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Adding carvings
lostarrow:
Well It's been a couple of days . Lets get caught up shall we?
After cleaning up the carvings , priming,.... and cleaning up ........... and priming. I did a little dye job on the limbs. I used a water based aniline dye in two colours faded into one another. Going with the whole theme thing ,I wanted it to appear that the carvings where in the dark recesses of the ocean , so the slightly muted colours that I plan on using for the carvings themselves won't get lost, but at the same time not appear garish or cartoon like.
I also inlet the arrow shelf and glued it in place. I will be putting a leather rest on the shelf so I made sure the inlay woulb be high enough so as not to be obscured .I also covered it with masking tape before gluing. It makes the clean up far easier. The inlay is beveled towards the back for a snug fit. it also makes it easier to get that fit in the first place, as the deeper you excavate, the more snug it becomes allowing you to just trim the tiny bits that are out of place a little at a time. Be sure to rough up the back of "hard inlays" ( shell , bone, metal, ivory) with a piece of course sandpaper, to give the glue some bite. I think the pics are pretty self explanatory.
Correction: I have been calling a tool by an incorrect name, and I wish to rectify at this time. The "V" shaped carving tool is actually called a parting tool, not a veining tool. ( it's been a long time since I've learned about carving and I don't get a chance to do it as often as I'd like) . A Veining tool is a small gouge used live the parting tool , only it makes a round bottomed hole. My appologies.
lostarrow:
Check your fit and go slowly.It can be difficult to inlay on open grained woods like oak, as the soft open grain wants to crumble away. I'm not worried in this case as the Epoxy will fill any voids and later be painted. I must also remind myself that the discrepancies look worse than they are when looking at an object the size of my baby finger tip , from a few inches away.
Enough excuses! lets look at more pictures
lostarrow:
I use 2 part ,5 min. epoxy. Check your local dollar store, they often have name brand glues for a fifth of the price. I line the excavation with a thin layer of glue. just enough that you get a small amount of sqeeze out. I then squeegie it flush with popsicle stick, and let it dry.
Remove any excess glue with a sharp chisel within a few hours before the epoxy gets too hard. Prime it to assure good paint adhesion, and smooth the transition from wood to inlay.
lostarrow:
Her you can see the stiff brush i used for the primer. Do small sections at a time, and be sparing with the primer. If it's water based ,it will raise the grain if you slop it on ,and you will loose the detail with it gobbing up in the corners.
Here you can see the dye job and how I will use the black paint to blend in with the dye. The Bloodwood tip overlays were carefully finished with a couple of coats of poly before dying , then the limbs were sealed with a couple of coats of spray on poly .The whole bow will be topcoated after the carvings are painted.
Try to be as careful as you can not to paint the carving at this point. We don't want to "build up" paint causing ridges where we don't want them . Having said that, it is more important to get right up to it with good coverage and a smooth finish with no brush strokes on the background. the few area's that got smudged will be taken care of with the subsequent paint.
lostarrow:
Another coat of black should do it ,then on to the carvings.
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