Thanks, Mike!
update and more...I hope to be done with this one in the next couple days. Still havework to do on the left one...
here is the more...
every once in awhile I start getting questions again about how I do these. The questions have started coming again recently. At the Iowa Deer Classic (back in March) alot of people asked if it was done with a laser. Answer is no! I don't take offense to the question, in fact think of it as a compliment, but want to make sure you realize I do these all by hand.
I didn't even know there were lasers that could do pictures until people started making that comment. Actually had a lady at the Iowa Deer Classic say that she used to do the laser pics and she said she knew right away it was not laser because you could not get near the detail if you were using a laser. She pointed out, for example, on one of my pieces you could read "Mossy Oak" on the guy's hat. She said you would never be able to read that if it was done with a laser.
To start I need to rough out the carved area. The first 15 or so I did all with hand carving tools. Of late, I have started using a small router to rough it out, it speeds things up a little even though I still have to clean it up with my hand tools. Alot of pro woodcarvers start there pieces by roughing them out with power tools. Though with these pieces it is more about the burning than the carving. The only realy carving I do is creating a few different levels. All the detail is drawn in with my woodburning pen. I would actually like to do more pieces without the carving, but everybody orders their s done with the carving because it is very unique. I have lots of folks at woodcarving shows, who have been in it for 20 years, tell me they have never seen anything like it.
Once it is roughed out, I use my hand carving tools to shape anything that I need to (like the bucks' snouts on this piece) Once I have the general shape I want, I start sanding everywhere I am going to woodburn. Sometimes that means background and all, sometimes the background is not going to be burned, so I use my hand carving tools to create gouge marks (on this one I used a powercarving tool to create the dimpled background).
Once everything is sanded smooth I start burning. I use carbon paper to transfer some detail then start drawing everything in with my woodburning pen. I use different woodburning pen tips and techniques to create different textures and either adjust the temp on the pen or change the speed with which I move the tip across the wood to vary the shade.
One of the keys is starting off real light and building up to the darker shades. This helps add depth.
I created a short video clip. This is probably about a 30 minute video I have condensed into about 2 minutes. You will notice when I kick it in to high gear, LOL! I have done all the shading on this one with dots, you will notice the tapping when it is at regular speed.
Topic: Wild Fire Artistry...Your Huntin' Buddy (Read 594 times)
