Finally Finished I THINK

[wildhare]

I took Marci's advice on the Biggest One Yet post . His eyes seemed too bugged and she was brave enough to kindly point it out to me. So I adjusted them as best I could.

I think we get carving blind sometimes after staring at our own carvings. It helps when others kindly point out how we might do something differently to them. Thanks MarciMN for speaking up.

Then his beard still looked too flat. So I took out my old straight palm tool and a V tool and adjusted the beard.

I added oil based gold stars on his jacket and at the hem of his inner tunic?

I applied and oil based antiqueing solution, (Blo and dark brown oil paint).

Duh, had to reapply gold in some spots. DUH

Does anyone know how long I should let it dry before applying wax? Estimates are ok. I thought I remembered two or three days.

But you know how that is.

Here is one shot of before and them after

[Iowa Carver]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

Nice work Wanda, you doing so well. Neat Santa!

Corey

[gene-messer]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

WOW Wanda .. nice work and very nice painting .. neat Santa he is

Gene

[Mark Dellinger]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

Wanda,
Very nice job on your Santas. Neat carving and nice paint job.

Safe Carving and God Bless,

Mark

[bigEd_H]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

You did a great job on him, Wanda, both carving and painting.

Ed

[carver33]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

Wanda,

My $.02 worth- when you THINK a carving is finished, IT IS. It's time to stop, sit back and admire your work and begin thinking about the next one.

Nice Santa and nice paint job.

[Curtscarving]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

Wanda thats the size I like em. Did you paint the back or did I miss a post?
This one is very good,like the beard.
Curty

[wildhare]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

Thanks guys for looking at him.

Curt, yes he is painted on the back with a nativity scene. It is posted in Biggest One Yet.

I re did his eyes and added a bit more texture to his beard.

He is done. I am not gonna touch him again except to package him up for his new home.
Wanda

[Mark N. Akers]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

Wanda:
Great job on the Santa, a fine one he is.Drying time varies, I will let them set a least 24 hours,but that's me. it may vary if the carving still feels wet.

[wildhare]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

Thanks Mark. Do you put wax on your pieces to protect them? We are just about as moist here as you are there is Lexington.
Wanda

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

Awesome carving Wanda ! Love the detail and paint job !

Dave

[wildhare]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

Thanks Dave, I think I am finally getting it! Now I gotta get busy on making some ornaments!
Wanda

[Sharon of the Dell]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

I like him!

[Tom Ellis]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

Wanda, you do magic with your hair painting. Love the contrast. Course the rest of the entire job is excellent too. Ho Ho Ho .

Tom

[wildhare]

Re: Finally Finished I THINK

Thanks Sharon.

Tom, thank you. I paint the deepest end of the color scale for whatever color hair I want. A deep charcoal grey for this white hair. I let it dry completely and go to my stiffest brush and lightly dip it into the white. I carefully blot it until I have a dry brush and paint across the cuts in the beard and hair and fur. If you go with the cuts, you loose the effect.
If there is too much contrast, I take a smaller STIff brush and carefully brush with the dry brush method a little deeper into the cuts here and there.
HO HO HO to you Tom.
Thanks Wanda