Holiday carvings

[jmischel]

I had some 3/4" and 1/2" scraps of basswood, so I thought I'd see what I could do with them. The result: 4 snowman refrigerator magnets (they're approximately 3" tall by 2" wide), and a quarter-sized boot. The snowman design is something I scribbled after looking at roughly a zillion patterns online. The boot I got from Northwest Wood Carvers Assn..

I carved all of these with the utility knife I bought last week. The first snowman took me about four hours to draw and carve, because this was the first time I'd tried to do anything 3D that wasn't symmetrical (like the pinecones). The last took me about an hour and a half, total. I think I'm beginning to get the hang of this carving thing.

I carved the boot because I wanted something to test painting on. But it turned out well enough that I decided to paint something else first. I might even keep the boot raw.

Paint is next. I hope I can manage to do a good job with that. I started painting my first snowman ornament last night. (I posted a picture of it a while back.)

Slowly, I learn. But I'm having a heck of a good time with it.

Jim

[MackTheKnife]

You're doing good, Jim. Keep it up and post some more pictures once they're painted.

Bob

[catbird]

Looking good Jim.
TFS

[jmischel]

Thanks for the encouragement. I spent some time painting this evening, with ... mixed results. I learned a few things (below), but mostly I learned that I have a lot to learn.

If you mix the paint too thin, it's going to run. And white, especially, doesn't cover well when it's thin.

It's easy to get the paint too thin.

A little paint goes a long way!

Paint accentuates, rather than hides, carving mistakes. Clean cuts are essential.

You can't have too much light when you're painting.

I need to wear my glasses when painting. Or perhaps get a magnifying glass.

I'm hoping to fix some of the more egregious errors (colors running into the white) tomorrow. But I'm resigned to having them look a little messy. Good learning experiences. I'll sign and date them, and look back in a year to see how I've improved.

Jim

[jmischel]

Well, for what it's worth, I've finished with the painting. The results are ... well, not the best. It's obvious that I've never painted anything before.

The smile on the red snowman (the first one) was not intended to be that wide. I slipped with the brush and ... well, if there's a way to fix a slip with black on white, somebody please enlighten me.

You can see where the paint ran, and in some places where I tried to fix it. Lesson learned: you can't cover that kind of mistake. So be more careful.

It's especially visible under the flash. The painting isn't great, but fortunately it doesn't look quite as bad as it does in these pictures. And the gold on the snowman's pipe: you can't see those sparkles at all under normal light.

The gold looks great on the pinecones, though.

[catbird]

Jim, I used to paint a lot and I found that since my hand is not real steady, I could use a permanent black marker to make some of the details you are using. One of the real small markers.
I don't know if anyone else uses this or how successful they have been with it.
Maybe this will help. I would also try painting over the whole mouth with a few coats of white, you'd be surprised how much you can cover up and then make the mouth again.

[Jeannesue]

Your snowmen are real cute Jim. Another good way to paint nice round circles is to dip the wooden end of the brush into your paint and dot on the eyes and "coal" for the snowman's mouth.
Jeanne

[jmischel]

catbird, thanks for the idea. Somebody else mentioned the idea of markers. Not just black, but for all colors. I'd be interested to hear of anybody who's doing that with wood, and how well it works.

I'm worried that adding several coats of white will make the thing too shiny. I guess it can't be any worse than it already is, huh? I might just paint all of the white on that one and re-paint the face.

[jmischel]

Jeanne,

I like the idea of using dots as "coal" for the mouth. Will have to try that next time.

[jmischel]

I used an old blade to scrape the face off the red snowman, and re-painted the white. I'll let it dry overnight and see how it looks in the morning. It has to look better than the gaping smile that was there.