how to show the close grass

[Regis]

I'm trying to put animals (a cougar or a buffalo or an antelope, etc) in tall grass plains or rolling hill setting and can not figure out how to show the close grass. The distant grass is ok because it is so small and on background hills. But, grass that is up close in front and around the animal is what I'm having difficulty representing (and I don't want to just paint it on in different color/shade). Typically feet or parts of body are hiden by grass (depending if animal is standing or lying).

Will someone post carvings/tooling that they've done that would work as example? Single color would be most helpful but, tooled/cut and painted will work if close up, detailed scan/photo.

Thanks,

Regis

[ClayB]

The tool that I think works best for close up grass is a F916. In the picture, the stamp impression is in the bottom left corner. If you "walk" the tool leaning it towards the heel (bottom) you can get shorter grass like that shown to the right of the single impression. By stamping the whole tool in a somewhat random pattern you can get longer grass. When doing this, you dont worry about overlapping impressions because you want random impressions. To the far right, are a few longer stragglers. These are done by just using the tip of the tool, starting at the top and dragging it towards the clump as you tap it (hope that makes sense)

On the top row, the left picture shows a clump of grass of varying lengths. The right picture is supposed to show the longer shoots of grass with a seed head at the top. The seed head is made by tilting the tool all the way to the top and hitting it a little harder, making a slightly thicker impression.

The F917 tool can be used to make shorter grass. This tool isn't nearly as versatile as the first one.

There is another tool that I really like for large stems of single grass is Bob Beard's pine needle tool. With it, you can make long stems of straight, curved or bent grass. The only place you can get it is from Bob and his tools are expensive, but he makes some really neat tools for figure carving.

If you combine the two tools, it gives an even better effect.

You can tool these clumps right in where the feet or body of the animal would be if you want it to look like it is in front of parts of the animal.

Clay

[Regis]

Clay,

That will do the trick. I have the 916 & 917 but, hadn't thought of draging them to make longer grass. The front cover of Figure Carving Finesse has a lion in tall grass and that's what I was looking for.

Thanks, once again.

Regis

[ClayB]

[ I have the 916 & 917 but, hadn't thought of draging them to make longer grass. ]

I didn't think of that either. That tip is courtesy of Bob Beard. He not only makes cool tools, he knows how to make them work!

Clay

[cjbleather]

Clay, Great tutorial. Thank You. carl

[Leather Bum]

Clay,

Are those Craftool F916 and F917? They seem to look much different than these: F916 and F917. Tandy's don't seem like they would work as well as yours. . .

LBum

[ClayB]

Clay,

Are those Craftool F916 and F917? They seem to look much different than these: F916 and F917. Tandy's don't seem like they would work as well as yours. . .

LBum

Those are the same numbered tools. Problem is that a lot of the tools aren't exactly the same shape or quality as they used to be. There are a few options. You can look for older Craftools on Ebay. A lot of people feel the tools made without a letter prefix were better quality. You might also check the tools Hidecrafter sells. I am not sure if thiers are Craftool brand or not. Some tools can be modified yourself with files. If you really want tools that will do the job, and are willing to pay for them, then check out the custom tool makers. I have started to get a few figure carving tools each year from Bob Beard. These tools really give the sharp, clear impressions that they are supposed to make.