[Curly Early]

I'd appreciate your thoughts on correcting this carving. I bought the roughout at our carving club, carved him but he was ugly. Put him on top shelf for some time, finally recarved his face. Better I thought. Neighbor came by, looked at my last indian and thought hair would be better black than the way I did them, just stain and clear is all I've done to them.She offered to paint the hair with oil paint, black, thats good. The carving came back pretty dark, she dropped the paint container , paint was all over the face, was washed off with thinner but still pretty dark. By the way, I was not offended, could have happened to me if I'd been doing it. Any thoughts - Earl

[Irishman]

Can't help you with the darkness but you have a good looking carving there. You can pick out the Native American features. Sometimes the sun can lighten up a carving but can sometimes do the reverse as well. Other carvers here may have some thoughts to help you. Good luck.
Patrick

[Kenny_S]

As far as I can tell, the carving looks good.

[DADDIO]

i like the darkness of the carving it really creates a nice effect in my opinion anyway

[slivers&dust]

I like it too, makes it look 100 years old. Very nice carving!

[Claude]

I agree - looks good as is. Definitely don't think it's worth re-carving to lighten it a bit. The features are great, and the darker colors give it a somber look, representive of the the trials and tribulations of being a native American back in the 1800's. Personally, I'd start entering it in a few competitions, but your mileage may vary...

Claude

[Curly Early]

I sure do appreciate your responses, made me look at him in a different perspective. After reading your posts, I got a big shoe polishing brush and really gave a good buffing to him and that even helped. Again, thanks for your help - Earl

[Coffeeman]

Curly, Like all the above, looks real nice to me, actually like the various tones/hues in his face. Nice carving, by the way, sometimes accidents turn out to be the best way. Bill

[Ashbys]

Curly
since your asking for opinions, I am almost afraid to say much as the entire picture looks dark to me. So I am not sure how much is carving and how much is the picture tint.

But that said , if your really concern , I suggest you change the outer finish. And paint the entire carving.

Indians often painted their faces , so turn it into a positive and paint the face. If you look at some of the pictures of Indians you will find black was often used as a face paint.

Also , the darkness will be increased because of using the black stain which is running through the fibers. Before it was painted you could have used clear stain to reduce the effect from the black stain. But it looks good and a well done piece.

Ash

[Curly Early]

Ash - you are correct, should have sealed first, painting would solve the problem, but -- if I tried to paint him, I predict he'd come out looking like the 4 year old grand daughter did when she found her grandmothers makeup. Made quite a memory for us and so after reading others takes on him, he's barely darker than the walnut guy beside him, and like the news man says, we will always have " The Rest Of The Story". I do thank you tho for your comments - Earl