Mar 06

Carved walnut seahorse

Walnut seahorse carved from an antique chair arm

Last summer I started this little carving from an antique walnut chair arm (2nd pic), given to me by my step-father-in-law @freetimemike. I had no plans when I started – it was just an excuse to whittle outside. Eventually I saw this shape inside it. Once it got cold, I threw it in a corner and got distracted. This past week I decided to finish it up. Most of it was carved by hand with @flexcut_tools knives, then finished with some @saburrtooth dremel burrs.

Aug 02

Snail carved from black locust

Snail hand-carved from black locust

After I finished @tamarynart’s table this week, I wanted a little project I could do while sitting on the porch and enjoying the weather with Bandit. So I walked in the shop, grabbed a log, and looked in my notes where I have random project ideas written. Apparently at some point I just wrote “Snails!” I power carved the rough shape and then whittled outside. The disgusting looking jar is my two year old homemade batch of vinegar and steel wool. It still works really well as a home brew stain and darkened the shell nicely. The branch is a piece of black locust I picked up a few years ago from someone’s firewood pile. I knew I’d get around to using it.
The video was just sort of a “Meh. Why not?” Thing.

See the video below for a timelapse of the entire process!

May 14

Caretta, Daniel D. Brown, Ph.D., 2019

“Caretta” – 2019, walnut and scorched maple.
This loggerhead sea turtle started as a simple experiment after I sliced up a walnut firewood log into “cookies” and had a vision of turtle shell scutes in the endgrain patterns. I then designed the shape in illustrator, basing it on a few different turtles. The shell pieces were cut on the scrollsaw, shaped with an oscillating sander, epoxied, and sanded silky smooth. The fins and head were cut from maple, which I shaped with a variety of @saburrtooth carbide bits and sanders, burned with a blowtorch, and the spaces between the scales were ground with more bits and hand-carved with gouges. A final bit of detail was burned with @tamarynart’s @colwoodwoodburning wood burner. Finished with @odiesoil specifically because I wanted to retain the super-smooth natural wood feeling of the shell. All in all, I’m pretty excited with how it turned out! The entire process took just over three weeks, taking up most of my personal free time. Most of that was sanding and shaping. I documented the entire process in stories which are now archived as a highlight in my Instagram profile for those of you curious to see how it was made.

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“Caretta” – 2019, walnut and scorched maple. This loggerhead sea turtle started as a simple experiment after I sliced up a walnut firewood log into “cookies” and had a vision of turtle shell scutes in the endgrain patterns. I then designed the shape in illustrator, basing it on a few different turtles. The shell pieces were cut on the scrollsaw, shaped with an oscillating sander, epoxied, and sanded silky smooth. The fins and head were cut from maple, which I shaped with a variety of @saburrtooth carbide bits and sanders, burned with a blowtorch, and the spaces between the scales were ground with more bits and hand-carved with gouges. A final bit of detail was burned with @tamarynart’s @colwoodwoodburning wood burner. Finished with @odiesoil specifically because I wanted to retain the super-smooth natural wood feeling of the shell. All in all, I’m pretty excited with how it turned out! The entire process took just over three weeks, taking up most of my personal free time. Most of that was sanding and shaping. I documented the entire process in stories which are now archived as a highlight in my profile for those of you curious to see how it was made. … #woodworking #scrollsawart #woodart #powercarving #woodsculpture #pittsburghwoodworking #madeinpittsburgh #turtleart #turtlelover #seaturtlelove #savetheseaturtles #loggerhead #turtle #tortuga

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Quick update on my sea turtle in progress for those of you who see 50 stories and think “nuh uh. ain’t got time for that. swipe” (like me). I’m getting closer to finished. It’s looking more or less how I envisioned. I still have to do a lot of detail cleanup and carve out notches in the appendages for attachment so the depth between them and the shell isn’t quite so dramatic. I always intended this to be flattish, with the full 3-dimensionality only hinted. Thanks to everyone who has responded with questions and comments to my stories. I really didn’t expect this much encouragement and support given that this started as just a little experiment after looking at a piece of firewood. I love this community of makers and artists, and you all remain the reason I even post this stuff. … #woodworking #intarsia #scrollsawart #powercarving #pyrography #pittsburghwoodworking #madeinpittsburgh #seaturtle #seaturtleart

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Oct 14

When the Cows Come Home, Daniel D Brown, 2017 – Mixed Media

This is a sculpture/painting of migrating cownose rays. I made it over the course of a year,  making the actual work a year ago and the frame/base recently. I first laid down a layer of paint on a piece of 4″ x 4″ wood, followed by sequential layers of rays painted on Envirotex Lite resin with acrylic paint (six layers). The final ray was sculpted with apoxie sculpt and the water ripples were made with ModPodge. Finally, I made a base/frame from a chunk of walnut wood, which I sculpted with a dremel.

“When the Cows Come Home” – Daniel D Brown, 2017, Mixed Media

Here is a quick video showinf what the resin part actually looks like in 3D (with light refractions)

 

The light refractions are beautiful when the sun hits it right.

ModPodge ripples