Wolf, painting

When painting the wolf I used light washes of acrylic paints on the wolf. Brown tones, gray and white. It takes several coats to bring out the colors. The next step is mounting the wolf on a habitat and stand.

Wolf, burning in the hair

I used a Razertip unit to burn in the hair. I started on the rear legs burning in small c lines. I didn't like the way it looked, so I carved off that part and started over again burning in small s lines. I also used a gouge to carve the area around the ribs to break up that smooth look. Depending on the grain of the wood it made a difference on the heat setting on the burner. It's the first time I did hair like this, so I learned a lot. Next step is to paint the wolf.

Wolf Carving in progress

I thought it would be interesting to see the progress of a carving. I started from a block of basswood 2 inches by 5 inches tall by 8 inches in length. I used a band saw to cut out the side view. The wolf is hand carved with a knife and gouges, then lightly sanded for the next step of burning in the hair.

Area reliefs

I had a request to show all the relief carvings that we did as a club project. This is the only picture I have and shows how we displayed them. One vertical grouping of five and eleven in another grouping. It went over quite well as we had a lot of great comments.

Hillbilly

The hillbilly is a good beginner project from Gene Messer. They are fun and quick to carve with just a knife and a v-tool. He is carved from a blank, one inch square by six inches long. I like to do a variety of carvings, to break up my projects that take up a lot more time.

Springhouse

This relief carving was mostly done last year but was put aside for other projects. It took me longer than I thought it would. I cleaned a few areas and painted it last week with acrylics. It's done in basswood, 9 1/2 by 12 inches and 1 1/4 inches thick. 

Chief Kamiakin

At our North Idaho Woodcarvers club get together we had a visit from a scoutmaster. The Boy Scouts are having a national jamboree in July and asked if we could carve some relief carvings of something that represents their troop. There are four troops in eastern Washington and four troops in northern Idaho in the Inland Northwest Council. Our club is doing the Idaho side and the carved plaques will be mounted on a nine foot pole. I will be working with a friend, Girard on the profile of Chief Kamiakin, which was chosen by one of the troops. This picture is a likeness of the Chief given to us to use as a guide.