Monday, June 4, 2012

The King's Head

As most of you know, I have an ongoing theme of Medieval Busts that I have been carving for the last two years or so.  When I was remodeling the Carvings Gallery Page last week, I realized that I had omitted the most important figure from the court.  The King!  Well, I just had to do something about that.  I went out in my shop and found that the piece of Quaking Aspen (Populus Temuloides) that I have had drying since last year was ready to go.  This is a fantastic wood for those of us out here in the mountains of the far west.  It carves very much like basswood and I can get a whole pickup truck load for about the same price as I can have a two-foot-square box of Minnesota basswood shipped to me.  I carved “The Sheriff” out of aspen and he turned out great, so I thought I would give it a try for my King.

Here is what I have done so far.





I really wanted to give him a strong, majestic jaw line and I believe I achieved my goal.  This smiling old monarch should look great standing next to his frowning, uptight queen.  It still needs a little sanding and some woodburning to highlight the deepest recesses and provide a boarder for when he gets painted.  I hope to get started on the torso portion of the bust tonight, and I promise to make regular posts of the progress I’m making, so check back soon.

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