My first Mark Gargac elf

[Dan C]

Hi All!

OK, so here's my first elf carved using Mark's great DVD. It was great fun, and the DVD was exactly what I needed. It was a great learning experience! This is the first piece I've put out on the forum.

A couple of comments:
I kept the hat "in-the round", instead of hollowing it out in back. I'm not too interested in making the piece very thin. I did hollow the back out from the hat on down.

I chose not to pierce the beard area on this one, but will on some of the ones to follow. (You can tell I'm hooked on making some more of these!) I hope to introduce some more significant individuality in ones to follow.

The finish was as described in the DVD - BLO, Deft, Triple Clear on the eyes, and then 50/50 Dark/Natural wax.

I didn't sand it too much, as you can see by the gouge marks left on the hat. I used sandpaper a little inside the ears. Then, I used a small pad of Scotch-brite, medium coarseness on a Dremel tool to get rid of some of the fuzzies here and there. That stuff is great.

I burned in the irises with a very small signature tip and then put in the eye glint using undiluted white acrylic. I think, for the next one, that I will not use the burner, but will just paint the irises in. I wanted to give the burner a chance to see how that worked, but didn't really like it. It's really hard to burn the iris in right next to the upper and lower eye lids without burning the eye lids as well, and that doesn't look good. So - something learned there.

It was great fun, and all comments are welcome. In particular, suggestions for improvement would be very much appreciated.

Dan C.

[fpace]

Dan that is great! Keep it up!

Carve on...

[catbird]

Great Job!

[skidmore]

Awsome, keep up the good work.

Forrest of NC

[Merle Rice]

Dan ,you did well with Marks DVD. I agree that you can learn a lot from it. Very good start, keep it up. Merle

[Cottonwood]

A GREAT elf carving. A pleasure to look at!

[Dan C]

Thanks to all for your kind comments! This forum is a great place. I also have Mark's Santa ornament DVD and am about to give that a try next. I figure I've got from now till next Christmas to get a bunch of elf and Santa ornaments together for presents. I like that kind of time frame!

Cottonwood - I went to your website and you have some really nice carvings there! I particularly like the woodspirits in cottonwood bark. I have a few pieces of bark that I've been saving till I figured I had the skills to carve them. Maybe after a few more ornaments, I'll give it a try.

Dan C.

[Mottles]

Hi Dan, super Elf Carving, did you give him a name? Your elf shows that you certainly learned from Mark's DVD
Kathy

[Dan C]

Mottles - Thanks a lot for your kind comments! I had a great time with the carving. Mark's DVD was so easy to follow that it was great fun. What came to me when I looked at the finished elf was that he was a no-nonsense kind of elf with an air of authority about him. I guess, to me, he would be "head elf" in Santa's workshop.

Dan C.

[toycarver]

Really great!