My latest

[TwinOaks]

Here's the latest work I've carved. It's for a friend who'd retiring out of the horse business. The two pictured are her 'babies', and are now residing at the stable my wife works at. Cindy, in another thread, you asked about burnishing. The shading here is done by burnishing.

Y'all let me know what you think.

Mike

[Crystal]

Very nice - My favorite subject.

You gave me the tip on burnishing a while back and I thought I had done it right... well, no I didn't do it right. I really like how much shading you were able to get, the markings really stand out. Too Cool. Did you seal it, and if so what did you use? Have you done any others like this? If the leather darkens, does the shading darken proportionatlely?

Crystal

[TwinOaks]

This one is sealed with eco-supersheen, though I've used neat-lac and resolene as well. The shading holds up to a little darkening, but I haven't put one out in the sun to see what it will take- maybe I need to? And Yes, I've done a few others like this. The technique is VERY complicated and involves an old t-shirt, and one or more very sore fingers. You can cheat and use a t-shirt wrapped modeling spoon in tight areas.

[pavilionpony]

Mike those are very nice horses ! I still don't understand burnishing other than for the edges. How do you do it to the carving itself?

[TwinOaks]

Grab some scrap leather and an old shirt. I say an 'old' shirt, just in case you pick up any coloration from the leather. You never know with some leathers. Stretch the fabric over a finger, trying to keep out any little folds or creases. Then just rub the area you want shaded. You'll find the results vary according to how much pressure you use, the area of the finger used ( i.e. the finger tip, vs. the edge of the finger, vs. the finger nail, etc.) The leather has a lot to do with it as well. If it's cased well, even a little pressure will produce some burnishing. Also, the brand of leather will matter. I've had some pretty nice leather ($$$) take the shading with extreme ease, allowing subtle shifts in the color. I've also used some pretty inexpensive leather that took ONE shade, no matter what I tried. If you take a look at my avatar photo, I used this technique to shade the background around the hummingbird. Please experiment with fabric colored tools to work into small areas, but practice your pressure control first. I prefer using a finger to do this because it better follows contours- and you can feel the leather better. By this, I don't just mean the contours of the leather, but also the texture which helps (with lots of practice) let you know when the leather is drying out a bit too much. It's a little hard to describe accurately, but just like with edge burnishing, you can feel the leather 'stick' a little. Too dry, and it's almost slick feeling.

In a nutshell, you're giving the leather a friction burn.

Hope that didn't confuse you too much, and pardon the intended sarcasm when I said it was " VERY comlicated".

Feel free to ask any more questions.

Oh, one other thing- SuperSheen and Resolene dry to slightly different shades. I used this tidbit of info to lightly shade the background on a portrait of a white dog. There's no burnishing, but because of the finish difference, the dog's body is lighter than the background.

[pavilionpony]

Thank you very much for taking the time to explain. I will definatley try it out. When I do, I'll post a pic for you to examine

Cindy