Main Discussion Area > HowTo's and Build-a-longs
Adding carvings
lostarrow:
Both sides of the leaf can match ,or be slightly different , but the lines will look best at the stem if they are spaced uniformly ,either symetrical or alternating. From there it's your call.
I sobered up enough to finish off the Mermaid. Wound up using the dremel very little any way , as it leaves a lot of cleanup work with the wood. There are places it comes in handy though. mostly I finished up the hair with a small gouge and the veining tool, then switched over to a modified dental scraper (now a tiny stainless chisel) to finish the rest . There is still a fair bit of fussing and sanding ,but that pretty much concludes the carving portion.
From here it will get some primer/sealer an a good sanding to fill the pores and prep for paint.I will be adding an arrow strike in Ivory , mother of pearl or abalone ,but I will do a separate build along for that. If you think you might like to add some carvings to your products you can start very simple with very few tools . maybe a little oak leaf or the like. There are lots simple line drawing pics on google of any subject you could imagine if you are stumped for an idea.
You could simply do an incised carving or chip carving , that can really dress things up. You only need a knife for that. If I have time , I'll try to post some quick simple patterns you could try just to get your feet wet! hope you enjoyed!
lostarrow:
I thought this was done , but in continuing to work on the bow, I keep thinking of things that I should include.
I put the first coat of primer on today and realised that if you don't finish a carving correctly you can quickly bugger up a lot of hard work. When priming, you want to use a small crappy paint brush with stiff bristles. The kind you would use for glue or give to the kids because it's useless as a paint brush. ;D The reason for this is because you want to work every small piece individually and get the primer into those tight details without getting any globs or build up. After the first coat of primer, you can see any of the areas that may need more work but were hard to spot because of the grain of the wood.this coat will also fill the pores and stiffen the fibres .Once sanded you should have a nice smooth surface, but there might be patches with no primer where extra effort was needed. Prime again with another light coat and sand when dry with extra fine sandpaper ,just enough to smooth it.
While I was waiting for the primer to dry , I went ahead and made the inlay for the arrow pass. I know, I know, ......I said it would be a separate post but I got thinking " this is a simple type of carving that woud be good to start with" This will be an inlaid piece of Abalone but the same technique could be applied directly to the wood. It is an incised carving. Basically you just cut the outlines of your carving like you would draw it with a pencil, adding depth by adjusting the shape of line and adding shading lines. This is completely flat of course , but with the curve of the scales , it gives it some dimension. Too much detail won't show up on shell and it ruins the iridescent quality , but for a good example of adding depth to a 2D carving, look up "Engravings on custom firearms" .
Ifrit617:
I don't think I could draw that let alone carve it! Incredible!
Jon
lostarrow:
With the primer dry, you can see the areas that need more work quite clearly. Everything is white ,with no grain to distort the view. Her left arm looked quite bulky and all of her facial features where not defined yet. A little minor clean up here and there, and she's ready for another coat of primer. And yes, ....I accentuated her bossom. ::)
Gus:
You have my full attention Sir!
Thank You for doing this Build Along.
-gus
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