put some in if I don't like the finished look. And there stands a good chance of ending up with both polished areas and areas with the tool marks still or partially visible.

The ears and toes....most of the damn thing really are riddled with beetle larvae holes which are mostly filled with what I've been calling bug dirt and is pretty much just packed wood dust. In the areas around the toes and ears there are so many tunnels there is really very little intact wood between them. There's a high risk of losing chunks or ear and toe in the carving process. So I sealed those with as much thin CA as I could get them to soak up. That is the color change. Sanded flush the color is closer to being nuetral again. And oiled it will probably show up as darker spots. Oh well. You take what the wood gives, as we all know. There are places where the tunnels are open clear through, and they will likely stay that way. The dog has a lot of character, so the carving should too.:D

SR

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...