Just another horse WIP

[ragiarn]

I have learned so much on this forum from watching the progress of carvings from beginning to end. While I am still relatively new at this (coming up on my 2 year anniversary of purchasing my first carving tools) I wish to give back by showing the progress of my projects. Horses have become my preferred topic although I have done other types of carvings.

There are several steps I follow in approaching a new project.

Step 1- deciding on what I will carve.- Usually this step develops over time and often while I am still working on another project. Since I have decided on specializing for the time being on horses I have down load hundreds if not thousands of photos of horses from the internet thanks to Google and Bing.
There are some that have caught my eye and have become my favorites.

Below are two horse statues that caught my eye and I decided that I would like to attempt to carve something like them. I have no intentions of doing an exact replica. My skills are not that good - and it might be violating copyright. The marble statue with man, known as the Marley horses (there are two statues Louvre in France), was done in the 1800s so there might not be a copyright). I use the photos for the pose.

Step 2- finding a piece of wood that will be appropriate for the project. I wanted to do the horse in from one piece and I wanted it to be large enough. In considering what wood to use I need to take into account the length of the horse with relation to the width.

I decided that I wanted the horse to be 17-18" tall. For this I needed at block of wood approximately 20" long- by 9" wide and 6" thick- I usually use basswood but decided to try my hand at using Tupelo- Cape Fear Tupelo ( Cape Fear Tupelo - Premium Wood for Wildlife Carvers )- will provide a block that size.
Note: my band saw will only cut 6" thick-

Step 3- cutting the rough outline-
I ordered the wood and enlarged a photo of one of the horses to fit the block. Once this was done I cut the outline.
This is the easy part.

The next step will the be shaping part.

[Claude]

Looks like a great project, Doc.

Just in case you hadn't seen them, Napolean in Progress
Your's looks as if the tail will touch the stand to provide additional support; as I remember, Ash had to use inserts to strengthen the legs on his...

and
arabian mare

Claude

[ragiarn]

The Napolean WIP was one of the first that I followed and learned a great deal while following the posts. I would love to see the finished project. The most difficult aspect in carving horses lies in carving the legs especially the supporting legs since the horses and ankles and fore legs are so rediculously thin given the weight of the horse. It is amazing that race horses don't suffer from broken legs more often.

Bronze statues are more likely to have less ancillary support because they can be strengthened using internal steel support.

Most statues of rearing horse have some ancillary support- The tail is an excellent support- others use background rocks or tree stumps (see my running horses)- I used a tree stump.

I have already finished this horse (I will save the photos for the end of this WIP) and am working on the stable hand who is trying control the horse seperately and will combine the two.

[Irishman]

This will be an impressive carving. Look forward to watching your progress. Always impressed with those who take on the challenge of carving horses. So much to consider with this type of animal carving.
Patrick

[Josef]

Looks terrific so far, will keep an eye on the progress. Thanks for being bold enough to show us the steps. I am only a beginner and I get a lot from seeing these progressions. Joe.

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Looks real good so far, look forward to seeing the progress.

Dave

[ragiarn]

The side profile is cut (#1) . The next step is to shape the top down profile (looking at the horse from above). See photo #2

To do this I have a standard profile which I obtained from Ian Norbury last year. Ian Norbury is a well known artist who works in multiple media and his wood sculpture is rather unique (Ian Norbury - Sculptor ). I would recommend going to his website.

He sells plans and instructional DVDs- ( Carving birds of Prey - with multiple plans-- Female Head plans) along with instruction. One of the sets he sells is carving horses. I purchased this set for $6 and downloaded it. It comes with plans for 5 different horses along with the profiles . If you are interested in carving horses this is a great resource and a bargain.

Photo #3 shows the beginning phase of shaping.
For this project a very important part was positioning the neck and head. It is turned to the left with the head tilted away fronm the right. See photo #4

Before going into details it is very important to shape the entire sculpture.

[ragiarn]

The first photo shows the curvature of the neck and head.
The second photo shows the position of the head.
Before detailing the head I had to get the head square and properly oriented to get the proper effect. The horse appears to be shying away from something on its left side.

It was time consuming but well worth the effort.

In carving horses I prefer to concentrate on the head first and get the proper demensions and position. Once the head is set the neck and body follow to maintain the proper proportions. Nothing is worse than having the head to small for the horse.

The third photo demonstrates the early stages of detailing the head- positioning the nostrils the mouth and eyes.

For this I use the plans I purchased from Ian Norbury- proper position of these elements are important to make the carving look like a horse. These dimensions and relative positions are pretty much the same for any horse. There may be some variances in shape and thickness of the horses head depending on the breed but the relative position of the nose, mouth, eyes and ears don't vary much.

[ragiarn]

I have been meaning to catch up on the progress photos-
One of the problems I have had in carving horses is keeping the legs from breaking. On this project I set out to make sure this did not happen. Unfortunately in a moment of distraction during the early rough out phase I cut more than I should have- I inadvertently cut wood that was to be the left fore leg of the horse.

At this point I had to remedy this.
#1 Photo- carving with left fore leg truncated.
#2 Photo- prepared the stump to receive a wood joiner
#3 Photo- Wood peg glued in place
#4 Photo prosthesis attached
#5 Photo left fore leg carved to match.

I finished the project without breaking or cutting off any more legs.

[ragiarn]

The following photos were taken at the Monson Carving Show in Mass lat week.
While the horse is finished there is another piece I need to complete to finish the scene. I am carving a stable hand trying to control the horse- This complete piece was inspired by the Marly Horses in the Louvre in Paris.