Hideous

[Darrell]

This Haida-style mask is something I was working on up at the cottage in July. Started with a piece of cedar from a tree the Hydro crew culled last Fall. I have a book on carving masks and totem poles, so I took a pattern from that.

The pattern was a photo of a mask. A photo of a curved surface, right? Which I proceeded to wrap around a curved surface and trace. So it got a bit distorted. Oops. The wood was VERY soft, so much so that it would crush and crumple unless the tool was fantastically sharp. Which most of mine are not. Actually, I have only TWO tools that would cut this stuff reasonably well, a #3 Henry Taylor gouge and a chip carving knife. Nasty wood. I decided to let Kathy carve the other half of the log.

The finish is acrylic paint, with a top coat of blonde shellac. Should have used amber or orange to give the wood some colour. I can still add another coat of darker shellac later, so that's no worry.

100_4664.jpg100_4680.jpg

[KenL]

Cedar is a bear to crave except with a trailing slicing motion using super sharp tools. But your mask turned out very nice!!

Ken

[Lyndsay]

It's hideously nicely done. Does the carving book also give colour detail, or did you come up with your own scheme?

Lyndsay

[wilson]

Great job with just 2 tools !