Percy Puffin II

The incentive to carve Percy Puffin II came about while setting out to see who my next carving recipient would be. The idea for Percy came out of a conversation I had with a guest while driving him to his resort. The well-spoken executive opened up with a few questions about my back ground experiences. We hit it off when I mentioned my tour of duty in Iceland in 1969. He recently had the opportunity to plan a few days stop over in Iceland and see some of the beauty the "Land of Fire and Ice" has to offer. I couldn't resist asking him if he got to see a Puffin. He didn't get to see one but he knew about them. I mentioned I still had the stuffed Puffin I purchased back in 1969. (Please, don't get too upset. Back in '69 the locals weren't too concerned about what foreigners thought about selling stuffed animals.)
The gentleman asked me if I gave the Puffin a name. Without hesitation I responded, "of course, Percy, Percy Puffin!" With a few laughs and a surprised look he said, "that's my Father's name!"
Over the next day or so we would have a chance to meet and I showed him a picture of Percy.
His interest and the wonderful conversation we briefly enjoyed led to the idea for this carving.

Over the next few days my quiet time was spent putting together my plans for "Percy Puffin II."
Using my "real" Puffin as a model, the shape was simple and worked up quickly. I knew the basic shape will need some very specific details to make this work... I'm not a bird carver! Painting Percy would become the key to making this carving work.

Here's how Percy worked up....

 We'll start with a block of basswood.

 

The idea was to keep Percy small for a faster work up.

 

Much of the bulk was removed by the band saw.

Percy's basic shape was quite simple. Although, as they say, "the devil is in the details."

I new early on it will be subtle touches and (hopefully) a very detailed paint job that will make the difference in this piece.

 

The block of wood Percy is glued to will become his feet and the "Lava" he'll be standing on.

Percy's legs are 5/16" wooden dowels drilled and glued into his hind area as well as into the "rock" base. 

 

Admittedly, a fair amount of guess work went into the angular drilling to fit the dowel legs into position. Wood filler finished off my "guess work." The dowels are to be thinned/shaped once the glue sets.



 

Below, Percy is clear stained and ready for color. 

(As a side note, Icelandic lava is called Aa lava. It's extremely porous and extremely crusty/sharp and nearly black in color. The beach sand is black. I ruined a pair of hiking boots in a matter of just a couple hikes over the ancient southern coastal lava flows.)



Not being a bird carver I'll leave feathers to the bird carvers who utilize wood burners for such detail.
I opted for a medium rough round burr to simulate a feather type texture on his surface.

 

Painting Percy provided me with much needed practice on my brush techniques. I struggled to "fine tune" accent colors and "dry brush" techniques as well as appropriate color renditions.

 

Percy Puffin and Percy Puffin II meet officially for the first time.





Texas Lovin' Figure Skating Lovin' Figment

Figment is going home to a former Texan who happens to love figure skating. Of course she absolutely loves Figment! Figment is figure skating on ice with the Texas State symbol painted into the ice.

Tryin to save time, I opted to enlarge a picture of Figment and cut it to be traced on the face of the tupelo blank.

 

That saved some time but because of Figment's tail I still had to sketch his profile. Which also meant I had to add a piece of wood for his tail.

 

 Figment turned out to be a bit more frustrating than imagined. Not only that, several of his extremities were extremely delicate. This is one piece that handling must be kept to a minimum. His wings and horns worked out to be very fragile. 



 

 I planned to mount him with a screw in his tail and belly. However, his belly looked terrible so I trimmed his belly and will rely on one screw to his tail to hold him in place

 I still wanted two points on him to "secure" him to his base. I decided to leave his skate blades thick and was able to run a 1/8" dowel up into his blade and into the base. He will be screwed at his tail, his right skate and glued at his left skate.

Below, Figment and his base is sealed and ready for paint.

  

Easy big fella' you're going to be in good hands!

 

Figment's still uneasy on his skates but he's got a terrific stabilizer with his tail!

The Taco Lovin' Indians Fan, Orange Bird

Orange Bird is a favorite of our next "One of a Kind Wood Carving" Recipient. However, with a little help from another co-Cast Member, I tweaked Orange Bird just a tiny bit. Audra loves the Cleveland Indians and can't resist Tacos.

 

Here's how Orange Bird worked up....

 

Trying something new here. I've decided to make a paper template rather than sketch the piece directly onto the front of the wood blank. It dawned on me that it's much easier to correct an image and cut it out on hard paper stock than the actual piece of wood. The heavier paper stock of a cereal box works great.

Once the outline is satisfactory, the piece is ready for the band saw.Due to his head being a rather large orange, I'll need to add his beak! 

The band saw makes quick work of most of the excess wood.





 

Now the piece is ready to be "roughed out." By now many of you know I carve with a MasterCarver rotary tool. (Much like a dental drill.) This stage of the piece can appear pretty rough. At first a very course burr is used so care must be taken so as not to remove too much wood.

 

As the piece begins to take more definition, smaller and finer burrs are utilized.

Now the fun begins, we can begin to work out the details of the piece.

 Oops! After a closer look at his photo, I notice his feet were incorrect. A wedge was needed to fill the large gap between his toes.

 

 

 Orange Bird needs a bucket to hold all the Tacos he enjoys!

 

  Three Tacos are prepared for him; one in his hand and the others in his bucket. (Not to mention just how many are in his belly!)

Finally, the piece is rubbed/smoothed prior to adding paint.

All the pieces are sealed and ready to come alive with color.

 

Orange Bird's Disney trademark of course.



 

The Cleveland Indians logos.



 

Hi Bucket of Tacos! He's all set to be sent home with his new owner.



 

The Taco Lovin' Indians Fan, Orange bird!