Author: Lynn Doughty

Now I realize not all carvers are great painters. I will try to help you as much as I can but if you look closely at the photos I think you can pretty well figure things out.  So lets take the hard parts 1 at a time.  But first, remember that I paint with the…

In this segment, we carve and attach a couple of Ermine tails to the headdress.  Like feathers, Native Americans use the Ermine animal skin and especially the tails in a lot of their clothing and headress ornaments.  The tail is used in this instance as it’s white with a black tip which really adds some…

We’re getting serious now!  With the braids carved and attached the bust carving part of this piece is basically finished.  In this one, to determine the shape of the braids, I used a fine wire to bend and follow the shape as the braid lays over the shoulders of the figure.  Drill a small hole…

First I apologize for the squigilly photo above.  It’s early in the morning and I’ve just loaded up the fireplace with logs.  My arms are tired!  Anyway….. It seems the figure most are interested in around the internet neighborhood is Santa Claus. No matter what time of year someone is working on their Santa or…

In this segment we construct the Shield and Spear shaft.  To get things the way they should be you’re going to have to do some research.  Get on the web and check out Native American war shields and spears.  You will find photos of hundreds you can use when making yours.  In my carving I…

It’s time for the body and some more major sawing skills.  Please take your time when using your Band saw.  An important thing to remember is to NEVER ATTEMPT SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU NERVOUS!  Just like you wear a glove and a thumb protector you have to do as much as you can to prevent…

Now that the shape of the head and bonnet has been blocked out we move to the facial details. It’s important to not rush this part, just take your time and you can do it.  I have faith in you!  Also, remember you can click each photo to get a larger version.  Note…Somehow these got…

Ok! Others have been asking me to do more videos on carving.  Well, before the videos there were the photo posts showing how I do things.  This is one of those.  It’s going to be a long one over several Blog posts but I think you might find it useful to the things you do. …

Here’s a great character, standing outside in the snow, wrapped in a very colorful buffalo robe.  Why did I call him a ‘masked man’?  Well, to make sure that I didn’t accidently rain down some falling snow on his face I wrapped it with some masking tape.  I had also already varnished the figure just…