[Squint]

I have been carving for a few years but have never come to any
conclusion regarding the detail of feathers.
Some carvers in the books and mags I have read rely on painting
some burning and some using stones with a power tool.
Any tips or comments are greatly appreciated.
Squint

[pinefeathers]

As with any type of carving, each carver will eventually develop his/her own style. Many time you can recognize who did the carving simply by the style. This is especially true of wildfowl carving, and there is no one correct way to do feathers. I personally detail burn the barbs on all the primary and secondary feathers of my birds to give them a stiffer appearance. The coverts are a combination of texturing and burning, while the breast and other soft areas are often just textured with a white stone.(power carving)

Feather detail is painted on only when I am doing a "smoothie" decoy. Whatever approach you take is the correct way to do it as long as it works for you

carving

"Creative minds are never tidy."

[falconer]

There really is no set way to carve feathers. However, there are a few basic things to make your feathers "fluff". Never make a feather flat, always make sure you have enough wood to round them. Normally, the shaft of the feather protrudes above the barbs just a little. When burning in the barbs, always draw the direction first that way you'll always a reference in front of you. When putting in ripples on a feather I use a small diamond ball creating the low points and then hollowing out the high point. Hope this helps a little.
(Always draw before carving "always")


www.sierracreekstudios.com

[Hugh P.]

I can't improve on the advice given here, but might add that feather flow or direction is very important. Burning detail lightly gives you the opportunity to get your lines closer. I like to have different feathers handy, to look at. The barbs run differently in breast feathers, the barbs in the flight feathers have a little different angle, as do the scapulars and back feathers. In order to create realism its necessary to get the flow of all the feathers and the flow of each individual feather. Some have more splits than others also. Feathering a bird is as much of a challenge as shaping or painting. Hope this helps.

[Squint]

Thanks to all
This forum is really great. I have learned a good deal this past week. Now all I have to do is put it in practice.
Squint