Wood spirit carving

[jojo]

Some month back, a collegue at work brought a log and asked me if I could do something with it for her new garden, and I carved this.

The wood, about 18" high and 12" diameter, I think, came from one of those Leyllandi tree everyboby loves to hate. I wanted to keep the bark on as much as possible, I think there must have been a broken branch in that area and eventually the tree bark grew around the edges of the damage. There was some rot around the mouth/nose area too and together with wanting to keep the bark intact, that limited the design of the face, the nose is quite flat when you look at it sideways, but all in all, I am very pleased with the result. It was finished with numerous coats of linseed oil.

 

[Asa Samuel]

Wow, impressive! Well done

 

[Robbi]

thats great ! i'd love one in my garden !!

 

[beachlover]

That's really impressive work.
How long did that take you?
What tools did you use?

 

[TJRoots]

thats amazing

i hope i'll be able to do stuff like that oneday.

TJ

 

[Lithril]

That's fantastic, I'm pretty rubbish at carving and am almost amazed when someone produces work as good as that.

 

[jojo]

Beachlover

How long did that take you?
What tools did you use?

To be honest, I don't know how long it took me, because I did it at work, while my clients work on their projects, during times when I don't have all my clients, if someone is sick for example, and that was completed over a couple of months very part time. I work two days a week there.

As to the tools, it's very limited. I work for acharity and they don't have a huge amount of money. I'll take a couple of pics of the tools tomorrow.

 

[Matt Weir]

Love it! The way you have incorporated the natural features is brilliant, well done.

 

[treadlightly]

I really like that. Well done.

 

[TJRoots]

what was the leylandii like to carve btw? cause i've got some knocking around that i want to do something with but i cant decide what.

TJ

 

[g4ghb]

Wow Joel! - you never cease to amaze me with your skills!!!

 

[jojo]

Thank you gentlemen. The Leylandi, if that's what it is, I am really not sure, but it was definitely a "soft wood", was quite easy to carve with sharp tools, there were a few places where the wood was a bit spongy and quite soft, but overall nice to carve, and it smelled great too!

I took my camera to work today to take sone pics of the few tools we got there, only to take one pic and run out of batteries...

 

[drewdunnrespect]

impressive mate i would love something like that for my garden

 

[Mesquite]

That is an excellent piece of work Joel. I can just imagine him in the garden peeking out from the greenery

 

[Hoodoo]

The wood, about 18" high and 12" diameter, I think, came from one of those Leyllandi tree everyboby loves to hate. I wanted to keep the bark on as much as possible, I think there must have been a broken branch in that area and eventually the tree bark grew around the edges of the damage. There was some rot around the mouth/nose area too and together with wanting to keep the bark intact, that limited the design of the face, the nose is quite flat when you look at it sideways, but all in all, I am very pleased with the result. It was finished with numerous coats of linseed oil.

That is some outstanding wood and you really did it justice! Fine work!