Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Front completed, carving the roof

I'm working feverishly to get this finished and submitted before 3pm Sunday. I have the front all finished and the walls are all assembled. I am now carving the roof with an oak leaf pattern. I like the way it is looking and hopefully I'll get it completed!


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Dragon completed


I got the dragon motif for the back all carved and burned.....working on the front now.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Birdhouse progress


Here is the progress so far. I completed the carving on all the sides, deciding on a neat winged dragon design for the back of the bird house (may help keep squirrels away). I received a couple of sample copies of a European carving magazine that had this neat design. It was originally a  deep relief, pierced design, but I changed it up a bit for my bird house, with the wood burning and a more bird-like appearance for the dragon. Still some more detail burning to do and I have still haven't decided if it will need any color, like on the flowers. I have both sides burned and will complete the burning on this, before starting on the front. My thought is that this will get me limbered up, so to speak, and plenty of practice as I build up to doing the front piece that will be seen the most.





When I have all the sides burned, I plan to assemble those pieces, which will let me fit the roof and bottom. This is so that I will be able to present something as an entry, even if I run out of time for the contest! I will at least have a bird house with a plain roof, rather than the carved roof. But so far, I appear to be on schedule to get it finished like I want. I have had a lot of time to think about the roof I want to carve, and I think I can still beat the deadline! Thanks for looking.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Bird House

I'm working on a carved bird house for a contest that ends this month. I wasn't sure if I wanted to enter or what my design would be until I finally come up with something on July 4th. So now the pressure is on to get it completed like I want and to get it entered. I wanted to use a simple design and simple materials, in keeping with a traditional birdhouse. But I wanted to use carving to elevate it from something humble, to something more artistic. So I used some pine left over from some drawers I built for a dresser and started doing some simple relief patterns on it. This is where I am so far. Thanks for looking.