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]

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]

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

[Bob Blea]

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

Hello Cheryl,

When making small fine cuts with a swivel knife I tilt the knife at an angle so only the tip of the blade is in contact with the leather. It makes it easier to make small details and sharp turns. Hope this helps,

Bob

[DoubleC]

Hello Cheryl,

When making small fine cuts with a swivel knife I tilt the knife at an angle so only the tip of the blade is in contact with the leather. It makes it easier to make small details and sharp turns. Hope this helps,

Bob

Hi Bob. I did that too, but someone posted to me here and said, PUT that swivel knife flat, if you want to cut at an angle get and angle knife, LOLOL.

I'm putting up the picture we were talking about at the time because oddly enough, I had this on a wall hanging 20 or so years ago and like your friend, I've wanted it again but never could find it. I did a search and found this at a tattoo shop, the original picture I mean. So I hand drew this, carved it, but you can see how my 'sharp' turns are. When I have time I'm going to do it again, and again until I have another wall hanging that looks like the original. Cheryl

[Bob Blea]

Well, I finished this up last week and delivered it to the customer, and he was thrilled. Here is the front cover.

It was all dyed black with Feibings USMC Black. The bar grounded areas only look lighter than the rest of it because of how the sunlight is reflecting off them. The dark area at the bottom is actually a shadow that I didn't notice in the picture until downloading onto the computer. Thanks for taking a look and let me know what you think.

Bob

[WinterBear]

That turned out really nice. I have to ask though-- How did you keep from going bonkers while doing this? Intricate doesn't begin to describe it.

[Bob Blea]

That turned out really nice. I have to ask though-- How did you keep from going bonkers while doing this? Intricate doesn't begin to describe it.

Thank you WinterBear. It did take a while to carve and bevel it. I just looked at it all as really good practice. When I look at some of the finger carving work I see here and how clean it looks. it didn't seem very intricate.

Bob