Here’s what I’m working on at the moment. This one stands about 15″ tall on the base so he’ll be a real eye catcher when he’s finished. Still have to add the feathers to the shield and maybe a totem above the horse. Hopefully, there will be scalp locks hanging from his shoulders as soon as we can track down some horse hair. The dance stick will also have a lot more detail, i.e., feathers cloth or leather strips, etc.
–
As I’ve mentioned before, I really love doing this type of carving as it’s a challenge to see how much detail you can add. Also, as they are so colorful and unique they sell immediately. I’ve seen a lot of painted bronzes but they seem cold compared to these wooden fellas.
(Next Day)
Just about ran out of paint on this fella. Still pondering on whether to put a medicine totem on the front of the shield. Probably will as it needs something to bust up that flat surface. I used horse hair to make the scalp locks that hang off each shoulder. Put little wire eyelets on each one and then attached them with corresponding eyelets into the shoulders. That way they swing freely like the feathers.
The horse dance stick has a horse hair mane, a wire bit and leather reins and decorative strips front and back. These do a good job of hiding the large dowel that holds the shield to the body. I used a technique I used before on some lances to simulate fur on his hair wraps. After carving them I gave them a heavy coat of Mod Podge and then sprinkled on some fine gravel. Once dry I painted it a dark tan then emphasized the divisions with a darker brown and to finished it I dry brushed on some light tan. I think it looks pretty good and adds a lot of interest and texture to the piece. If you look at the large head feathers from the back you’ll note some heavy texturing where they are tied together. For that I use acrylic modeling paste., stippled on and then painted. I think it looks pretty good.
Comments welcome.
