Carved Coyote Skull 1
Happy Monday! Time for some bones!
I mentioned I'd been skull carving. Here's my first effort, a coyote skull engraved with spiral designs.
This is the young adult male pictured in this entry.
It's really hard to get pictures of carved relief on a white object. Nevertheless, you can see the designs pretty well here. Note the carving on the inside of the rear arm of the cheekbone.
Lit from behind, the thinner areas appear brighter. A really ginormous version of this one is available.
A better shot of sunlight shining through the cranium.
A handsome shot of carvings around the eye. In retrospect, I really should have carved something on the cheekbones.
I just like how this one came out. This was taken inside, in my scratch-built lightbox.
Rather fond of this one, too.
A comparison shot for size. That's Thane on the left, my little she-wolf in the middle, and the coyote on the right.
My favorite picture of the lot. I love everything about this one.
The whole thing took me about eight hours start to finish, and I did it all with a Dremel and various engraving bits. I worked very slowly using a suspended flex-shaft attachment for finer control, set on the highest possible rotation to minimize vibration, catch, and drag. The engraving on the thinner areas such as the braincase was done in successive stages. I held the skull up to the light many times to make sure I wasn't about to punch through. I was very much afraid that I would, but I didn't. This was more or less a test run, and I think it turned out fabulously.
I'm working on my third one, a dog, and it's coming along very well. I'm learning very quickly, and to me this one already looks a little less polished than the others. I am still very happy with it.
I will be selling these as I complete them, but I haven't settled on a price yet. I truly suck at pricing my work.
I owe a great debt to Don Simpson and his brief tutorial here, both for inspiration and for technical expertise.
I just want to say in two quick words that I'm not imitating or trying to steal his style or his client base, just trying to learn how to do this so I can take this in my own direction. He's a huge inspiration, and I hope he would approve of my forays into the medium.
I mentioned I'd been skull carving. Here's my first effort, a coyote skull engraved with spiral designs.
This is the young adult male pictured in this entry.
It's really hard to get pictures of carved relief on a white object. Nevertheless, you can see the designs pretty well here. Note the carving on the inside of the rear arm of the cheekbone.
Lit from behind, the thinner areas appear brighter. A really ginormous version of this one is available.
A better shot of sunlight shining through the cranium.
A handsome shot of carvings around the eye. In retrospect, I really should have carved something on the cheekbones.
I just like how this one came out. This was taken inside, in my scratch-built lightbox.
Rather fond of this one, too.
A comparison shot for size. That's Thane on the left, my little she-wolf in the middle, and the coyote on the right.
My favorite picture of the lot. I love everything about this one.
The whole thing took me about eight hours start to finish, and I did it all with a Dremel and various engraving bits. I worked very slowly using a suspended flex-shaft attachment for finer control, set on the highest possible rotation to minimize vibration, catch, and drag. The engraving on the thinner areas such as the braincase was done in successive stages. I held the skull up to the light many times to make sure I wasn't about to punch through. I was very much afraid that I would, but I didn't. This was more or less a test run, and I think it turned out fabulously.
I'm working on my third one, a dog, and it's coming along very well. I'm learning very quickly, and to me this one already looks a little less polished than the others. I am still very happy with it.
I will be selling these as I complete them, but I haven't settled on a price yet. I truly suck at pricing my work.
I owe a great debt to Don Simpson and his brief tutorial here, both for inspiration and for technical expertise.
I just want to say in two quick words that I'm not imitating or trying to steal his style or his client base, just trying to learn how to do this so I can take this in my own direction. He's a huge inspiration, and I hope he would approve of my forays into the medium.