[Thor]

This is a picture of a sign I've been messing with for way too long. I'm finished carving it (I think), and have put a coat of boiled linseed oil on it. Now, I have to decide whether or not to stain it with oil paint in the colors that I had originally planned.
The green man would be green, the heraldic shield would be black, purple and white, the Jelling beast would be red, green and yellow, and the peacock would hopefully look peacock-ish...then green celtic knots. I think it might get too busy that way, but I want it to show up from a pretty good distance.
It will have strings of glass beads and tokens hanging from the holes along the bottom edge.
I'll use the sign when I do demos at medieval demonstrations. It's just for me to keep not sell.
It's carved on a piece of 1" thick basswood, about 12" X 24".

Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Thor

[Dylan]

Thor, if it was me I'd paint it. Because painting is the hard part for me I like to paint my carvings whenever I can for the practice. But you probably don't need the practice.

It does sound like it might be too busy but that's not a bad thing and you want it to be bold. I say go for it. But that's just my two cants.

The carving is great, I think that it will look good whatever you do.

Dylan

[Irish]

Thor, that blows me away!!!! I love the combination of ideas and symbols. The carving work is really good .... That sign is going to be a show stopper without a doubt.

Painting surely will make it stand out and bring in business to your show booth.

Susan

[DICK "chipncut" CAIN]

Beautiful Thor,
I guess you can call me a puritan, or something. To paint such a beautiful creation ,
" I think" !! would be a shame. When people see that sign, they'll know you're in the woodcarving business for sure.
That's my opinion.
Dick

[Irishman]

Great carving and imagination!
Patrick

[Ashbys]

Thor ,
I like the natural color, but that said , it is a sign at a festval as such , it need to catch the eye from 100 yards away, because as people we do not focus on things until we have our intrest pinched.

So by all means , bright bold festive , paint it you will never regret it .

Ash

But it is outstanding as is , and would be great in a home on a wall , or on a patio as is. A really nice piece.

[wood-whittler]

thor,

great looking sign,i like the natural look you have on it now. but if you do paint it it would look great also. you should be very proud of yourself i know it took awhile but it looks great,

bart

[Phaeton]

Wonderful carving Thor,

The natural look with beads would look great. You could always paint just one thing like the peacock or the Jelling and hang it for a while before adding more paint, kind of like the new black and white movies where they will color just one thing like a shoe or lipstick, it can be a real attention getter.

Bill

[Thor]

Thank you all for the comments.
Taking in the consensus of responses, I have decided to paint parts of it, but leave the background natural oiled wood. I do think it will be a more effective sign. What is a greenman that isn't green?
Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. I value them and really did wait to hear from you all to see what my next move would be.
I'll post pictures when it is painted and the glass beads are hanging from it so you can see if it worked.
Thanks again,
Thor

[wade clark]

Wow, Thor, that's incredible!
Wade