[Bandaid]

I've been kick'in around the idea of doing a caricature of a cowboy on a horse. My question is, would you suggest carving it as one piece or doing it as separate pieces? I would appreciate your input or any suggestions by others in the group. Thanks...

Reg

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Gee......You're asking me to give away ALL my secrets on this one!! But, as it just so happens that I'm in the middle of doing a horse here's how I'm doing him.

The Horse: Using two separate piece of 1" basswood temporarily taped together, I drew on my side profile. Once this is cut on the bandsaw I separate the halves This allows access to the inside of the legs and tail area. I carve the legs completely up to the point they join the body. I also rough out the tail as much as possible as once these two halves are glued together that area becomes really difficult to get around in.

Once the glue is dry I start on the body then the tail and finally the head. Some purists might consider this cheating but who really cares what they think?

The Man on the Horse. Once the horse is completely finished and assuming that you've carved a saddle on him, take a carpenter's profile gauge, the thing they use to copy the shape of mouldings, etc., and slide it down over the saddle where the wrangler will be setting. This will give you a rough shape of the inside of the fella's legs. Now you just need to match up the figure to that cutout and you're on you way. I carve the stirrups as part of the figure as his feet will be in them.

Once you have the figure completed and mated to the saddle and this will take some time, Drill a 1/8" hole where he'd normally have one, carefully slide him into position and once firmly seated give the figure a couple of taps to dislodge some of the sawdust in the drilled hole and very carefully lift him from the horse. There should be a little pile of sawdust right in the middle of the saddle. Holding your breath quickly take a pencil and draw a little circle around it and then drill a hole so you can dowel them together once their painted.

Hope that answers your question.

[Bandaid]

Many thanks for the tips Lynn. The generous sharing of your talents in the forum and your blog is much appreciated. I'll be looking forward to seeing pics. of your finished piece.
Thanks again...

Reg

[Thomp]

Lynn,
This one message alone would be worth buying your book for, It in its self would save anybody years of experimenting to find a better method,
the hard part is to stitch together all the hints so it wouldn't be a list of Q&A blurbs,,,

I do appreciate all your information tips and tricks, and thank you for sharing your knowledge and tested skills...

thanks again
Thomas

I'm not sure of everybody Else's feelings on it but i would buy a resonably priced printed and bound version of your blog as far as that goes..

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Well Lynn is going to have to write a book on this stuff, found out that to be acceptable in the caricature carvers of America, you have to be published and give classes besides be an outstanding carver............you got things to do Lynn lol

[Lynn O. Doughty]

No thanks Dave......Have no desire to join that group.

[Thomp]

but still yet you have almost filled 2 of the requirements...

the blog is a book of sorts and you have had class with the tutorials, dave finished his cook i was a drop out,, so there is success and failure... haha

[Kenny_S]

You might as well write a book lynn, You have let ouit a lot of your secrets already. Now I did say a lot of your secrets, but not all of them!
I can understand why Lynn doesn't.Lynn is have to much fun in his retirement and if he put a book together, it would cease to be fun. Well, that is my take on it right or wrong.


I agree with Thomas, thank you sir for your time and allowing us to view your Blog.

[jamesfa]

Geez-now you tell me. i've been working on a horse for the last little while,and getting between the legs and tail was a son of a gun.
guess i should have asked the question?

Lynn thanks for the explanation,as usual you are most generous with your knowledge and techniques.

i would appreciate a close -up one of your spurs on a carving.

Frank