I worked on restoring the beak this morning. The piece of wood I had added was glued securely in place, so I shaped it to match the plans and pictures using my hand carving tools. For this particular job, hand tools were better, since there is always a risk of taking too much wood off with the power carving bits. The beak actually looks better now than it did originally, in my opinion.
While I was working on the head, I enlarged the eye holes to a little more than 7 mm, the diameter of the yellow glass eyes. I was tempted to set the eyes in place, but the experts say not to do that until the texturing and burning of most of the feathers in the head area are done.
I was anxious to started the wood burning process, so after lunch I fired up the wood burner and got to work. I started on the tail, and on the underside of the tail in particular, thinking that any mistakes I made because I was a little rusty would not show too much there. I used the burning tip to underscore the tail feathers where they overlapped one another, and to undercut the rump and back feathers where they met the tail feathers. The process went well on the underside of the tail, so I continued on the topside of the tail until I was done. Below is a photo on the completed tail, after burning and after scrubbing with a wire brush to remove any char or "fuzzies" that might have been left. You can see a few of the "splits" I added to the feathers, which are present on the feathers of all birds, especially those who make their living diving headfirst into the water at a high velocity. I will add similar splits to the wing feathers. They won't be obvious after the painting is finished, but they will be visible and will add the the realism and visual interest of the carving.
Although the brown color of the burned area is appealing, and actually close to the color of much of the bird, the purpose of the burning is to add texture, not color. After the carving is sealed, it will be painted with a coat or two of diluted white gesso, which will cover the color of the burned feathers and provide an even white base for further painting. Yesterday I ordered little bottles of acrylic paint for each of the colors mentioned in the workbook about carving and painting a half-size osprey. I thought about mixing the colors, but I want them to be right and so I just ordered such colors as "brown earth", "sable", "warm white", etc. I had to use several online sources, since I couldn't find some of the colors locally. The only one on the list that I already had was "nutmeg".
Bolstered by my success with burning the tail feathers, I turned to burning the feathers on the head, which are of a different shape and texture than the feathers on the breast and back. They are apparently somewhat stiffer, and have more pointed ends. Some of them along the crest are longer than those on the top of the head and on the neck. I used the burning blade to undercut the edges and ends of these feathers, and then added the barbs. I am moderately pleased with the result, even though at the moment the pattern looks like that of an argyl sweater I once had. That somewhat disturbing visual will disappear with painting, I am sure. I stayed away from the eye area, and will finish texturing and burning the head once the eyes are in place. Below are some photos of the front end of the carving, showing the repaired beak and the burned feathers on the head. It looks a little strange and half-finished, because it is.
Immediate next steps: put in the eyes, finish burning and texturing the head, attach the feet, and texture and detail the transition zone between the wood part of the legs (feathered) and the epoxy clay part of the legs (scaly). I can't attach the feet until I am finished with the head, because the feet with their extended toes would get in the way. After attaching the feet, the next step will be the major wood burning work on the shafts and barbs of the wing primaries and secondaries on the top and bottom surfaces of the wings. That will take a while!
Putting in the eyes involves filling the sockets with epoxy clay, pushing the glass eyes in place, using the eraser end of a pencil to position the eyes just right. Pushing the eyes into the clay-filled socket will cause some of the clay to squeeze out around the glass eyes. This can be removed with a toothpick. When the epoxy clay is still workable, I will roll out a very thin strip to add around the eyes to simulate the lids. This strip, once in place, will be lightly textured to look like skin, and will eventually be painted one of the dark colors (I forget which one at the moment). The eyes will really make the bird come alive. I remember the eerie feeling I had when I added the red eyes to my Archaeopteryx carving.
I did some thinking about the support for the carving on my 3-mile walk today around the neighborhood. I still favor having a brass or steel rod for a support, attached on one end to the underside of the rump just in front of the tail and curving around in a smooth arc to attach to the side of a heavy wooden base. The bird would appear suspended over the base, and it center of gravity would actually be right over the base. The surface of the base, according to my more recent fantasy, would be covered with subtle ripples to suggest water. The base will most likely be black, or maybe one of the dark browns I will use on the bird. I want it to be abstract and not complete with the carving itself for the viewer's attention. From the front, the wire loop will hardly be visible, and the bird will simply look suspended over a rippled water surface. I have found a YouTube video about how to achieve a rippled effect on a wood surface (the surface in the video was the seat of a bench, but the approach should work for a smaller piece of wood).
Just had a thought: if I am going to be drilling a hole in the bird for the supporting rod, I should do that before I do any painting. It will only be an 1/8" hole if I use a steel rod, maybe 3/16" if I use a slightly softer brass rod.
The total hours so far? 88!
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