Its time to begin to carve the raven's tail feathers on the underside. This is a good example of where my carving stand really helps in positioning the piece so I can carve in a reasonably comfortable position. Though I have spent considerable time carving from a kneeling position, it beats trying to carve while lying on my back!

The arrangement of bird's feathers is quite complex. Things obviously change depending on if the bird has wings folded or in flight, if its tail is fanned out, if it has puffed out its feathers etc. Not having a raven friend willing to model for me, I have to spend a considerable amount of time doing my research in books and on the computer. It helps to have photos  printed out which I refer to frequently during the carving process.

Here is a closer view of some of those tail feathers...

This morning, while eating breakfast I heard the distinct call of a raven. Grabbing my binoculars, I went outside in time to hear another loud call, and then see a raven flying low, out of the fog over the field behind our house. An inspiring sight!

Here is a shot of the sculpture showing clearly how it is mounted to my carving stand. In the hopes of reducing the amount of checking, or cracking that occurs when carving a log, I decided to try hollowing out the sculpture from underneath.

I first drilled a series of holes down to the depth I wanted to hollow, then used a chainsaw and chisels. The hollowing went considerably deeper than this photo shows. While I wanted to reduce the mass, I also wanted to be sure to keep enough wood there to carve what I need to carve and to allow the lag bolts that attach the carving stand's base plate a good grip.

The hollowing is completed and a new base plate is mounted.

The Raven's head taking form...

Beginning to define raven's wings...

Raven's left wing taking form...Note the footprints on the floor. The roughing process, in which most of the wood is removed, creates a lot of dust from the angle grinder! Also, a lot of large chips of wood from the roughing gouges, which make good kindling for the wood stove....

Beginning to define some of the feathers. And now, back into the studio!

As I mentioned in my last post, we have been seeing, and hearing, ravens near our home. Lately, I hear them almost every day. This is very exciting for me. So...it isn't so strange that a raven is the theme of my new piece! Here is the terracotta maquette...still drying and unfired, but enough to give me some idea of what I wanted to carve.

I have had this oak log in my studio for some years now. It seems like a good fit for my raven sculpture.

The log's outer layer was punky and rather irregularly shaped. And I needed to make a fairly broad flat surface on which the sculpture would sit. After chainsawing, I hand planed to get it somewhat flat. As you can see in the photo, there is already a good sized crack, or check, in the log...a result of the log slowly drying out these past years. Checks come with carving logs...its part of the territory, a fact you have to face...

Here I have somewhat squared up the log, getting rid of that punky outer layer and the log's irregularities, making it easier to transfer my design onto the log's four sides. With the chainsaw, I kerf cut down close to the line...

After kerfing all four sides, I begin knocking, prying, and chiseling the waste wood off. It makes great kindling for the wood stove come winter...

The basic forms of the sculpture are showing. A lot of the original log's wood, and weight, have now been removed. Its time to get the sculpture mounted on my carving stand...

Here it is, up on the carving stand. It makes for much easier carving. I have started to rough in the raven's right wing. If you look closely, you can see the pencil lines marking the raven's beak. The fun has begun....