Arizona Cottonwood Spirit

[Mottles]

Size: 17" Tall x 3 1/4" Wide x 1 1/2" Thick

Hi All:
I wanted to share with you my first Arizona Cottonwood Spirit. Hubby and I took a little walk to a creek near our home. This bark and any bark I take for carving is from dead trees. I have always wondered if Arizona Cottonwood bark was carvable. I'm happy to report it is carvable!
The only real problem I ran into was the eye (viewer's right) flaked on me while carving the mound. I ran a little Krazy Glue into the area to stablize it.
Otherwise it went fairly well, not to many pitfalls. I finished it with one spray of Deft Satin which did darken it a bit. The bark color is a really nice red-brown.
Our Cottonwood up here is either Fremont or Narrow Leaf, as soon as the tree's begin to leaf I can collect some samples. As I'd like to know which variety I'm working with.
As always I appreciate your visit and comments and thank you, to Mark Gargac for creating his 'Carving Wood Spirits' DVD I used as a reference for this carve. mgargac@gargacsoriginals.com I'll get better I promise Mark! LOL
Kathy

[Sharon of the Dell]

Wow you're a busy girl Kathy! He's a great carving. The bark is a real pretty color.Keep 'em coming!

[Irishman]

The bark carving turned out great. Wish I had access to bark like that in our parts. I hear that cotton wood very nice to carve. I've seen it at a wood show last year but it was very expensive. Thanks for giving us a look.
Patrick

[Mottles]

Hi Sharon & Patrick and thank you, both for stopping by and for your nice compliments. Much appreciated!

Sharon, yes it is a really pretty color. Interesting, I compared it to the Colorado Plains Cottonwood. The colors are very simular.

Patrick, the Arizona Cottonwood that I have seen so far isn't as thick as say the plains Cottonwood. So one is limited to the depth and of course size of their bark woodspirit. Yeah, I've priced it and talked to others who have bought from Chipping Away and they are very pleased with their bark. It's not cheap, but ya get what ya pay for....

Thank you, both,
Kathy

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Hi Kathy, I think you did an excellent job. The facial features are great.

Dave

[Mottles]

Hi Dave, thank you for the nice compliment much appreciated.
Kathy

[Iowa Carver]

Awesome Kathy, really looks nice! Will have to check out that DVD! Nice job.

Corey

[chuckbolton]

when u consider the possibilities of characters from bark-- i think its cheap-- all u can do with basswood is make the character yourself-- the bark tells u what its going to be-- so i think its very reasonably priced-- it will flake off-- you must have sharp, scary sharp tools ( and i dont always have that)

[bassman]

Wow Kathy, what a wonderful job you did on this guy. Your last one was all about the eyes but this one is all about the nose. What a fantastic Gargac Honker (apologies to Mark but with his carvings the noses really stand out)

You are truly blessed with a great carving ability but also by being able to take a walk and pick up cottonwood bark close to home. I've looked at some in my local shop and it was plain square and frankly boring. I didn't see anything in it so I left it all there. It certainly wasn't jagged and organic looking like your pieces or other cottonwood carvings I've seen. I guess they must trim it up for shipping to Canada thereby spoiling the whole look.

Guess I'm stuck with milled basswood for now.

Keep up the good work, your carvings rock.

Elliott

[Mottles]

Hi Corey, Chuck and Elliott thank you, for stopping by and for your nice comments.

Corey, I'm really thrilled with Mark's DVD his teaching method and production skills are just great.

Chuck, I totally agree the bark dictates what the character will present. It forces the carver use their creativity and imagination. I strop my tools after each carving session. I decided that with carving bark your tools do need to be stropped more often. So beginning with the next woodspirit I'll strop during the session. Thanks for your insight.

Elliott, actually Mark's nose is smaller than my 'honker' grabbed the wrong size gouge for the wings. lol My hubby came into the garage/workshop just as I was grabbing a gouge to downsize the nose. He said what are you doing? I said, well the nose is to big and hubby said it was great and added to the character sooooooooooooo I left it big.
I love being able to harvest and carve found wood and bark. I do admit I get spoiled using basswood. Although cottonwood bark is such a pleasure to carve, it's like slicing butter.
I think Chipping Away leaves at least one end natural. Be careful once to get a chance to carve cottonwood bark you'll be hooked.

Thanks again, guys
Kathy