Beginnings

     I am starting something new here.  It's a blog, but not one about a ship model.  I am taking a little break from scale model ships and am embarking on a new, rather ambitious carving - a half-size diving osprey!  This will be my first carving blog, perhaps the first in a series if all goes well.

    As part of my research on feathers and wings during the time I was carving my Archaeopteryx, I encountered photographs of many large birds of prey, among them ospreys.  Some of the images of diving ospreys really caught my attention, because of the fearsome appearance of the birds, with their legs extended past their heads and their clawed toes spread in anticipation of grabbing an unsuspecting fish just below the water's surface.  Below are a few examples of the images that caught my attention.

 

    Just as I wanted a realistic, active pose for my Archaeopteryx carving, if I did this carving I wanted the first impression of this new carving to be striking.  I have collected dozens of photos of diving osprey from various angles, and have chosen a pose like those shown in the pictures above, with legs extended and wings partially folded in anticipation of hitting the water.  Stop-motion photography and slow motion videos reveal how the osprey prepares for the strike as it speeds downward toward the water, and will help the reader to understand how I chose this pose.

    The lowermost image in the composite photo above, showing the tightly folded wings, is probably most indicative of the osprey's diving method, but the triangular shape of the folded wings would be hard to portray realistically, at least for me with my current carving skills.  I fear it would look too much like a cartoon and would be hard for a viewer not familiar with osprey hunting technique to understand.  On the other hand, a carving consistent with the upper images, with the wings spread and the feet not yet extended, could simply portray a flying osprey as well as an osprey early in a dive.  I decided to take the middle road, and carve the pose in the second image from the bottom, with wings beginning to fold (and therefore not flapping) and with feet nearly fully extended.  Very dynamic, clearly an attack pose, and easier to understand.

    What would be my references? In additions to the images I have collected, I have obtained two valuable references.  The first is a set of plans for a half-size osprey, flying with a fish in its claws, shown below.

  This is a very different pose from what I envision, obviously, but the plans are still valuable because they provide detail about body proportions, head and beak shape, and (most importantly) feather patterns on the wings and body.  Since this is a modern bird, with which any judges at carving shows will be familiar, the feathering has to be correct.  I had considerable leeway when carving my Archaeopteryx, since no one has ever seen one of these creatures.  All the data I had to go on were feather impressions on a fossil and the opinions of paleontologists about the wing and body plumage.  Who could say my interpretation was wrong?  Not this time, though.  I have to be accurate, rather, I actually want to be as accurate as I can in this carving.

    My second primary source will be a great book I discovered, one of the Workbench Projects series published by the Wildfowl Carving magazine folks.  Images of this book are shown below.

    Again, the rather passive sitting pose does not match my "diving osprey" idea, but the carving detail is extensive, with techniques for producing properly fluffy contour feathers and appropriately stiff-looking flight feathers.  What will really be helpful, though, is the information about painting the carving.  The author provides a color palette and detailed instructions about the appropriate colors for the plumage on the breast, mantel, tail, and wings.  The fine points of shading, color blending, and highlighting are all addressed in detail.  A sample page in the painting section is shown below.

    I am confident that I can produce a reasonably good carving from the photos, plans, and book, and hope to spend many hours over the summer at the picnic table in the back yard, generating sawdust.  I will use primarily power carving tools, because the arthritis in my fingers makes hand carving awkward and sometimes painful.  I used power carving for my Archaeopteryx, and that turned out well, generating an article in the Wildfowl Carving magazine and a major award at the 2021 New England Wood Carvers "Spirit of Wood" show.  Even if I don't have the same success here, the diving Osprey carving will be fun to do.  

    I am not sure where to put it once it is done, however.  Even a half-size osprey carving will have a wingspan of about two feet, a pretty big carving.  That is a problem I will not have to face for months, however - I have to finish the carving first!

    I am heading out to the garage today to start cutting the pieces for the body, feet, wings, and tail.  I have drawn profiles and outlines for these, based on the sources I described above.  I do not have a band saw, so I will use my 3D jigsaw puzzle method to assemble the necessary parts from 3/4" thick, select northern white pine boards.  I will use dowels to attach the wings to the body, but will not do that until I have carved much of the wing and body detail first.  Once I glue the wings in place, I will address the areas where the wings and body meet, and will try to generate smooth plumage transitions and thereby avoid the look that bird carvings sometimes have, in which the wings appear to have been carved separately and then simply stuck onto the body.

    More to come, for sure.  Wish me luck.