Mermaid spoon

[LBlake]

Finished this one back in December, and it was pretty different for me, so thought I'd share it here. It's made of cherry, and my aunt asked me to make it for my cousin, who likes mermaids. The hands were especially fun, so I'll include a couple close-ups of those.
Critique welcome!

[Mark Dellinger]

No critique here only admiration. She turned out really nice.

Safe Carving and God Bless,

Mark

[AL...]

Im with Mark!
That is realy stunning and thanks for sharing I love everything about that.

Cheers
AL

[mpounders]

That is absolutely fantastic! Great design, really something different and nicely done! Way to go!

[David Stanley]

A beautiful and innovative spoon, superbly carved again.

I keep reading that cherry is troublesome to finish without blotching but you use cherry frequently and the finish is always flawless. Do you seal the work with shellac first before finishing with oil or does the nature of the carving i.e. no large surfaces, mean that there are no concerns?

[MackTheKnife]

Beautifully done! I think you pretty well nailed the hands. They are hard to do. The cherry is marvelous. I'm with David. You have to tell us your finishing secrets.

[Thor]

You did a beautiful job on the hands, and I love the vines growing up and around her. Great job on the finish as well.

[grdeno]

That is one beautiful piece the cherry wood takes a nice finish Thanks for posting.
Gary

[LBlake]

Thanks, again, all!
Ahh, finishing.... well, no secrets. I still experiment a little, but more in the type of clear danish oil I use than anything else. Probably the biggest "trick" I have is that I sand to a very fine grit.
I usually start with 80 or 120, and I go up to about 600, at which point I pour water all over the spoon to bring up the grain. Then (once it dries), I re-do it with 600, then go on to about 1800. It's usually at that point when I put on the first coat of oil. On the mermaid spoon, I used Deft danish oil. On the quill spoon, I've started using Tried & True danish oil, which has a lot less fumes. Then, I let that dry for several hours or a day, and start up again with 1800 grit, and then go through the rest of my little pack of micro-mesh sanding pads, usually all the way up to 12,000.
Some pieces of wood just won't develop a shine, (if it's going to shine, it starts looking like it will at around 600), so I may only go as far as 3200.
Then, after I'm done sanding, I put on another 3 or 4 coats of oil (drying half a day or a day between coats) - depends a bit on how much the wood is drinking in. When it's not drinking it in much anymore, then I usually stop. And then put on a final coat of briwax beeswax paste, and buff it away, and let it dry a bit more.

Oh - and I generally use paper towels to rub in the oil & wax.
That's it. hope that helps.

[Sharon of the Dell]

Stunning, wow factor, wonderful, oh my goodness!!!!!!! Don't know what else to say!