First carving in 7 years

[Stogie]

I was reading this issue of WCI and the mantle piece with the leaves got me interested enough to try something. Right now I do not have the cash flow to get a supply of nice carving wood so I was eyeing up my neighbours tree that was getting a trimming after many years. I believe it is an ash, and I went about to finding and cutting up some chunks for me to play with. I thought I would use my dremel tool as I can control it like my pencils and paint brushes and had a go at it. Took me about 2 hours total, and I am not quite done yet. I would like to stain the inside and varnish the top.
Let me know what you think.

[CarverFromNoWhere]

That is awsome, nice work especialy in the end grain wow.
Carl

[cannuckcarver]

Nice work there Stogie, keep them coming.
Thanks for sharring

[catbird]

Yeah, I like that! Just a couple of hours you say? One day I hope to be able to control my tools that well.
TFS

[Ron T]

Very nice and I agree with Carl, on the end grain is much more dirficult.

[Stogie]

Thank you all for the kind words. I double check with my boss and she said it was just around 2 hours 15 min. I wasn't even paying attention to the end grain, and to tell you the truth it didn't even cross my mind.....seems after a while you forget about stuff like that. But that sure does explain why my hand hurt so much and why I had to hold the Dremel so tight Red Face I guess all those years of drawing and painting have helped with my hand / tool control. I also build plastic model planes to competition levels, but never compete. I get alot of practice with the Dremel when cutting apart my cockpits, ailerons, and such. Hmmmm.....I should carve a Spitfire maybe.........

My daughter wants me to do one for her and I am thinking of maybe trying an animal. Not sure if I should carve it out like the leaf or relief carve around it.

Right now I am trying to find a co-worker with a band saw w ho can cut out a 1/2 profile Canvasback duck I would like to do. I am using what was left of a nice piece of Cherry that I had used for a gun stock a few years back. I tried a coping saw but holy moly do I find that hard work and more than a little difficult to control the way I like.

Brent