[Anthony Filetti]

It obviously looks good without any finish Deb! Which to me is a result of the quality carving job you've done. Nope I wouldn't change a thing.

Fantastic Job!!

[Ashbys]

Callynne ,
You know your work is just amazing. The tung oil is giving a great look to the wood! And look at the colors it is bringing up. I love it. The painted eye pupil looks great as is , and the offtone grey of it gives a hazy look to them like he is thinking of someplace besides where he is .
Not only that but using the tung oil should add a lot of strength to the bark.

Great piece ! Change nothing !

Is this a commision work ?

Ash

[squbrigg]

Deb....he's awesome, detail is spectacular, I wouldn't change a thing. My respects to you ma'm, your range is expanding.......he sure ain't no tooth fairy!!! Great work.

Bob

[Paul_Guraedy]

Deborah, that is a wonderful piece. If you have already put the crystal cote on, it looks just right. If you have not, I would be very careful with it.

I have done only two mountain men so am certainly no expert on them. I used crystal cote on the eyes of a horse in one of the carvings and it looks great. But, decided to not put it on the eyes of the humans. Kept going back and forth on whether or not I should and finally left them alone and have not regreted it. Crystal cote might call too much attention to the eyes, since the rest of the carving is natural.

[Irishman]

Lot's of character in that carving Deborah. I have to comply with the rest and leave everything as is. As I have heard many times, everyone has their own style and yours is working for you. To help complement your work, I plan on using your pic for a reference for one of my later carvings. I burn the eyes into my woodspirits so I have no experience with your technique, and it looks great. Thanks for sharing your work.
Patrick

[Doug Ridley]

Looks good to me. I wouldn't change a thing.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Wonderful carving! However, I will disagree with the others on the color of the eyes. They just draw too much attention from the rest of the piece. I might stain them a little darker if I wanted them to stand out more.

[Callynne]

Thanks for all the great compliments guys!! Lynn, you've picked up on my main concern, I don't want the eyes to be the biggest attention grabber. I want them to be part of the entire picture. A really good looking part but still just a part!

I have the color just right for the colors of the wood. I am wondering if antiquing him will pull it all together. It definitely would blend in with the burnt umber the rim and pupil of his eyes are. What do you think? Just a very light coat of antiquing, to accent all the detail work??

Big brother, I think your guy is perfect, I do remember him, now that you've reminded me! Thank you!

Ash, he's not a commissioned piece, he's for us. I am trying to do a couple pieces a year just for our family....no Nancy, I haven't got a Santa done yet, but he's in the rough out stage!!

Bob...."he sure ain't no tooth fairy"....I love that!!

Paul, I really like Crystal Cote, it's tricky to use but once you get on to it, it really makes 'alive' eyes! I agree though, you have to be careful and I'll have to see when he's totally done if he needs a coat or two of it!

Patrick, I thought about woodburning his eyes, in fact I thought about woodburning his beard and some of the detail work, but I was afraid I'd totally screw it up. All my woodburning so far has been to do animal hair or heavy woodburning for beards. Both of which get painted over!

Thanks again for all your compliments and feedback. You guys are the greatest....as always! Deborah

[Ashbys]

Callynne ,

You said you were adding at least 2 additional coats of tung oil. Since this isn't a commission piece and a really nice one for the familly, I think before I antiqued the piece, might sound strange , but I would add at least the 2 coats of tung oil and get it in almost the same lighting I expected it to be and wait before doing anything else for 2 weeks.

The tung oil will darken and should really bring up the tone by then .Then look at it and make the decision , it isn't like you have to decide quickly.

Just an opinion.
Ash

[Bill]

The wood speaks for itself, don't change a thing. As a non painter, I feel that there is a warmth in wood. I do all my pieces natural.
Bill