Carving in September

Well! I am back in Chattanooga, carving on my horse again! My body was still not ready when I returned, but by the end of the second week, it is close! I spent the waiting time finishing the head, then sanding and priming the head and tail. They are now finished and ready for painting!

I used Tuf-Carve wood putty "Putty is our buddy!" to fill in the bridle and "strings" for the tassles. It dries hard and is still carvable. I made the bit pieces separately then glued them in. The jewels I will be using are added just before painting begins, after the whole horse is carved.

I also have been working on the base that he will be sitting on. Since he only has 2 legs on the ground, he needs the support of the pole. The floor of the base is made out of hardwood. I choose Rosewood.

All right! The tail hole has been drilled and the legs have been dowled. We get him up on his 2 standing legs and......... I don't like the tail position! He is also too high in the front. The back needs to be raised at least 4 inches! Ah well, it is just wood and glue!

We cut off the rear end of the horse, and added a bunch of wood. Bud then roughed it out the way I wanted it, and drilled the tail hole over again.

MUCH BETTER!! Now for the leg.........

Instead of adding 4" at the top, I elected to do it the hard way and add 2 in the middle of the leg and 2 at the top. Not as easy as it sounds! Lining up the dowl rods and making the leg straight is very hard! We eventually get close enough. The leg is now ready to be glued to the body.

So we get him up on all 4's, and what is this? He looks part Giraffe!! Time for a BIG Chain Saw!

We took about 3" off the neck area of the body. Hopefully this will bring him back to a "horse" again. Somewhere along the way, the blueprint got messed up. Hopefully, we can get him looking right! We will now have to use a smaller chainsaw to finish the neck. Will have to move the saddle, and rearrange things.

Once I had a neck to put the head onto, I realised that I had some more work to do on the head. Back to the Chisels!!

A few hours sets some of the tassels. The National Carousel Association is having their Annual Convention here in Chattanooga this year! Sept. 25 - 29. They will be out to the school on Saturday to look over the operation. So I am trying to give them some idea of what he will look like when done.

My last day for this session was Wed. Oct. 2nd. We took another inch off his neck, cut out the bottom part of the mane to extend his neck and fix the saddle menace. I also added 2 inches to his front raised leg. I think part of our problem, there, was that when they removed the tassels from the front pattern, part of the chest was also deleted. That is part of why his neck sticks out so far.