box bed carving progress

[Thor]

It has been 2 months since I posted a picture of this project, and I've made a little progress, with lots more to do.

I am building box beds into my new house, and the carvings pictured will be built in above and below one of the the 2 beds that run end to end.
I have included the second picture to show my inspiration for this project and to give you an idea of how the carvings will be incorporated into the beds.

The pieces are carved in white pine, and measure 11 1/2" X a bit over 5 feet.
I'm using hand tools and mallet only.

They will be stained with oil stains, and I am today, experimenting further with the stains to incorporate the colors I want over sanding sealer. They will be very colorful.
The sun carving, centered in "both" of the beds overhead carvings will be colored like the house blessing carving in the third photo for instance and the wave pattern on the bottom will be both natural and the waves and water will be a green stain.

I would really like to have some feedback, but don't know who can really relate to this project. My design changed a lot over the course of working on them, and I have many more carvings to complete before the beds are done. There will be 3 - 9 foot vertical carvings also, that I haven't even started.

The carving at the top is a story board to symbolize my 3 children leaving home and having both roots and wings. The 4 birds on the far side of the top stands for the 3 kids + my daughter's fiance. Two of them are ornothologists, so birds are very appropriate.

Comments are welcome...really. They are not done, so I still have time for a few changes. I'm not totally satisfied with shape of the tree, and I'm still putting texture in it. The birds aren't done yet. I want them to stay stylized but with a little more detail carved in.

more than you needed, but your opinions will be helpful.
Thor

[Sharon of the Dell]

Re: box bed carving progress

Beautiful! On the first picture, the waves towards the center reminded me of eagle heads. Children soaring on their own! I think it's a totally wonderful and inspiring project you are doing.

[Ron T]

Re: box bed carving progress

Hello Thor. What an ambitious project. It seems to me to be coming along veery nicely. I really like all the sybolism.

[Keoma]

Re: box bed carving progress

OMG-am I super emotional today or what?!
These are so beautiful Thorkatla!!!
I love your tree...and the swing is spellbinding!
I had one thought come to mind.
Hands
You know how you see the biblical images of hands of Gawd coming from the sky?
Well, I see mothers hands, loving, caring, trusting and strong.
Its your hands and arms that raised them up to be able to pat them on the back and then let them go.
Youre amazing. I love everything you do.
Please post a picture of the amazing chair behind your amazing head and foot boards

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Re: box bed carving progress

Thor these are awesome I love them, if I could have one job of my choice I would do stuff like that all day, arcithechural (<--not spelt properly) carving I believe it would be called. Thanks for posting they are turning out great I will be looking forward to more PICS as it progresses.
Carl

[Joy]

Re: box bed carving progress

Thor this is going to be fantastic. Questions: will this all be painted like the sun (no shading of colors)? Why did you choose green for the water?

I think the tree is lovely. It may be a little crowded above the swing where the two large parallel branches split into smaller branches. But I only mention it because you said you weren't totally happy with it.

I hope this is a house you intend to live in for the rest of your life. It would be hard to part with a treasure like this if you had to sell.

[squbrigg]

Re: box bed carving progress

What a wonderful idea Thor. Beautifully designed and carved. I'll be watching for future panels.

As to finishing ........ might I suggest the birds be three in one shade and the fourth a slightly different, brighter colour. The three daughters , in the bird kingdom, would have more subdued plumage, while the male a bright colour, like American Goldfinches, for example. The waves could be a gentle blue/green, but not too dark. The sun is easy, and it will just depend on how bright you want it. I hope you are considering using a semi-transparent stain, so the carving marks show through.

Just some thoughts, hope they help. Pine stains well, so good luck to you.

Bob

[xsailer]

Re: box bed carving progress

Really neat Thor,
I really like big projects as this one is. The reward afterwards is gratifying. Especially like the symbolism ideas.

[Thor]

Re: box bed carving progress

Thor this is going to be fantastic. Questions: will this all be painted like the sun (no shading of colors)? Why did you choose green for the water?

I think the tree is lovely. It may be a little crowded above the swing where the two large parallel branches split into smaller branches. But I only mention it because you said you weren't totally happy with it.

I hope this is a house you intend to live in for the rest of your life. It would be hard to part with a treasure like this if you had to sell.

Hi Joy, and thanks for the comments. I chose green for the sea, because it will represent the cold Baltic sea. No, I've never even seen it, but I want it to look Nordic to go with the house, and as the house is designed to look like a Swedish farm house, the theme and colors are more green and red than blue. I don't know if I made that make sense, but that's how my brain justified it.

I will definitely go work on the area you mentioned about the swing. I agree with you, but I couldn't see the problem. I think the swing is too short, or too big too, but that would be harder to change now.

I have no idea where the wind will blow me for the rest of my life. I hope to live here long enough to enjoy all the work I am putting into the house, and if I ever leave it, it will be named after me for the next 100 years.

Thor

[Thor]

Re: box bed carving progress

What a wonderful idea Thor. Beautifully designed and carved. I'll be watching for future panels.

As to finishing ........ might I suggest the birds be three in one shade and the fourth a slightly different, brighter colour. The three daughters , in the bird kingdom, would have more subdued plumage, while the male a bright colour, like American Goldfinches, for example. The waves could be a gentle blue/green, but not too dark. The sun is easy, and it will just depend on how bright you want it. I hope you are considering using a semi-transparent stain, so the carving marks show through.

Just some thoughts, hope they help. Pine stains well, so good luck to you.

Bob

Bob, those are very good suggestions. I'll definitely try to make that distinction when staining them.

As for the finish, I've been experimenting with miniwax natural stain mixed with oil pigments, the technique that Makinchips (Joe) suggested using on his threads. Pine is hard to make even, so yesterday I put some sanding sealer on some pine to see if that helped. I'll work on that some more to see if it can darken to the shades I want to see.

The bright colors will help show the carvings off more. I have carvings all over the house above windows and doors and in little built ins. Some of them hardly show up. These beds are built into a wall where there isn't room for anything else. The colors will make that space all about the beds.
Thanks for the comments. I appreciate them.
Thor

[Thor]

Re: box bed carving progress

Just an update with the colored stains being applied. I'm happy with how I can control the shade using the oil pigment mixed with minwax natural.

It isn't done yet.
Thor

[xsailer]

Re: box bed carving progress

Really really cool. Look forward to seeing it installed. Neat idea.

Can you expand on the oil pigment please?

[Kenny_S]

Re: box bed carving progress

Yepper Thor, a winner for sure. Alsp like your chair holding the bed rails, also.

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Re: box bed carving progress

Looking great, thanks for the update.
Carl

[Thor]

Re: box bed carving progress

Hi Bob, and thanks. The oil pigments are artists' oil paints out of the tube. I mix them with the minwax oil based natural stuff. It turns out a nice furniture finish. It is a lot like mixing it with linseed oil, but linseed oil makes me kind of ill. I can taste it days after I use it for very long, so I have been looking for an alternative for awhile. This is working well so far.

Thanks Kenny. Keoma asked for a picture of that chair, often called a tongue chair, so I'm posting a picture of it. I carved 2 of them out of yellow pine to take camping many years ago. I don't recommend using yellow pine...I chipped a very good chisel in the process.

Hey Carl, I'll post more picts as I get further along. I have another 2 pieces just like these two to complete and then 3 pieces 9 feet tall and 6 inches wide. After they are all in place, I think I'll be pretty tired of it..
Thor