hairy question

[sgtusmc]

All though I'm not a beginner to wood carving , I have to take a step back on this one. The body of the horse doesn't concern me I've done that before, but the hair really throws me for a loop. I'm thinking I might try doing it in clay first, or make the hose's body in one piece and the hair in another I could always make him bald.


I'll take any thing at this point.

[Josef]

I would leave as much wood as you require on that side of the horse, shape the horse, then get the basic shape of the flowing hair. You only need to detail in the hair against the body rather than away from it. Then put in the fine lines. I guess if you are painting it then you could try doing it in two. I am not a big fan of joining pieces. I can't wait to see it, beautiful image. Joe.

[Merle Rice]

With a carving like that I don't think putting hair on it would add to itany. I think it is beautiful just the way it is. Excellent carving. Merle

[sgtusmc]

Sorry Merle that's the picture that I'm thinking about trying to carve. haven't done it yet. I'll be one happy man if I can make it look that good.

[Dileon]

That pic is outstanding, will be looking forward to seeing your work! I love the hair and the way it moves. For me, working in clay takes longer then carving, I rather carve a few horses then do one in clay.

[sgtusmc]

I think you absolutely right, I took the clay out, looked at it and put it back. I've made quite a few horses heads,and I finally came up the a three piece construction right ear left ear and one piece in the middle, I leave a tab on the main and one at the bottom, drill and dowel them, when I get about 90% done, glue them then cut the tab off. The hair will be the last part I do,

[ragiarn]

There are several ways of carving the horse's mane depending on your preferences. You can add the mane after finishing the horses head. This is in my experience a little harder to do and still make it look natural.

Some object to this form of carving and feel that adding parts to a sculpture is not appropriate. Ian Norbury ( Ian Norbury - Sculptor ), a well respected and world renowned wood sculptor adds parts frequently when appropriate. I used this method in carving some of my horses. See first photo. In the second photo I left enough to carve the mane without adding. This is actually easier technically than adding a piece.

The type of mane you wish to carve will determine how much extra wood to leave in advance. Based on the photo, as suggested by Josef, you should leave extra wood on the right side of the neck.

The advantage of using clay model is that if you make a mistake you get to do it over. With wood mistakes are harder to correct. In using clay model you do not necessarily have to make the entire head, but just the neck area and experiment.

Looking forward to seeing the finished horse.

[sgtusmc]

The operation was a success but the patient dies. Not the look that I was looking for. but overall not bad.

[BeaverDon]

I think you have a good ideas there using clay to work out your ideas. Some detailed pencil sketching might help too until you're comfortable understanding how the hair moves and lays across the horse.

[Ashbys]

Sgt ,

I like it . I am sorry I missed this before. If you wanted to get more motion in the mane, you can use your gouges to layer it is sweeping motions. The V tool used in combination to highlight the curves will give a combination of depths. Much like the beards in wood spirits and Santas

Excellent carving .
Ash