Gracie the Chocolate Lab

[Orygoner]

A friend of mine asked me to do a relief carving of his dog. It is to be a birthday present for his wife who is very, very fond of Gracie.

So, I decided to give it a go. I had to set it aside for a bit to do a pair of Oregon Juncos for another friend's wife's birthday present. There seems to be a theme here. I just put up a post on the bird carving section on the pair of Juncos.

But, Gracie is an honest-to-gosh work in progress so I though I'd put it up here.

I must confess I've not done anything quite this ambitious, but I have a Bill Judt book for guidance and enough naitivity to think I can pull it off. I've already made my first major mistake, but am hopeful I can come up with a workable remedy (again naitivity probably reigns).

I started by deciding about what size I would make the piece. Then I selected my wood. The wood was selected based on what I had and that was aspen. I have a friend with a small portable sawmill who goes back to his farm in northern MN each summer. One of the most common species he cuts is Aspen (also ash, but that's another story). So, I had some aspen 2x4's that I cut into 6 18" pieces. Judt says you should camber the panel, so I put about a half degree camber on the edge of each 2x4 that would be fitted to a glue joint. After I got them all glued up, I sanded each face to give me a smooth surface to draw (copy) on.

I did some sketching prior to doing my pattern drawing. Then I did the pattern drawing and transferred that to my panel. Then, I took my router and wasted all the wood I could down to the background portions. That's where I made the mistake of routing out part of poor Gracie's throat. You'll see that in the pics.

I've made a bit of progress in taking down the sun and clouds. Not quite to final level, but getting there. That doesn't show in the pics. Then, I had to set it aside to do the Juncos.

So... here's the pics (I'll follow with a second post with the rest of the pics)

[Orygoner]

The final drawing.





As transferred to my panel.


And after roughing out with the router.

You can see the gaping holes below her collar. I am hoping to fill these with plugs cut from some more aspen. If anyone has some experience repairing such sorts of boo-boos, pls chime in with suggested fixes.

[Joy]

That should be a beautiful piece. It looks like you choose the best place to make a boo-boo. <big grin> The repair shouldn't be noticeable when you fill it since it is surrounded by the cuts for the bull rushes

Thanks for sharing.

[tnartist05]

Its looking pretty good so far. Will be ckn back on it and if you paint it,it will make the ducks fly and the dog breathe.

Stick you some quick gel glue in the holes,add some chips of wood then use alittle more glue and some dust and pat it flat,that will seal the holes you dont wont! Working with old found wood plus wormychestnut wood,always a little hole right in the middle of what Im carving in it!!

Forrest

[Sharon of the Dell]

It's looking real good so far. Great design.

[Ron T]

Hi Randy, it looks like you're well on your way. Sorry to see your boo-boo, but you can probably plug it like an inlay

[oldbearx2]

From the design, to the pattern to the start of the carving FANTASTIC. Can't wait till its done. You can also try 2 part expoxy mixed with fine sanding dust from the same wood or Bondo Auto body filler, if you plan on painting it.

[Iowa Carver]

Looking forward to seeing it finished!

Corey

[Orygoner]

Fall is a busy time and not much of it was spent carving on anything. We had a nice long visit to the Southwest and another week spent chasing pheasants and steelhead in Idaho.

But, a couple of days ago I started up on Gracie again. I still have to repair the holes under her collar where I got carried away and routed out wood I shouldn't have. I have started on the cattails at the upper left corner and am working my way around the bottom and to the upper right. This is the most intricate area with lots of wood to remove.

So, here's a couple photos. Each is at the end of a several hour session. I also reposted the starting stage photo.

I plan to keep up on this fairly steadily (as "steady" as that may be) until I finish it.

[ragiarn]

I would suggest that you replace the section below the collar (including the vegetation) with a piece of aspen and re-carve the neck and weeds. The collar makes for a natural break.

Since the collar will be more forward than the dogs neck, if you make a slight undercut of the collar leaving he surface intact (groove) the replacement should blend in nicely.
Once the piece is in place you can re-carve he vegetation.
Doc