Ax-man
Addicted to ArboristSite
I am going to get brave again and post pics of my carvings for a recent roadside sale for our towns annual end of September local festival .
I did OK ,sold just about everything in the pictures including that black bear with the welcome sign that I did last year and two of those welcome signs. I am my own worst critic or so my wife tells me because I am never happy with what I do but people buy my stuff and a few are collecting them. I don't go overboard with the details like I have seen in other peoples work but the markets I sell at won't justify the time and I just don't have any artistic talent to speak of.
The highlight of this years carving for this sale was that painted eagle. I have tried so many times to make a decent eagle and this is the first one I felt comfortable with to sell. I know I can do better to get a better looking head and claws and legs to make it a little more realistic but I was happy. It didn't last long before it flew away in someone's truck to adorn a flag pole some where .
Other highlights were those two racoons , I don't really have a way to paint a racoon but the black paint over the eyes did the trick. The 2x4 bench that seemed easy enough to make but didn't sell mainly because it is too big to haul away unless someone had a truck verses the SUV,s most people drive. Two of my better welcome bears didn't make the pics because they sold before I had time to take pictures of them. The two welcome bears in the pics were made from Doug Fir which is a new wood for me to work with. I like the color of the wood and it seems stable compared to other woods for checking but peoples taste varies and didn't quite have the appeal I thought it would. People, especially women shop for different coloring , what kind of wood it is doesn't seem to matter. I think I need to refine my finishing and carving skills a little on this type of wood and the results may be different .
Another comment,at this sale I had a table with cheap lathe turned items like bowls , little mushrooms and other small knick knacks . I have tried to sell this type of stuff in the past and it just doesn't sell ,maybe a few pieces will sell but nothing to get excited about but it is just nice to have a few cheap pieces around just to get someone to spend a few bucks.
Here are some pics feel free to comment.
I did OK ,sold just about everything in the pictures including that black bear with the welcome sign that I did last year and two of those welcome signs. I am my own worst critic or so my wife tells me because I am never happy with what I do but people buy my stuff and a few are collecting them. I don't go overboard with the details like I have seen in other peoples work but the markets I sell at won't justify the time and I just don't have any artistic talent to speak of.
The highlight of this years carving for this sale was that painted eagle. I have tried so many times to make a decent eagle and this is the first one I felt comfortable with to sell. I know I can do better to get a better looking head and claws and legs to make it a little more realistic but I was happy. It didn't last long before it flew away in someone's truck to adorn a flag pole some where .
Other highlights were those two racoons , I don't really have a way to paint a racoon but the black paint over the eyes did the trick. The 2x4 bench that seemed easy enough to make but didn't sell mainly because it is too big to haul away unless someone had a truck verses the SUV,s most people drive. Two of my better welcome bears didn't make the pics because they sold before I had time to take pictures of them. The two welcome bears in the pics were made from Doug Fir which is a new wood for me to work with. I like the color of the wood and it seems stable compared to other woods for checking but peoples taste varies and didn't quite have the appeal I thought it would. People, especially women shop for different coloring , what kind of wood it is doesn't seem to matter. I think I need to refine my finishing and carving skills a little on this type of wood and the results may be different .
Another comment,at this sale I had a table with cheap lathe turned items like bowls , little mushrooms and other small knick knacks . I have tried to sell this type of stuff in the past and it just doesn't sell ,maybe a few pieces will sell but nothing to get excited about but it is just nice to have a few cheap pieces around just to get someone to spend a few bucks.
Here are some pics feel free to comment.
