attempting a hummingbird scene.

[Glenn Jennings]

Hi Guys
Started on detailing the humming bird. Am trying to take my detail to a higher level with this piece. Have always had a real "THING" for hummingbirds. Amazing little creatures. This one will be a ruby throated.

I am trying to get the feathers all anatomically correct.

Used power carving to rough out the bird as the wood is chestnut and can be a little tough to shift a lot of wood with a knife alone on the piece of wood I have.

The tail detail has been carved with the Micro Mark chisel set and for this fine work I think they are pretty good. I used a super sharp scriber to scribe in some of the feather detail.

[Brian T]

Ruby-throats are hummers of the great plains, east of the Rockies.

Here in the west side, we see Calliope, Rufus, Anna's and the big mountain hummer, the violet-chinned hummer. Rufous males begin to show up here, third Saturday in April.
No matter what the weather, those birds have been flying for weeks and they are a joy to see in the spring.

They are the most territorial, violent and turf-defending fighters to watch.
Absolute screaming and posturing display fights (they actually do hit each other).
But, resources being what they are, it isn't uncommon to see big feeder tanks with 100-200 birds being quite diplomatic for once.

But by the beginning of July, the males are long gone. Tagging studies show they follow the west slope of the Rocky Mountains. Some where down into New Mexico, they turn east to winter on the Gulf coast in Georgia and Louisiana. Yes, they recognize and remember my house. They will hover at the deck door until I put the feeders out.

I had a good concept for 4 birds at a feeder. The Rufus males are cedar color, how convenient,
I got the tails OK but never got a body shape that I could believe in so the project died.
Nice to read that you picked a good wood for very fine detail, they need it.

[Glenn Jennings]

Hi Brian
My wife and I went on at least 4 birding trips to USA. Did a couple of trips to World bird santuary in St Louis Missouri. Had a fantastic time at Cave Creek very close to Portal in arizona. Did a trip through to the Sonora desert museum and Tuscon as well. Also did a trip to Point Pelee and Rondeau park not far from leamington in Canada.

Spent a lot of time trying to get good shots of the hummingbirds. That was in the days of 35mm slide film at ISO 50 and 100. Worked out I needed a shutter speed aroung 1/1700th of a second to get a decent shot with the wings stopped dead and nice Rand crisp. Managed to get a couple of reasonable shots using the flash unit.

Wish I had the new Sony A7R digital 42 megapixel camera with me back then. Would love to have another go at those guys with the modern gear I have now. The A7R is just fantastic.

[joepaulbutler]

This is going to be another exciting project to watch

[Nebraska]

The carving is coming along nicely great tail feathers. This is the time of year when our hotels fill with international travelers who come for the Sandhill Crane migration. As some 300,000 cranes come through the area.

The red dot is where I live.

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[woodburner807]

Nice start Glenn, and can see there will be a lot of detail.

[DiLeon]

I love watching hummingbirds in the feeders when growing up on the mainland. It should be a really fun project for you.

I saw hummingbirds in my flowers one day. I called my mom and told her to send me some feeders. Got the feeders filled them up. Only to find out what looked like a hummingbird, fly like a hummingbird was not a bird but a moth. Hawaii does not have hummingbirds — neither native nor introduced. Hummingbird moths are extremely fast and beat their wings at what must be well over a thousand times per second. Using a camera shutter speed of 1/200th of a second, their wings are still a blur. They did not use the feeders either, wasted money...LOL images (4).jpg

[Eddy-Smiles]

Nice work Glen. I'm impressed especially with it being carved from one solid piece of wood. And the detail is outstanding. I made my wife a hummingbird years ago and she still has it hanging in the kitchen but it's no where near a life like and detailed as yours.

[Mark N. Akers]

Very nice job on the hummingbird Glenn, looks great.

[Claude]

It's looking great so far, Glenn. I did this one in 2009 out of walnut, as a "smoothie"
Claude
IMG_7715.jpg

[Glenn Jennings]

Hi Guys Thanks for the nice comments!!!

Hi Claude I like your smoothie.!!

Hi Guys
Had a go at the top of the wing. Found this very tricky. I couldn't get all the feathers in the wing that should be there but got it pretty close. Used micro chisels and files and a dembart checkering tool which I found very good for cleaning ul and deepening the lines for the feathers.. for the detail. Have tried to layer the feathers as they would be on the bird.

Think the detail will show up a lot better when painted, This should create some deeper shadows and help create the illusion of depth to the detail.

Looked at power carving on a bit of scrap but just wasn't fine enough even with the 1.5mm burr and one mistake and your toast as at 320,000 rpm it rips wood off in the blink of an eye. Will be awesome for bigger pieces though.

[joepaulbutler]

Glenn, sometimes antiquing will help with the detail. Beside whos counting

[4ND3R5]

Looking good Glenn.

[Nebraska]

Coming along nicely look forward to watching this progress.

[Glenn Jennings]

Hi Joe,
I'm going to paint this one up in as close as I can get to the real thing.

Hi Anders
Thanks buddy. This one is a lot of fun but tricky to hang on to for some of the work. Think the finger jabs are running at about 4 so far. Must get some rip stop gloves!!!!

Hi Ed,
Glad you are liking my latest project. I really like following yours as well !!


Hi Guys
Got the wings and tail done on the hummingbird. Going bush for a couple of days. Plenty of red deer where we are going.