Boston Buddies

I'd like to say hi and a big thank you to all of my Blog followers out there for your continued interest. I'd also like to give a "shout-out" to one of my newest Blog fans who hails from the West coast, Shelby. Welcome Shelby! I hope you have as much fun reading my Blog as I have posting them.

It seems like too much time has lapsed since my last post. No excuses but man, this piece just didn't seem to flow like the others. Work got in the way some of the time, but this piece turned out to be a tad more challenging than I imagined.

"Boston Buddies" is carved for a young lady from MA who is a "fan extraordinaire" of the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Patriots. For me, matching the idea for the piece to the person receiving is one of the best parts of carving the piece.

The idea to put these two mascots together made sense . Albeit, as a result of creating a "themed" piece my carvings of late have become more complex. And, in some cases, somewhat more frustrating. Seeing that I managed to cut out two pieces from one block of tupelo wood, I thought for sure these small characters would be an easy work-up!

With the templates cut out, I was ready to make fast work of them! ....... Little did I know what was to come.

  

 I had to "fit" the drawings just so and then make sure I take my time on the band saw or I may end up cutting off too much of one or the other piece.

So far so good! Now for the tricky part.

 

Aha! Just made it!



 

"Wally the Green Monster" is first.

 

A ruff burr will make quick work of "Wally."



There, "Wally" is just about ready for his "finish" with the fine burrs.

 

Now for "Pat the Patriot!" (Piece of cake right?)

 

Roughing "Pat" out was reasonably easy. But, the more I handled him and really studied him the more I realized his head just wasn't right!

(After rechecking more photos of "Pat the Patriot" I noticed there is much more to his attire than a front photo will show. His hat, gloves and boots have much more too them.)

His head was soon giving me a headache! ...at least I wasn't going to go through what he was about to endure.

It was decision time!



 

There's no way his original head was going to work...

....OFF WITH HIS HEAD!

 

Below you can see the "new" head and how much larger it will be due mainly to his hat.

A hole was cut into the neck and his new head will be inserted into the neck.

 

"Pat's" new head was fitted, cemented and held in place with rubber bands.

 

At last, the "Boston Buddies" are smoothed out and their base prepared.

The base combines the 50 yard line and home plate for their respective sports.

Below, all three pieces are sealed with clear wood stain. "Wally" and "Pat" will be standing on the soon to be painted "fields" and the rest of the base is stained dark mahogany.



 

After an overnight of drying they are ready to come alive with color.

(Another concern was noticed when applying the clear finish to the bottom of the base. Some of the stain was not yet dry because I hadn't rubbed off all of the excess stain. After applying the clear it remained tacky for nearly two days. Lesson learned!)

 

Below, the breakfast nook has become my "paint studio."

I'm not much of an artist when it comes to painting the pieces. It's more like I manage to get the colors in the right places... but with lots of corrective "touch-ups!" "Pat the Patriot" wore my patience thin. However, painting "Pat the Patriot" provided this amateur with some much needed brush and stroke practice that was never expected.

 

Finally, here are the "Boston Buddies!"

 



 

Wedge Antilles

Star Wars fans will know "Wedge Antilles."

"A talented young rebel pilot from Corellia, Wedge Antilles survived the attack on the first Death Star to become a respected veteran of Rogue Squadron." Star Wars Databank

I came to know "Wedge" as the favorite Star Wars character for the young lady recipient of this carving. With special thanks for the idea from a friend of her's, our recipient will be bringing "Wedge Antilles" home to a special place of honor.

"Wedge" is cut out of a block of tupelo wood. Including the base, he stands just under 8".

My nemesis is carving human figures. I cringe at painting facial details. Truth be told, I've mastered touching up paint mistakes!

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I'm now cutting out the figure and tracing it onto the front of the block. Drawing on the smooth surface allows me to correct and clean the image much easier.

Then, it's on to the band saw.

 

Let the fun begin! The small size of this character created a need to really fine-tune the intended details of the piece. Providing raised wood for the belts/harnesses, etc. became a tedious process.

 

Removing all the bulk wood and carefully leaving the articles became a real test of my patience.

 

As time wore on, I left as much "raised" areas as needed and then went ahead reducing the uniform and body as much as possible.

 

Once the body was close to completed the details could be slimmed or carved close to the body.

 

"Wedge" is ready for paint!

 

Moving to the painting bench is much more pleasant! The kitchen table in the Air Conditioning, you can't beat that!

 

Of course you do realize, once you get to this point, you notice all the features you want to correct or enhance! But, it's too late for that.
 

Here's "Wedge Antilles!"

 

Yes, I have to say it, "May the Force Be With You!"

Eeyore's Favorite Things

This is a second Eeyore carving for me. This one will be headed home to a person who has been with Disney for many years. His favorite Disney character is Eeyore, he enjoys Broadway shows, his favorite Broadway show is "Hello Dolly" and his favorite adult beverage is Neuve Clicquot. With the help of his assistant, we put together a rather nice assemblage of all things this quiet man holds near and dear. His assistant needed to pull out all the stops to find out all she did. I think this piece "fill's the bill!"


I've started using a hard paper cut out to trace the image on the block. It was much easier rather than erasing so many sketch lines from the wood.

 

I've been trying to salvage as much of the block of tupelo wood I can. I managed to get Eeyore and the champagne out of this piece. Which, by the way, was somewhat smaller than the blocks I prefer to buy. As you read on, you'll come to understand how this size block altered the finished piece.

 

This piece turned out to be quite a different experience for this carver. I started out with the simplest piece to give me a little more motivation. The "Broadway" sign was simple yet somewhat tedious trying to keep from cutting to much away from the letters with a burr.

 

With the "Broadway" sign prepared I worked on the champagne bottle.  

It too was quite easy however, I had to spend a lot of time mulling over in my mind how I would place the bottle on the piece. I decided on having Eeyore hold the bottle to his tummy with his arms. The main block of wood (to be Eeyore) as I said, is smaller. I ended up cutting into his belly and place the bottle under his arms. That meant, I had to position Eeyore in a more upright sitting position. I couldn't find any photos of him sitting in this position so I ended up speculating just how he would look sitting upright. It meant, I had to  cut his belly out to fit the bottle.

 

 

 

 

The shape of the bottle needed to be cut into his body.

 

Once the bottle was all set, I can begin his final reduction

 

All that was left was his long floppy ears! I was very concerned about how fragile they would be and break easily. I attempted to leave them thicker for their protection.

The next (and most frustrating) part of this piece was the fur on his head and tail. Working with rotating burrs I just couldn't get the hair to look anywhere near the way I wanted it to look. I ended up cutting the top of his head off, leveling it and adding another piece of wood to start over again. Thanks to all the other progress on the piece and a lot more patience, I ended up with what you see in the photo below.

 

At least Eeyore's fur on his head appears to be better looking than what was originally planned!

 Eeyore's eyes needed to be "cut in."

This is one of the more difficult things to plan in to a caving. Leaving enough wood on the piece so you can "leave" enough for the details.

 

At this point below, Eeyor's ready for sealing and paint

 

 Lastly, His tail and poster board of "Hello Dolly."

 

Of late, I've taken my paint setup into the house. The garage has been too hot causing the paints to dry rapidly and not flow well. I didn't mind the A/C either!!

 

The base is plotted out as to where I will place and secure the three objects of the piece to the base.

I've begun using dowels plus glue to secure the pieces. Given the larger size of Eeyore, I used two screws through the base to his butt with a few dabs of glue. 

At the last minute, I planned a grass look for the top of the base. For that I use glue and sprinkle sawdust onto the glue. I have come to like the texture rather than just a flat color.  However, this can create another problem you tend to forget about... as in this case! You can see in the photo below what looks like a 1st quarter moon facing downward. That's where Eeyore will sit. It has no "grass" on it. The one thing I forgot was to do the same where his tail contacts the grass. The surface is higher where the grass is, hence, I ended up sanding off some of his tail cord to allow the tail to sit flat on the surface.

 

With all the pieces painted, Eeyore's ready for his new home.

The other subtle add-on is glow in the dark paint. The "bulbs" of the Broadway sign will glow in the dark!

 

The Champagne bottle label is cut out and glued onto the bottle.

 

 

 

 

The latest touch I like to add is a hint of glitter. Just enough tends to catch your eyes. In Eeyore's case I added glitter to the grass.

And that's "Eeyore's Favorite Things!"

 

_______________As a side note..._____________

 

"Eeyore's Favorite Things" also marks a milestone in my time at the carving bench. It is the 75th piece since I began carving "One of a Kind Wood Carvings" back in June of 2009.

An idea for a wedding gift for a Disney Manager, Jeremy and his wife, Sarah started it all!

"Bands" will always have a special place in my heart.

And yes, Jeremy & Sarah are doing well!

 

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