Wood carvings

[Micktoon]

Evening all, I have got some more done to my skull wood carving , I have attempted to do a spine type neck then will make a base so the skull will be raised above the plinth by its own neck, if there is any spinal surgeons out there they will notice its not 100% true to a real spine but its as close as I can get it in wood :dremel: I have gone off drawings from the internet but could really have done with a 3D real object to copy from in front of me to be honest, anyway here is the progress so far.

The spacing for the vertebrae is marked on with pencil and start to carve off the first bits of waste wood.




Then its just a case of keep looking at the drawings and removing more wood a bit at a time , remembering that you can not put it back on ! and just slowly trying to get it into a spine type shape, the carving is tricky here as its so easy to break a bit off along the grain and getting into all the various angles is a nightmare.




Once all that can be done with carving tools is done , its time for the good old dremel and just grind away areas with various burrs and sanding drums etc, its still hard to get to all the places you want to get to and I could do with more varied shapes of burrs etc. Its starting to get the rough shape now.





I now use riffler files and sand paper wrapped around bits of wood etc to try and get into the hard to reach areas, refining the shape and smoothness, its starting to look more like bone than butchered wood anyway.





This is the stage I have got to now , its taken over a day to do the spine bit !!, I think operating on a real spine would have been easier to be honest lol. It now just needs overall refining and sanding smoother , the base made and to be sealed and waxed, I am hoping to get more done tomorrow............so watch this space .
Cheers Mick.