first and only bird.....

[susieq]

I have had a wood burner for a while, that I'm absolutely terrified of.... I bought it thinking I could use it to enhance the texture on my Santa beards and I did play with it a bit but could never get comfortable with it.

Bud Evans, a long time bird carver, gives classes in our area every year around this time and since bird carving involves a lot of burning work, I decided to sign up for the class. It's limited to 12 students but I lucked out and got in. The subject this year, was a brown pelican in breeding plumage. It's a 5 day class....8am to 5pm. It was a fun class and I really did learn a lot about texturing with a wood burner. I hope to put some of that new knowledge to use on my Santa figures very soon.

I will never be a bird carver and will probably never do another bird again but it was a learning experience.

Here is the finished product of the class..... I know the feather work leaves a lot to be desired...real bird carvers are a lot more concerned with exact, perfect feathers..... pay no heed to the crappy base he's mounted on. It's all I had on hand for now. Also, I antiqued my piece at home, after the class was finished. I can't stand the way acrylic paint looks without antiquing.

[susieq]

a close up of the fleshy part of the face around the eyes.... and the back of the head/crest

[Mottles]

Hey Girl, you learned your lesson really well......your brown pelican is just fantastic.

[susieq]

Thanks Kathy..... it was a nice change of pace from Santas. 99% of the texturing was with the wood burner so I'm ready to tackle a Santa beard now.

Maybe I can carve a small Santa to ride this guy....LOL

[twitcher]

fantastic stuff, you done a very good job...yes please, lets see more...

[susieq]

Twitcher..... I just visited your website. YOU are a REAL bird carver. Lovely work. I have only the highest respect for serious bird carvers. I'm going back to doing Santas....where I belong. But thanks for the kind words.

[Tom Ellis]

Nice job Susie, I can't wait to see how it helps your Santa beards, and other highlighting.

Tom

[Merle Rice]

Susie you did good on the texturing and should fit right in with your Santa carvings. Didd you carve the Pelican? If so it's amazing. Merle

[susieq]

Thank you Tom, Merle,
I am really looking forward to trying this with a Santa beard soon.
The bird was heavily roughed out blank when we started the class. If not, we'd have never finished him in 5 days. We even had to take burning "homework" home with us at night.

It took a whole afternoon to texture the front of the bird. I already spend a lot of time on the Santa beards but but have no intention of using burning exclusively for the beards. I will use it to enhance what I have been doing.

[markken5889]

Looks to me like you've done a great job on your pelican. Especially if you don't profess to be a bird carver. All that feather burning gets really tedious. You've really captured a great attitude and pose on this guy (or pelican gal???), though. Congratulations!

Mark