Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => HowTo's and Build-a-longs => Topic started by: lostarrow on January 22, 2014, 01:27:46 am
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I've had some requests for a build along detailing carvings on my bows . I'm not sure what info they were looking for but feel free to ask any questions you may have .
The first step is to plan out what you will be carving and where. Without a clear plan , adornments can become unbalanced or disproportionate , and ruin the bow you just spent hours building. This is taken into consideration when starting to build the bow, as you may want to leave a bit of extra wood in areas to receive the carvings. In this case the hickory back was applied about 3/16" thick and worked down for the bow to a crown of less than 1/8" tapering to a near feather edge on the sides.Left full at the handle and nocks. It is a child's bow ,so there isn't a lot of thickness in the body and I didn't want the back to overpower the belly .I carve in areas of non working wood as any carving on the working portion has the potential to damage the bow or simply break off .
Generally I will come up with a theme , based on the personality of my client . In this case a 7 year old boy who is fascinated by Mermaids .I make arrows to match ,but if desired you could Carry the theme into bow sleeves ,quivers ,armguards,etc.
I trace out a few outlines on a piece of paper of where the carvings will go and try out a few different drawings until I come up with something I like. It usually comes together pretty quick as one idea on paper usually sparks three more .
From there, I transfer the ideas to the bow. Because I've used the bow as a template , the drawings are basically a direct copy of the original. On open grained woods like Oak and Hickory you may find it usefull to fill the pores with wood filler and sand it smooth when dry, if you are doing very detailed work. This gives you a smooth drawing surface and allows you to see the lines more clearly. On darker woods like Walnut , a silver gel pen will show up better than pencil. It's important that you can see the lines clearly, and judge them for size and proportion on the bow before you start cutting.What looked good on paper ,might not "fit" the bow in overall appearance.
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With the layout lines in place, I begin to incise the cuts. (trace over the lines with a knife or chisel to define the outline). This creates a stop cut to release the chips when you relieve the carving. This is a low relief carving , meaning it is not in full 3 dimension. It is carved just deep enough to create a 3D effect .
Notice how the different shaped gouges match the curves on the carving. If it doesn't you can use your knife but you will find it a lot quicker and a smoother end result to use the gouges. Although I have many shapes and sizes of gouge there are really only a few that I use on a regular basis. I sometimes use a "V" tool or veining tool to rough out the straight lines after incising them with a knife and straightedge. Take your time here too. A crooked or wavy line that should be straight can really ruin the look and will be picked up by the eye very quickly.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of sharp tools (razor sharp!) and complete tool control. You will notice the bow is in a vice, not being held in a hand. this allows me to use both hands on the chisels. If both hands are being used to guide the chisel you are less likely to slip and screw up the caving or put that nice sharp chisel through your hand. Take small cuts. It's not a race, and it's harder to put the wood back on that you shouldn't have taken off. Take note as well of how I use my hand's against the work piece to guide the cut. It's used like a compas to guide the knife smoothly around the curves. This is also done with the gouges and chisels . The second hand will also limit the power behind the chisel to bring you slowly and carefully to the stop cuts so when you suddenly hit a soft spot or the chip releases ,you don't plow into the next piece.
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Relieving the carving.With the lines incised , I begin to relieve the carving , creating a level field as a background. Dont get lazy with the field, if it's not all one level with a smooth transition , it will make your carving look distorted . It really shows when you finish it. Take it slow with small controlled cuts, to avoid tearout and chipping off a piece of the carving. Start close to the lines and work the field back .
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As you move through your carving , you will be re drawing sveral times ,the elements that have been removed or that may have worn off. It's important to keep a clear picture of what you are doing.Here I've roughed in the scales using the "V" tool
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Be sure to allow enough depth to handle all of the elements of your carving. Here we have her hands in the fore front with her trident beneath that and her body and head on the next plane down. if you don't it will look like it got melted and collapsed on it's self. Because I'll be painting this ,I can add some depth with colour, so I don't have to go too deep with the details.
I've roughed in the face with a small knife and will finish the fine details with a tiny,tiny dremel tool. I started with the bigger one shown and quickly switched to on half the size. It's so small that I'm not even sure of the shape. :o I think it's a cylinder but might be a ball.Not that critical on wood when you get to the size of a sharp pencil. It would make a difference on shell or ivory ,if you were working with magnification.( which we might be doing a little for the arrow pass)
The hair was done with the same techniques as the tail. I will go into more detail on that when we carve the seaweed leaves on the grip. You can see that when sanded , the field needs more work to get it level behind the whole carving. Try to keep sanding to a minimum while you are carving, and grit that is left behind will dull the tools pretty quick.
That's all for today.
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Wow this is awesome, you are a very talented artist and craftsman.
Grady
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Beautiful
Thanks Leroy
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You make it sound easy. A true craftsman!
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Wow :o Lostarrow.............That is absolutely beautiful, lots of talent in your hands.
Can't wait to see more.
DBar
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Glad you are enjoying it guys! Carving really isn't as daunting as it might seem. There are plenty of subjects that would make it easy to get ones feet wet with professional looking results. I wouldn't recommend starting with something like an animal or human figure.I would say that something like a leaves or heraldry would be a great place to start. Also ,you want to start with a medium that is a little more forgiving and kind than Hickory ,or this soft Red Oak. Use a piece of White Pine ,or Basswood, Poplar or Soft Maple . I will show the tools in detail that I've used for this project at the end.It's likely the same as you would get in any beginners carving tool set for less than $50. The only reason for using different tools would be if you changed the scale of project. You wouldn't carve a 6" leaf with a 1/8" gouge.
Back to the task at hand. Spent a few hours in the shop today. Let's see where we're at.
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So I started on the shells on the back today , as I needed a little break from the detailed stuff and didn't feel up to power tools, however small they might be.( I'm a little stoned on painkillers from a wisdom tooth surgery that went south).
The process is generally the same with all carving. Layout, incise , remove waste and rough shape, detail and sand. I started by roughing in some steps with a rasp to speed things along. Always use the easiest method for bulk waste reduction , wether it's a rasp, large gouge, belt sander ,handsaw or even bandsaw or table saw in some cases. Save your hands and time for the important work.
From there I incised the edge of the shells by letting the sizes of gouge dictate the spacing. I varied the treatment of the edge of the shells from one to the next to break the monotony .By changing the direction you put the gouge it will make a slightly different looking shell.
I then use the V tool to start defining the lines of the shell.
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Then I might use a gouge to create a grooved portion of the shell , or a straight chisel to create a rounded portion.Clean up the edges with a straight chisel . This chisel that you see me using in the last pics has become a favorite go to chisel .I made it from a small triangular file blank. Ground the back flat and carefully ground the edges down to a parallel profile. Polished it up and put a handle on it. Takes a razor edge and keeps it all day long .It's also the perfect shape for cutting English dovetails (the real skinny ones)
Sorry, back on track!
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Simply repeat for the other shells, ofsetting each slightly to add interrest to the composition. Thigs still are pretty rough at this stage. Once eveything is roughed in I go back and tidy lies up to straighten them and make them uniform. Sand and/or use small rifler files or needle files to clean things up. Once again I spent less than $10 on the needle files.
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On to the leaves, which bore a striking resemblance to the seamonsters depicted on old maps once i was finished. Ordinarily I would have modified them but in this case I thought it was a fitting theme. I can visualise how things will look in 3D pretty well from a 2 D sketch , but sometimes (More with the help of prescription drugs ) you can be surprised like that ;)
Rough the center stem with the V tool .Create the scroll at the bottom of the leaf using an appropriate gouge and incise the rest of the leaves. I only used 2 sizes of gouge to do all of the incising. You'll find this is often the case ,as one to three curves is all it takes to make the graceful curves you've been drawing out freehand , thinking they were so complex ;)
Relieve the carving from the field with a small straight chisel and define the leaf veins and edges with the V tool
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Shape the leaves , adding depth by varying upturned leaves and those that curl under. The upturned ones are made by using the gouge to scoop it out and leaving the tip of the leaf pointed up. The curled over ones can be made by usig a very flat gouge to round over the leaf.
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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!
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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" .
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I don't think I could draw that let alone carve it! Incredible!
Jon
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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. ::)
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You have my full attention Sir!
Thank You for doing this Build Along.
-gus
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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Another coat of black should do it ,then on to the carvings.
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After seing how the black makes the white stand out, like a cameo, I mahe have inspiration for future projects ;)
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Beautiful!! :)
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Thanks, Patrick. I like to mix things up to keep from getting bored . The next will likely be pretty plain Jane. Maybe a Neolithic European Elm from a small diameter tree :). And Like yourself ,I enjoy sharing the knowledge. I know I've said it before but,Thank you, for what you are doing with the flint knapping. Great stuff
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A Neolithic European elm sounds fantastic! :) I'll be watching...
And I'm going to have to do some carving. I can't let you have all the fun.
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that blue/black is amazing... well, along with the rest of it of course :P
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Yeah , the only problem is ,that to get that colour of blue ,you have to use waterbased finishes for top coat or it will turn green. I usually prefer a rubbed oil finish to prevent build up. C'est la vie.
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Excellent!!k Thanks for sharing. 8) Excellent work, and explanation, on the tools, and uses. I used to d0 quite a bit of carving wax, for master molds for jewelers, and some Tagua nuts, and a lot of bone. Nice job. Wha,t you aren't going to do the mermaid's tail in green, and her body, in flesh, and her hair in gold? ;) Excellent as is. Kinda difficult to stop, isn't it. You see a space, and start to think what if....... ;)
Wayne
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Not sure if I'm getting what you're saying in your message ( pain is making me cross eyed at the moment) but I'll answer what I think you're asking ;) This one is going to be painted up But I did like the way the white stood out against the background . I prefer brunettes myself ;D but might do something funky with the hair like the kids are doing these days. (Crap ,that made me sound old!)
The post isn't over yet!
Excellent!!k Thanks for sharing. 8) Excellent work, and explanation, on the tools, and uses. I used to d0 quite a bit of carving wax, for master molds for jewelers, and some Tagua nuts, and a lot of bone. Nice job. Wha,t you aren't going to do the mermaid's tail in green, and her body, in flesh, and her hair in gold? ;) Excellent as is. Kinda difficult to stop, isn't it. You see a space, and start to think what if....... ;)
Wayne
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Bow Dacious,
Talent, perserverence and bliss. What a combo, brother.
Zuma
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Well , here's the last bit. Painting. Not much to say , but keep it thin , build up the colours and take it slow.
Sorry but I was pretty well finished the mermaid before I realised I wasn't taking progress pics. Like I said though , not much to tell.
Start with the colours in the deepest recesses and work your way out , so you don't mess up the work you've already done. As well, keep in mind that it's easier to paint a dark colour over a light , and a bugger to do the opposite. I paint my carvings with the same technique you would a canvas. Set up base coat colour, then add shading and highlights to add depth. Really makes it stand out. Also keep in mind we will be top coating this and the colours will get darker and muted.
The tail of the Mermaid was painted using green mixed with metallic gold. This gives it a bit of shimmer like scales. Add coats of progressively darker paint starting at the edges and feathering it in to nothing in the middle.This not only adds depth, but creates an iridescent effect. I think I caught it with the camera ,but if I didn't ,it changes colour as you move it. Her's the pics.
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With the shells you can see I started add in detail to the first 2 but the top is still the base coat. If you add very thin stripes of various shades of the same colour around the shell ,then blend them in with a dry brush , you get the effect of growth rings found on scallopand mussel shells.
With the leaves, I establish my base coat , add the darker colours in the crevasses,andbuild up with highlights of progressively lighter colours on the high spots. Then I go back in with a wash coat of the darker colour using my liner brush (very thin with long bristles for making fine lines) in the deeper recesses once again to blend in the shading effect.
If you were staining instead of painting, you would use a stain followed by a glaze( to darken the deeper areas. If you wanted to highlight even more, you would give a very light sand on the highest spots and then follow with the stain again. The high spots would now be stained but not as dark as the rest, giving you three shades of colour to make the carving stand out.
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Spray on Waterbased Satin poly to finish it up. the water base won't change the colours and the satin will keep the shine from interfering with the detail.
As a side note : the detail that can't be achieved on this small scale when using a wood like Hickory has been added with the paint. Certain things like the thin wisps of hair and facial features. Most of the face is just a slight suggestion .The mind makes up what it doesn't see,and usually makes it more appealing to the veiwers eye than if the details were there.
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Really great work.
I like alot both carving and engravings.
To be honest i preferred the engravings before colouring but still a very good work
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Thanks. I like them without paint as well 'but I wanted this one to kind of look like the old "Figure Heads " on the front of ships. Kind of a theme thing. This one is for my daughters friend .He absolutely loves Mermaids.This is the one I did for his father last year.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,39576.msg527272.html#msg527272
........ but this is one likely more your preference.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,42808.msg574121.html#msg574121
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I'd have a hard time shooting something like that....
It's looks like a piece of art work
DBar
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Thanks. I like them without paint as well 'but I wanted this one to kind of look like the old "Figure Heads " on the front of ships. Kind of a theme thing. This one is for my daughters friend .He absolutely loves Mermaids.This is the one I did for his father last year.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,39576.msg527272.html#msg527272
........ but this is one likely more your preference.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,42808.msg574121.html#msg574121
Holy Cow!!! (Using My Best Gandi Impression...)
I missed That Bow Completely!
Awesome Paint Work and Carving on That One!
-gus
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WOW!!!!! this is awesome, great theme through out. Really made me think about getting into carving.
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Thanks Guys! The young man should be coming tomorrow evening to get it. I'll see if he'll pose for some pics.
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Terrific work! Congrats.
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wow that;s nice work there lostarrow! Just happend to look at theis post and glad I did! dp
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Thanks for looking. I'll be bringing the young lad out shooting when the weather turns more favourable, so I can get a full draw pic and post the bow in the forum. I don't dare do it with out the FD pic ;D
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Holy cow!
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I don't get into the build-a-longs nearly enough! OMG this is awesome work...
OneBow
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:o wow :'(
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This bow and your other carved bows are absolutely impressive, and your howto on it makes the process seem a lot less daunting to someone that has never tried carving. Maybe one of these days i'll get myself a set of carving tools and try my hand at it. How long have you been doing carving wood lostarrow?
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Started when I was about 5 or 6 . Mom would send me off on my own into the bush with a little kitchen knife, because I liked to whittle. Made small boats , animals, spears etc. Different times and a different place ;) I can't imagine letting my kids do that now. Made me who I am today though, and wouldn't have traded it for the world! It really isn't that hard though. Get some modeling clay and try to make something out of it. If you can do that , you're off to a good start. Try carving a wood spirit on a piece of soft wood branch (Poplar or Cedar or similar) lots of how to's on that. A good sheepsfoot blade on a pocket knife can do wonders.
Good luck! Dave