Carving Long, Coarse Hair

I'm about to start carving some reliefs of animals and I'm looking for
advice on how to handle some of the details. Specifically, I'm doing
some squirrels with bushy tails. Squirrel tails have an outer layer of
coarse guard hairs that stand out individually and help give the tail
its distinctive bush. I'm not entirely sure how to proceed to make
these hairs look realistic.

The two obvious solutions are to ignore the hairs when carving and
simply indicate them with paint. (The piece is to be painted
more-or-less naturalistically.) The other is to try to carve around
the individual hairs with a V tool. Neither of these seems
satisfactory to me to give the kind of fluffy effect you see in a
squirrel's tail.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

--RC
Sleep? Isn't that a totally inadequate substitute for caffine?

On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 20:01:52 GMT, wrote:


I'm about to start carving some reliefs of animals and I'm looking for
advice on how to handle some of the details. Specifically, I'm doing
some squirrels with bushy tails. Squirrel tails have an outer layer of
coarse guard hairs that stand out individually and help give the tail
its distinctive bush. I'm not entirely sure how to proceed to make
these hairs look realistic.

The two obvious solutions are to ignore the hairs when carving and
simply indicate them with paint. (The piece is to be painted
more-or-less naturalistically.) The other is to try to carve around
the individual hairs with a V tool. Neither of these seems
satisfactory to me to give the kind of fluffy effect you see in a
squirrel's tail.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

--RC
Sleep? Isn't that a totally inadequate substitute for caffine?

Let us know what you come up with. Painting might be the best
shot. I carved a mouse once and used paint brush britles embedded for
whiskers but a whole squirrel tail has to be a toughy.

On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 04:01:06 GMT, hue wrote:




On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 20:01:52 GMT, wrote:


I'm about to start carving some reliefs of animals and I'm looking for
advice on how to handle some of the details. Specifically, I'm doing
some squirrels with bushy tails. Squirrel tails have an outer layer of
coarse guard hairs that stand out individually and help give the tail
its distinctive bush. I'm not entirely sure how to proceed to make
these hairs look realistic.

The two obvious solutions are to ignore the hairs when carving and
simply indicate them with paint. (The piece is to be painted
more-or-less naturalistically.) The other is to try to carve around
the individual hairs with a V tool. Neither of these seems
satisfactory to me to give the kind of fluffy effect you see in a
squirrel's tail.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

--RC
Sleep? Isn't that a totally inadequate substitute for caffine?

Let us know what you come up with. Painting might be the best
shot. I carved a mouse once and used paint brush britles embedded for
whiskers but a whole squirrel tail has to be a toughy.

At this point I'm leaning toward paint with perhaps a little detailing
with a veiner. But I'm hoping by the time I get to that point I will
have a better idea.

--RC


Sleep? Isn't that a totally inadequate substitute for caffine?

On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 10:50:47 -0500, Eddie Munster
wrote:

Have you thought about a quality woodburner?

John

I use a woodburner for fur texture and such. The problem is that these
hairs stand out away from the body of the tail. I don't think
woodburning would be an improvement on paint in this case.

--RC

wrote:

I'm about to start carving some reliefs of animals and I'm looking for
advice on how to handle some of the details. Specifically, I'm doing
some squirrels with bushy tails. Squirrel tails have an outer layer of
coarse guard hairs that stand out individually and help give the tail
its distinctive bush. I'm not entirely sure how to proceed to make
these hairs look realistic.

The two obvious solutions are to ignore the hairs when carving and
simply indicate them with paint. (The piece is to be painted
more-or-less naturalistically.) The other is to try to carve around
the individual hairs with a V tool. Neither of these seems
satisfactory to me to give the kind of fluffy effect you see in a
squirrel's tail.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

--RC
Sleep? Isn't that a totally inadequate substitute for caffine?


Sleep? Isn't that a totally inadequate substitute for caffine?

On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 12:01:33 -0500, Eddie Munster
wrote:

yes, you're right. I thought if the wood was soft enough a fine tip
could be burnt in deep enough for a spikey effect. This is a tall order
for a felief carving.

How about mounting toothpicks.....no, that would make it a pourqupine!

John

Now _that_ is a truly squirrely suggestion!

Seriously, I'm going to have to experiment to find what works best.

--RC




wrote:
On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 10:50:47 -0500, Eddie Munster
wrote:


Have you thought about a quality woodburner?

John


I use a woodburner for fur texture and such. The problem is that these
hairs stand out away from the body of the tail. I don't think
woodburning would be an improvement on paint in this case.

--RC

wrote:


I'm about to start carving some reliefs of animals and I'm looking for
advice on how to handle some of the details. Specifically, I'm doing
some squirrels with bushy tails. Squirrel tails have an outer layer of
coarse guard hairs that stand out individually and help give the tail
its distinctive bush. I'm not entirely sure how to proceed to make
these hairs look realistic.

The two obvious solutions are to ignore the hairs when carving and
simply indicate them with paint. (The piece is to be painted
more-or-less naturalistically.) The other is to try to carve around
the individual hairs with a V tool. Neither of these seems
satisfactory to me to give the kind of fluffy effect you see in a
squirrel's tail.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

--RC
Sleep? Isn't that a totally inadequate substitute for caffine?



Sleep? Isn't that a totally inadequate substitute for caffine?


Sleep? Isn't that a totally inadequate substitute for caffine?