One of a Kind Wood Carvings: April 2018

Oliver and Daisy are just about one month beyond my intended completion date. Some of the delay was partially due to frustration thinking about carving two of the same figures! As you might have guessed, I used the same photo and simply reversed one of them. You'd think that carving the same figure would be easier. However, after fussing with the details of the first piece, there's a tendency to carve the second one faster. Of course, that leads to some differences and/or mistakes. In the case of Oliver and Daisy, thankfully they worked up quite well.

The idea for "Oliver and Daisy at the Shore" came from a good friend of recipients, Tom and Laurie. Sadly, I learned Oliver is no longer with us. But Tom and Laurie's love of their Dachshunds is very deep and close to their hearts. This is one of the few pieces I've carved intended for a couple. I'm confident "Oliver and Daisy at the Shore" will more than meet my expectations when it comes to what this piece will mean to Tom and Laurie.

Oliver and Daisy are carved from a single piece of tupelo wood. Each piece is roughly 3 1/2" high and 4 1/2" long.

After tracing and a few minutes on the band saw Oliver and Daisy are ready to come to life.

Can you pick out a concern with each pooch's legs? Look at the left pooch's rear left leg and the right pooch's rear right leg. The photo used for the templates is taken at angle above the plane they are standing on. Hence the legs mentioned are not long enough to be standing flat on all four legs. Problem solved with a couple of "extensions" added.

The slow process of "roughing" begins. (It's only slow because you try to not cut off or into, the wood you need for other features.)

I decided to rough both pieces at the same time, which helped in some of the tougher spots.

Below, this point of the pieces is where the fun begins. The final reduction of the features begin to move quicker and the piece takes on a "life" of its own.

The piece is ready for its final finishing with a 150g burr and subtle details are added.

The pieces are typically somewhat larger than what is anticipated. As the piece gets closer to its final shape, consideration is given to just how small you want the delicate features to be. This carver tends to leave finer details thicker/larger so the piece can be handled with less chance of breakage.

Oliver and Daisy will be held in place by 1/8" dowels and glued in place.

The sign post will say "Jersey Shore" because both Tom and Laurie's other love is the Jersey Shore line. Placement of the pooches and the sign was simple but something else was needed to "balance" the shore scene. My wife Pat, suggested a beach pail and perhaps a starfish crawling out of the pail.

Perfect!