carving fur

[jamesfa]

any tips or techniques for carving fur trim on a santa?

James,
I am not really a santa carver but I would advise that maybe a small micro v tool or gouge. If you are going to paint it maybe a gouge and v tool first then burn in more detail I never paint my carvings so I never burn. I shouldnt say that I have about $300.00 worth of burning equipment and pens and all I use it for is to sign my carvings :
Colin

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I have tried a lot of things, a chip carving stab knife, woodburner...even an engraving tool, which made an interesting looking fur lol....try anything you can think of, you might just hit on a new one

[Nancy-G]

I've carved a lot of Santa fur trim and I always use a Dockyard veiner - a deep gouge in a 2, 3 or 4mm size, depending on the size of the Santa.

[Donna_T]

Hi Jamesfa,
There are a couple of ways I do fur on santas. Â*First I take a medium sized Â*veiner (something a bit bigger than 1/4') and make some ramdom strokes in different lengths in different directions...making sure they aren't too uniform or lined up. Â*Then I come back with a smaller veiner (about 1/8' or 1/16') and break up all the solid spots. Â*I go all the way around with these random cuts. Â*I really just dig in and come out--they aren't much more cut than that. Â*Then I turn it around and go the other way...again, always trying to keep it from looking too uniformly lined up. Â*It looks kinda like the divots in a golf ball--just different lengths and directions.

The other way I do it is to take a small v-tool and do the same kind of dig in and flick it out, but this time I make all the cuts the same direction--just fill it in. Â*On the front of his robe, I'd start at the center, about the waist, and angle the direction of al the cuts up and toward the shoulder. Â*This makes it look that the fur is kinda blowing back and up. Angling upward is actually cleaner than going horizonally and it gives some 'flow' to the look.

Gosh that's hard to explain without drawing a picture. Â*I started using the v-tool technique last year and really like it cause it looks more like fur hair.

Good Luck. Â*Just get a piece of scrap wood and try several ways before you apply it to your carving. Â*

Donna T

[woody01]

jamesfa,

Take a look at all the Santas on Picturetrail. You will see fur done in many ways. Make alot of Santas and try all the different ways.

Woody01

[MelNM]

I like gouges, like Donna T, I have also seen people that have used grinding stones on dremel, that look good. A wood burner does a good job also. It all depends on your carving style.

[AlArchie]

I only tried carving the fur trim on a Santa once......not a good experience. It left all those little fur pieces all over the floor, the department store made me spend the next hour cleaning them up, and Santa didn't come to my house for two whole years!

Al

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Well Duh!! you sat on his knee and did it right in front of him, waddya 'spect? Next time slip around the back LOL

[Linda]

Since carving is all about shadows, I find that using a v-tool if you are hand carving is too harsh. I start out with a larger gouge (depending on the size of the carving) and graduate down to smaller gouges and eventually a veiner. I like to get my Dockyard tools out. If you are power carving, make some random texture (especially around the edges) with a ruby burr with some kind of tear-drop shape, then go back with a fat disk (the ones that are fatter in the middle than they are at the edge). I make the hair strokes flair out to the edges of the piece of fur. Then when I paint I get a wonderful look by drybrushing the fur last and having those pieces of fur that have flaired outward get picked up as single hairs that look like they have been pains-takenly taken weeks to put in.