Chickadee W.I.P.

[Thor]

I rarely comment on bird carvings, since I know so little about what goes into them, but I want to say how much I enjoyed the process of this one.
The little bird is charming and so real looking, and I enjoyed learning how much care and thought went into the composition of the habitat.
Christina

[Blackjaxe]

Hello Ken, thank you for the comments.

An answer to you questions about power carving. I used both on the Chickadee I started carving around 3 1/2 yrs ago and all I had where 4 chisels and felt very comfortable with them. I just started power carving in this last year so its still a learning curve for me as well. However since you have asked for what and how I achieve my carving here goes and I make no apologies for how I do things.

Firstly burning for colour to me is a not the direction I ever want to go in, take a real good look at any songbird you will hardly ever see all the texture I've seen some carvers put into their birds. Burning has its place like the wing feathers and very lightly on the tail feathers with ducks of course burning can take on a whole new dimension so I'm specifically talking about songbirds here. Stoning means the use of Ceramic Stones, either white or green and I used a medium speed on my Foredom, I also have a Dremel. The point is that feather groups such as the cape, flank, undertail coverts, upper coverts and breast look a lot better if they are stoned for texture and feather flow...with feather flow being the most important. The head of a Chickadee should appear smooth and fluffy not have the look of a wet rat. Lots of experimentation with different stones should be done by any carver looking for realism in their carving.

Case in Point......these are my opinions only, do what you want and how you want just as long as it makes you happy..............PERIOD.

Ken

[Blackjaxe]

I'm flattered Christina, glad you enjoyed the work in progress, actually more like the thoughts in progress. I was stumped on a few issues with this carving.... I was happy it turned out as nice as it did.

Ken

[kayapee]

Thanks Ken for the detailed response.

So if I understand the general process, a basic shape is cut out by knife or band saw, than the general shaping, final detailing and stoning are done using a rotting bit (Dremel, Foredom etc.).

Ken

[Blackjaxe]

Hi Ken, I forgot to post a accurate discription of the stones I was talking about. The first 3 are ceramics "WHITE" and the flame is a ruby, which is perfect for defining tucks and folds in specific areas. I then use the disc shaped stone to aggressively contour the feather flow and bounce between the other 2 to get the right effect....a small ball shaped diamond is perfect for defining feather groups as well and once again i used the small Ruby Flame to accentuate undercuts, tucks and folds. All of these are available through local stores dealing with carving supplies....Good Luck and post when you can.

Ken

[john r]

What an awesome piece of work! I have a chickadee carved and in gesso but a smoothie not a decorative. I have no idea where to start, it sits on the shelf staring at me! LOL Really very nice work, very nice!

[kayapee]

Thanks Ken, that helps clarify things.

Ken