Swan

[ClayB]

Crystal showed me a pattern by Lora Irish that she wants to try carving sometime and asked if I had any tips on how to carve it. Well, I decided to give the pattern a try and see if I could do it. I didn't really know what I was going to do when I started so I didn't take pictures as I went, so I'll probably have to do another for a lesson.

[BearMan]

Very Nice Clay,,, as always! I love the swan pattern. Tooling is very well done. I like the way you paid attention to each & every feather.

Ed

[Tina]

I simply love your eye for details Clay...The feathers, delicate:-)

Seeing this one make me think of the buffalo, you absolutly have your own style and I can see the work that has gone in to this one, Beautiful:-)

[Casey Jordan]

Excellent! You nailed the feathers just perfect!

[ClayB]

Thanks all 3 of you, I'm a fan of all of your work, so your comments mean a lot to me!

[leatheroo]

hey clay, great piece....the feathers are great...love the design

[Crystal]

Clay, I knew you would do something fabulous with that pattern. I just don't think I realized how high you would be setting the bar! When you get a tutorial together I promise to do my best when I give it a try. I hope others give it a try, too!

Thanks for taking the time to give this a whirl!

Crystal

[jbird]

amazing thanks Clay

Josh

[rcsaddles]

Very nice. Thank you for sharing with us. It inspires me to want carving more.

Joe

[ClayB]

Thanks Caroline, Crystal, and Josh. Glad you like it. It's kind of fun to do stuff sometimes that I would never have picked myself. When I started this, I decided to cut the leather big enough to make it into a photo album if it turned out. Yesterday I started on the back. I used parts of another pattern by Lora. I really wanted to create the velvety fuzzy look of the cat tail. Couldn't figure out how to do that with a tool of any kind and then thought it's a lot like really tiny hair. So, the multi blade hair knife! Jab the tips of the blade into the leather and pull up. Repeat this about 100,000,000 times, in several different directions. Looks kind of neat! Then for the part where the thing explodes and seeds go flying out. I tried beveling in texture, the hair knife again, then Stacy said how about leather putty? Well, neat idea, but it has to be fluffy, not smooth. So I decided to just put some rubber cement on the spot with a paint brush, and then sprinkle on some leather dust. It gave it a fluffy look, just what I was hoping for. I added a couple layers to get it higher than the rest of the cat tail. I am not sure how well it will hold up, or what it will look like after sealer and paint, but it's looking kind of neat so far.

Thanks Joe. If I inspire you ( or anyone) to carve more, then it's a good day!!

[Hilly]

Clay, I really like this piece! Your attention to detail really makes the difference!

I especially like the texture of the cattail! It looks so soft. Thanks for sharing.

Hilly

[pete]

Clay- great work as usual!!

Did you try rough sandpaper to get a fuzzy effect. I have done that tin the past ( once by mistake) and did a piece later of a dandelion.

turned out great!

pete

Edited March 12, 2009 by pete

[CitizenKate]

I had seen that pattern on her web site, along with many others, and thought that would look great in leather. After having tried my hand at wildlife carving for the first time, I can really appreciate artists who can bring together perspective, proportion, and textures to make such a believable rendering of a live critter.

I am looking forward to seeing how you went about shaping those feathers before (I presume) using the hair blade to texture them. I just tried a hair blade tool for the first time, and my first attempts to use it really looked horrible! Ha! I haven't given up, though, I just need more time to experiment with it. (Maybe some tips on that would be appreciated, too.)

Kate

[CitizenKate]

I really wanted to create the velvety fuzzy look of the cat tail. Couldn't figure out how to do that with a tool of any kind and then thought it's a lot like really tiny hair. So, the multi blade hair knife! Jab the tips of the blade into the leather and pull up. Repeat this about 100,000,000 times, in several different directions. Looks kind of neat! Then for the part where the thing explodes and seeds go flying out. I tried beveling in texture, the hair knife again, then Stacy said how about leather putty? Well, neat idea, but it has to be fluffy, not smooth. So I decided to just put some rubber cement on the spot with a paint brush, and then sprinkle on some leather dust. It gave it a fluffy look, just what I was hoping for. I added a couple layers to get it higher than the rest of the cat tail.

Now, that's what I call thinking outside the box. Those are some great effects, and that shredding you did with the hair blade looks just like cattail fuzz. Very cool!

I am not sure how well it will hold up, or what it will look like after sealer and paint, but it's looking kind of neat so far.

This might be a good time to consider spraying both the colors and the sealer, yes? Looks like the least little bit of rubbing would probably destroy that delicate texture you created.

Kate

[ClayB]

Thanks Hilly, Pete and Kate!

Pete, I've used sand paper to give texture to things like land, but by rubbing the back of the sandpaper. (trick learned from Bob Beard). I never thought of actually rubbing the leather with it. That sounds interesting. I'll have to try that out.

Kate, maybe we're going to have to put feathers and cat tails on the list of things to play with when we get together. You'll have to bring your air brush with too. When I finsih up the practice piece, I'll do another one and take some pictures to show you how I did it. It probably wont turn out nearly as well!

[Rawhide]

ClayB,

Another thing you can try is some tape. Adhere the tape to the area and then pull it off, this usually lifts the grain a bit.

[ClayB]

Hey Marlon, that's another good idea I didn't think of. I used to tape tracing film to my leather so I know exactly what your talking about. I was always trying to figure out how to get rid of that fuzzy look it left, now maybe there is a use for it!

[ClayB]

I've pretty much finished up the carving on this and decided to jump right in to coloring it. I started with what I figure will be the easiest part. I decided to take some pictures here as I go, and depending on how it goes, I'll post them

I started out by painting the background with medium brown Fiebings spirit dye. I like spirit dye in the background because I can get it to flow right up to the cut lines easier than trying to push acrylic paint in that close. For the leaves on the cat tails, I decided to use Eco Flow dyes. I started by mixing some Sunshine yellow about half and half with water. I like to dilute it down, and then build up the colors if I want it darker/brighter. I just paint this over all the leaves fairly heavily with a brush. I make sure to go over the edges and into the cut lines. If you missed any area of the background right close to the cut lines, this will help cover that up.

Then for the next step, I mixed some Tan canyon half and half with water. I use this to start putting in the shadows. I put it in all the lower spots, and the edges of the leaves where there would be a shadow, and under the turned over parts.

Next I added a couple drops of Dark Cocoa Brown to the tan mix, and darkened up some of the areas of heavy shadow. You can go over these areas several times if you want until it gets as dark as you want it. When I was fairly happy with the shading, I added a drop of this brown mixture back into the yellow I started with, and went over all the leaves again. It seems to help blend everything together a little better.

Then to add some green. I mixed Emerald Green half and half with water, then added a few drops of yellow to it to dilute it down some. I put this over the whole area of the leaves, but fairly lightly over the areas that are yellow. In the areas of heavy shadow, I went over them a few times with the green to get it to show some over the browns. At this point I'll quit, let everything dry and see how it looks. More to come later.

[CitizenKate]

This is looking great, so far. Are you planning to do any antiquing, or is all the color coming from the dyes? That looks like an ungodly amount of back-grounding. Looking forward to the next episode!

Kate

[ClayB]

Hi Kate,

You think I actually have a plan????? You should know better than that by now. I really like the look you get when you antique over your paint/dye. I think Tina does something like that too. It seems like it helps with the blending, and after this had set awhile, the blending doesn't look as good as it did when everything was still wet. My problem with antique would be that I think it would really "gum up" in all the cut and raised texture areas like the cat tail or the feathers on the swan. Not sure if you can apply antique in certain areas and not in others???

On the cat tail, my thoughts are to seal it with X-1, then probably paint it with acrylics. If I use the eco flow dyes on it, I wonder if it would flatten out the "fuzzy". If I apply the X-1 and lift the fuzzies while it is wet, it will dry that way and seal the fuzzies in that position. Not sure if the eco flows would do if applies over the X-1. I dont think they penetrate it, and dont know if they'd stay where I put them either. I know how acrylics will react there so that's my safe alternative. Mostly I'm just thinking out loud here (so to speak) but I always enjoy hearing your thoughts on coloring.

I have a bunch of things I should be doing today, but I really want to work on this some more, so maybe I'll have more to show later.

[TomSwede]

Very beautiful and breathtaking Clay!!!

Love the way you've worked those details!!!

Tom

[ClayB]

Thanks Tom!!

Here's today's progress.

First thing I did was paint the cat tails with Drake's X-1 leather dressing. This is an acrylic sealer that I use to stiffen areas that have been cut and lifted. I put it on the cat tails to make sure the "fluff" didn't settle back down when I painted it. When doing this, I put the X-1 on a small area, then lift the area with either the multi blade knife, or a scalpel depending on what it it. Here I used the multi blade knife. Just push the tips in and pull up to lift the fluff back up. When the sealer dries, the fluff will stay in that postition.

Since I had the X-1 out, I decided to apply it to the feathers on the swan at the same time. Again I apply it to a small area, 2 or 3 feathers at a time and then lift and shape the edges by picking them up with the scalpel.

After the X-1 has dried, I painted the cat tail with acrylic paint. For this I used Liquitex in burnt umber and burnt sienna mixed about half and half. Then I diluted this mixture about half with water. I like my acrylic paint pretty thin so it doesn't cover the leather heavily. I can build up the color by adding more coats. I used this mix on the shadow areas of the cat tail. Then I went and added stright burnt umber to the edge of the cat tail in the real heavy shadow area. Then I mixed a some burnt sienna with a drop of yellow. I used this on the rest of the cat tail, except for an area in the center that I left uncolored as a highlight.

Next step was to paint the background around the swan. For this I decided to use acylic again. I mixed some ultramarine blue with titanium white to make a pale bue. I used this around the edge of the swan and out about a half inch.

Then I added a couple more drops of the blue to the mix for a mid tone. With this I went out from the lighter blue about another half inch.

Finally I mixed some blue with cadmium red about half and half to make a purple color. Dilute again with water. I used this for the top of the sky. Then carefully start to blend the areas where the colors come together. This can take awhile using the different color mixtures as needed.

The next step is to add the shadows to the swan. For this I decided to use shades of blue. This is going to look pretty strange, but it works. Use full strength blue for the deepest shadows, the add more water diluting the blue for lighter shadows. Here's how it looks with the shadows all painted in.

Tomorrow I'll try and add the white to the swan.

[Crystal]

Wow, Clay. That is looking fantastic! Of course, for a sec, I thought you were going for a black swan -

Can't wait to see the white go on that!

I like your background color choice and how you faded it to the darker towards the edge. I am very curious to see what you do with the water.

Crystal

[ClayB]

I'm glad you like it Crystal. Hope I dont dissapoint you before I'm finished with it. I had thought of just leaving it the way it is and calling it "Blue Duck". Lonesome Dove fans will remember him

The sky is something I saw Bob Beard do once and I really like the look. The shading done this way is what I learned from Silva Fox's Dazzling Color video. It really helps to get nice looking shading without mixing a lot of colors, and it's pretty easy. I'm anxoius to add the white today and see what happens. As for the water, I'm curious to see what I do there to! As I mentioned to Kate, I really have no plan, just trying things as I go and hoping for the best.

[ClayB]

Okay, I messed around with some more color all afternoon. First thing I found out is that I wont use blue behind white if I ever do something like this again. First coat of white made for a pale blue swan. Second coat of white made it a little better. Took about 5 coats to make him not look some shade of blue, and by then, all the shading was gone.

Then I moved on to the water. I decided to try it the way Al Stohlman did it in an old doodle page. He started out by painting the water with green spirit dye. I used eco flow instead. I used a few drops of green with a drop or two of blue mixed in.

That seemed a little pale so I added several more drops of blue to the mix. That didn't help darken it up much. So I went to painting over it with some straight diluted blue. That gave me the green color I was looking for.

In the last picture, I also started to color the cat tail leaves. I did this the same way I did the bigger cat tails on the back side. Started with a coat of diluted yellow over the whole leaf. This was followed with some diluted tan to give some shadow. Then diluted green mixed with yellow was used over the whole thing.

The seed head part of the cat tail was then colored with acrylic just like the bigger ones on the back.

Now on the water, I dry brushed a light coat of acrylic white followed by a light coat of very light blue.

The beak I colored with acylic. I mixed red and yellow to make a pale orange. Then I used payne's grey (really close to black) for the area in front of the eye and whatever that growth over the beak is supposed to be. Also to shadow the beak and nostril. For the eye, I started out with a coat of yellow, then dark brown leaving a small outline of yellow, then filled in most of the center of the eye with black.

Here's what it's looking like at this point. I went back and added a small drop of black to some white to make a pale grey and tried to add some shadows again. I'm still not really happy with how it looks. Needs some more shadows behind the neck. If anyone has any comments or suggestiongs at this point, I'd sure appreciate them!

To finish up a little more on the back, I went over the border areas with a mix of tan and yellow eco flow dye. Then I went over all the colored areas except the cat tail seed pod things (what ever that part is called) with Block Out. I put on several coats. Then I went and carefully dabbed Fiebings medium brown antique into the small corner areas, and even more carefully wiped it out. I think when I get closer to being finished, I'll use the same antique over the whole outside area of this album cover.

That's it for now.