A spirit face on cottonwood bark.

[wayne(mj)]

Went to a small town and found a guy who carves cottonwood trees and not the bark. I was completely out of bark , but this guy gave me enough to last for awhile. I took a couple arm fulls to our club metting and had no truble getting rid of it, now everone is happy. It has been awhile since I carver a face but it was enjoyable.
I have a ?. How do I keep my carving from going dark when I put a finish on it. I usually just put natural shoe polish on it , but that still darkens it up. The one I am showing here is the raw wood with nothing on it. I have used a clear varathane befor and it still makes the true dark colours come out. It is not a do or die thing as I am happy with it the other way. I just thought if I could get it to stay the same natual colour it would be nice. There it did it again , ( it posted my pic's side ways) Is it something I am doing , or is it something else.
Thank You.

[Tom Ellis]

That's ok Wayne, It just gives me a little crick in the neck. Nice faces. It's nice you ran into that fellow with the bark.

Tom

[toycarver]

That looks great! See if you can't turn it around, so we can get a better look at it.

[mrgrouch]

sorry i can't help with your question wayne, but instead i have a questin for you... does this guy still have bark? (okay, 2 questions) will he be willing to sell some? (3) which town was that?

i'm in weyburn and would like to get a local supply instead of buying from bc.

thanks

ps. nice wood spirit by the way.

[Dan Wegiel]

Hi Wayne,
Dosen't matter if he's sideways or upside down, he's a good looking spirit. I personally have only carved a few pieces in bark and put natural danish oil on them, of course thats what I put on everything. LOL Very nice of you to share the bark with your friends.
Dan

[efmaron]

Very nice carving Wayne it dose not matter what finish you put on it; it will darken some.

[Michael Short]

Nice work !!!

[cut up]

I have found that a water based polyurethane doesn't get as dark as the water based.
I used it on some poplar and it looked like i just wet it with water, and didn't have that amber color that a lot of oil based polyurethane has.

[Robert Cahill]

Nice looking Spirit Face. I don't have a definite answer to your question. I know you are suppose to change the setting to 780pixels wide and 580 height for posting . Is it possible you have it reversed.