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Finally finished the horse bust. When I started this piece I had in mind the old song \\\\\\\"Camptown Racetrack\\\\\\\" with the line \\\\\\\"....bet my money on the bob-tail nag, somebody bet on the bay.\\\\\\\" So my frien\\\\\\\'s allow me to introduce the \\\\\\\"Camptown Bay\\\\\\\".
The carving is about a foot tall and painted with watercolor. I had an interesting experience when I sanded it down and prepared to paint. I placed the carving on the base and was carrying it across a tile floor to show Diana. I strongly recommend assuring that all dust is removed between the carving and the base when carrying it. Yep, slipped off, bounced about 10 feet across the tiles. Diana\\\\\\\'s screams of alarm had changed to more colorful language describing my intelligence ─ when I found that one of the ears had broken off. It was a clean break and easily repaired with 2-part epoxy. Someday, I am convinced, I will be able to pick up a carving without being admonished!
Anyway, I wanted to carry through with the Camptown Racetrack theme and eventually settled on a piece of black walnut, rescued from firewood bin, to use for the base. The horseshoe was found here on the ranch. Diana\\\\\\\'s grandfather had horses/mules in the first half of the 1900\\\\\\\'s. It must have fallen off the hoof as most of the nails were still in the shoe. However, I could not get old nails to work, so bought new horseshoe nails. They only sell them in boxes of 100, I needed two ─ guess I am ready to carve 48 more horses! I did learn that \\\\\\\"Absorbent Ground\\\\\\\" works in preparing metal to receive paint and was able to paint the new nails to look old.
This is actually my trial run for the horse bust. I have another roughed out in this same pattern. It is butternut and will not be painted. I am even going to attempt foregoing burning the mane and just use stones. I am at a loss for the eyes on the butternut piece. I do not like the Greco-Roman and \\\\\\\"Little Orphan Annie\\\\\\\" look. Ah well, will have to cross that bridge at some future date.
Currently I have several pieces underway: bear walking through snow, bust of a white-tail doe, peregrine falcon on the side of a cliff, and a stylized hawk bust in wild cherry ─ all sitting around/on my work table. Then there is the barn owl ─ carved, feathers burned in, needing only the legs and feet. But, looked around and found that there are a lot of my carvings in here. So, I decided to carve the wings off and replace them with inserts. It will be mounted on a beam in the living room, wings spread along the front of the beam, as if it is ready to swoop on whomever is sitting below it.
The carving is about a foot tall and painted with watercolor. I had an interesting experience when I sanded it down and prepared to paint. I placed the carving on the base and was carrying it across a tile floor to show Diana. I strongly recommend assuring that all dust is removed between the carving and the base when carrying it. Yep, slipped off, bounced about 10 feet across the tiles. Diana\\\\\\\'s screams of alarm had changed to more colorful language describing my intelligence ─ when I found that one of the ears had broken off. It was a clean break and easily repaired with 2-part epoxy. Someday, I am convinced, I will be able to pick up a carving without being admonished!
Anyway, I wanted to carry through with the Camptown Racetrack theme and eventually settled on a piece of black walnut, rescued from firewood bin, to use for the base. The horseshoe was found here on the ranch. Diana\\\\\\\'s grandfather had horses/mules in the first half of the 1900\\\\\\\'s. It must have fallen off the hoof as most of the nails were still in the shoe. However, I could not get old nails to work, so bought new horseshoe nails. They only sell them in boxes of 100, I needed two ─ guess I am ready to carve 48 more horses! I did learn that \\\\\\\"Absorbent Ground\\\\\\\" works in preparing metal to receive paint and was able to paint the new nails to look old.
This is actually my trial run for the horse bust. I have another roughed out in this same pattern. It is butternut and will not be painted. I am even going to attempt foregoing burning the mane and just use stones. I am at a loss for the eyes on the butternut piece. I do not like the Greco-Roman and \\\\\\\"Little Orphan Annie\\\\\\\" look. Ah well, will have to cross that bridge at some future date.
Currently I have several pieces underway: bear walking through snow, bust of a white-tail doe, peregrine falcon on the side of a cliff, and a stylized hawk bust in wild cherry ─ all sitting around/on my work table. Then there is the barn owl ─ carved, feathers burned in, needing only the legs and feet. But, looked around and found that there are a lot of my carvings in here. So, I decided to carve the wings off and replace them with inserts. It will be mounted on a beam in the living room, wings spread along the front of the beam, as if it is ready to swoop on whomever is sitting below it.
. I really like your horse bust and mounting. Every thing seems to be proportioned correctly. Good Job. . . JoeB
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