WIP Jeremiah

[Mottles]

Title: Jeremiah WIP
Medium: Cottonwood Bark
Size: 12" x 3 1/2" x 3" thick

I'm on a roll by the next Gallery take-in I should have a nice display of Cottonwood Bark Carvings.

Carving Cottonwood Bark means to carve what Mother Nature designed as with this one. I decided to by a piece of bark from Smokey Mountain Woodcarvers. At the time I purchased this bark wasn't sure if Art Olver 'The Bark Guy' was still selling Cottonwood Bark so needed a backup resource.

I wound up removing most of the bark because I didn't care for the whitish color of the bark. It also had two pretty good splits that I had to remove to get to the carving bark. Once I got the bark prepped and started carving it was really nice. It is holding detail really good for Cottonwood Bark.

The shape at the bottom is not as wide as I would have liked, but I'm making due as it's going to be beard only.

Decided to carve a Cottonwood feather for the front of the cap. First time carivng a feather what fun....Trying to decide whether to woodburn it or not...what do you think...opinions welcome.

Will upload more images as I get further along.
Kathy

[JoeVM]

Looking good Kathy.

[Mottles]

Thank you, Joe
Funny as I was looking at the first image (debarked) I was thinking this could have been carved as a 'horse skull.' Allthough not quite wide enough at the top...would have been kind of neat.

[Dan Wegiel]

Hi Kathy,
Great start, the feather looks good and will be a very nice touch.
Dan

[Mottles]

Thank you, Dan---it was really fun to carve my first feather---any thoughts on woodburning it or leave it alone? As I've looked at it often I'm leaning on leaving it as just a generic feather. I would like to carve an eagle feather and then woodburn it maybe for another carving.
Kathy

[Bob K.]

Very nice job Kathy! I also think you should leave the feather the way it is...it looks great!

[Mottles]

Thank you, Bob
Yes, I'm going to leave the feather it's natural color. Thank you, I value my fellow carvers opinions.
Kathy

[Mottles]

A friend came over today and we spent most of the day in my shop--she reed weaving a basket and me carving. What fun....thanks Sue!

Got a lot done on 'Jeremiah' today will look it over tomorrow and if the eyes don't need more work I'll woodburn them. Do some sanding, add the feather and apply some Deft Semi Gloss Varnish. May varnish the face first, spray the feather separately then apply it to the hat.

As always I value your comments,
Kathy

[Merle Rice]

Hi Kathy, You sure are on a roll. Keep going and you will need a truck to get them all to the Show. Very nice carving and great Feather, never know it was your first Feather. Merle

[Mottles]

Originally Posted by Merle Rice

Hi Kathy, You sure are on a roll. Keep going and you will need a truck to get them all to the Show. Very nice carving and great Feather, never know it was your first Feather. Merle

Thank you, Merle:
I'm really enjoying getting back to carving if their should be a shortage of Cottonwood Bark in the USA you'll know who is responsible. Tee Hee

Yeah, I really enjoyed carving my first feather should have carved one sooner. I used Bob Lundy's instruction from his book on how to carve a feather. There is also instruction on carving a pipe....I have carved a pipe before using Mark Gargac's DVD.
Kathy