Something A Little Different

[Bob Blea]

I'm working on a notepad for a friend. The artwork is based on a print from a wood block print his uncle made back in the 70's. It's a very stylized rendering of a herd of horses galloping towards the viewer. It's something he's always liked and when he showed it to me I felt it could be rendered as a inverted carving. The picture is only carved with the swivel knife at this point, but I liked how well it turned out I just had to share. This is easily the most detailed swivel knife work I've done to date, and it took two hours to carve the whole thing. Next I'll bevel the interior parts before bar grounding the whole thing. I know from a practice run that it will probably take me twice as long to bevel as it did to carve, but I'm not a fast beveler by any means.

Below are the original print and the carved leather. The leather measures roughly 9"x13"

Thanks for looking.

Bob

[Rohn]

Looks like you did a great job with the swivel knife. Now you have your work cut out for you as you finish the piece. I am sure it will be a beautiful piece when you are done. I am anxious to see the finished masterpiece.

[Bob Blea]

  On 2/7/2012 at 12:54 AM, Rohn said:

Looks like you did a great job with the swivel knife. Now you have your work cut out for you as you finish the piece. I am sure it will be a beautiful piece when you are done. I am anxious to see the finished masterpiece.

Thanks for the compliment Rohn, I started beveling tonight. It's great beveling practice and it takes a lot of patience. I'll post a picture once I have the bar grounding done.

Bob

[OdinUK]

Looks good so far, I too look forward to seeing more of it as you progress.

[McJeep]

Wow - I see someone needing a new pair of spectacles after this one - to help with the crossed eyes ;0) Nice knife work!

Rob

[Bob Blea]

Thanks OdinUK and McJeep. I haven't needed glasses yet but I could use a tiny bever to get into some of those spaces. It's coming along. I only get about an hour each night to work on it but I have the left side beveled and I've started bar grounding. I'm not near the bench now but I'll get a picture of it tonight before I do any more work and post it.

Bob

[Bob Blea]

Here's the work in progress. The left side is beveled and the bargrounding has started. Usually my beveling is better than this, but in this case I am using the smallest beveler I have and I'm not trying to make a smooth edge. I'm trying to duplicate the very irregular edge of the original print, and marks left by the beveler will be covered by the bar grounder anyway.

Thanks,

Bob

[Rohn]

Looking good!

[Bob Blea]

So, the carving part is done, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Next it will be dyed. The customer wants it all black. Personally I would antique this and have more contrast between the carving and the untooled leather surface, but he has a specific look in mind and wants it all black. We tried a small sample and you actually do still see the carving pretty well, so I'm not trying to talk him out of it. Still, I like it better like this.

Thanks,

Bob

[DoubleC]

  On 2/14/2012 at 6:01 AM, Bob Blea said:

So, the carving part is done, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Next it will be dyed. The customer wants it all black. Personally I would antique this and have more contrast between the carving and the untooled leather surface, but he has a specific look in mind and wants it all black. We tried a small sample and you actually do still see the carving pretty well, so I'm not trying to talk him out of it. Still, I like it better like this.

Thanks,

Bob

Bob that is beautiful. I'm going to look again and see how you carved your mouth areas. I have problems with that. I was told to lay my swivel knife flat and pull it toward me, and turn the leather, etc. But by the time I make the turn on the mouth areas I have knife marks to the chest. I am definitely doing something wrong. Cheryl