The Carving Process

Ringneck Pheasant

31" long, 18" high

Special order for Cam Bridgeman of Lethbridge, Alberta. Carving took place from February 19 through April 11, 2001.

(Click on each photo below to enlarge it)

Pictures 1-4: Assembly of necessary parts (basswood, legs, eyes) and patterns drawn for this challenging project. The mounted bird is a great help in the body shape, feather patterns, texture and color.

Picture 5: Two pieces shaped and hollowed out for the main body. I do this to reduce the risk of the wood cracking or splitting.

Pictures 6 & 7: Pieces roughly shaped with a 3" drum sander on an electric motor. Further shaping will be done with a Dremel and various shaped stones. The final carving of the feathers will be done with a fine knife blade and then hand sanded to shape and contour.

Pictures 8 & 9: Feathers carved in, eyes inserted and four tail feathers roughed out. This took approximately 150 hours, about 50 hours more than anticipated. Man, this is a big bird!

Picture 10: The carved feathers are burnt and contoured with an electric Razortip burner, and the head is permanently epoxied on.

Picture 11: Burning complete and the 4 tail feathers permanently inserted (gently). This makes 8 separate pieces of basswood. The burning and final assembly has taken approximately 70 hours.

Picture 12: Base coat of blue-grey gesso applied.

Picture 13: Midway through the painting process.

Pictures 14 & 15: Painting complete and the bird mounted on a larch burl. 283 hours of labour has finally ended, and I’m satisfied with the end result when I snapped this final picture. This is truly a one-of-a-kind piece of art!

I’m humbled and grateful to the Creative Spirit who at times guides my hands and teaches me that anything is a possibility.