Rolling toy

New rolling hoop toy.  When rolled on the floor the horse stays balanced on top.

Hank Williams, Sr. carving

Second of the Hank Williams, Sr. pieces wearing the Nudie Suit.  Messed up on the neck unfortunately which is why the head sits so low on the shoulders.  Oh well, next time....

Robert Johnson blues artist

 Older piece I did around ten years ago

Rabbit with Hoop

Horse in Hoop

Getting better at photographing my pieces

Horse in Hoop display

The ringmaster's arm moves up and down as the horse spins.  Uses a 110v motor.

Finished Seahorse

Decide to not place this with a hoop but instead make a base with waves.  I really need to learn how to photograph these better.  This is a gift for Karen who loves seahorses.

Rabbit and Hoop finished piece

This is a gift for Hazel who was born Thursday August 21st 2014.  You can see the horribly shot video at the bottom of this post to see just how it works.  I burned the red foxes with a wood burner that I've never used before.  Came out really nice and I didn't burn myself (much).

Horse in Hoop

Horse-in-Hoop for my cousin's wife Monique

Balancing Acrobat

Quick basswood piece, figure about seven inches tall balancing on a welding wire.

Seahorse in Hoop

Another project.  A Seahorse in Hoop, still a long way until completion.

Video of Rabbit and Hoop toy idea

New idea I'm working on.  It's a variation of the horse in hoop.  The round wood weight inside the hoop keeps the rabbit balanced however the weight also slightly rolls/scrapes against the hoop which causes the rabbit to sprint back and forth.  It still needs some work. 

Metal stamping

Playing around with some steel letter stamps.  I want to make a dining room hanging lamp shade thingy with intros from classic novels circling it.  For example the intro to Moby Dick or A Tale of Two Cities or Edgar Allan Poe.

 Below is a test of the lettering for a spinning magic 8-ball thing.  The corners would be arrow in shape and one corner would be "Yes", one "No" and the last two "Maybe".

Test balancing acrobat toy

Completed this in around a hour or so.  Just a test out of pine.  Not very detailed.  I'd like to do a series of five or six acrobats and have them outside maybe as potted plant decorations each balancing on their own wire.

Test run of water feature

Pump is not strong enough to really force the water out of the mouth hole, also there's about 25 feet of tubing running from the pump to the dragon.  There's more work to do on the front mouth and then the opposite side of the face however it's coming along very nicely for only the fourth piece of stone I've ever worked on.

Progression

About another four hours of work on the fountain head.  Drilled part of the spout however the drill bit isn't long enough so it's off to the local hardware store tomorrow for a masonry drill bit and more heavy duty dust masks.

Most of my stone carving tools

From left top: 

Big wood carving rasp that I've had for decades, my wonderful Trow &  Holden 1/2 pneumatic stone carver with three chisels, and the very important ear protection. 

Bottom right:

Peddinghaus hammer, chisel used for tile work (on of my favorite tools), small chisel, DeWalt angle grinder with diamond sanding blade.  Not show, a DeWalt air compressor to run the pneumatic carver, face masks (you definitely don't want to inhale limestone dust), and a cheap shop-vac used to blow the stone dust away. 

Most of these can be purchased from your local hardware store, the Trow & Holden can be ordered from Amazon or from the Trow & Holden site.

A section of my artbooks

Inspiration

William Edmondson

William Edmondson sculpture images

Limestone dragon fountain spout WIP

Only one side has really been worked on.  The black is charcoal used to make the photo clearer.  The gray is untouched stone.  Once the piece is nearly completed I'll start figuring out how to drill the hole to turn it into a water spout thingy.  Tools used, angle grinder with a diamond grinding blade, Trow & Holden 1/2 pneumatic stone carver, various hand chisels (used for home floor tiling) and wood carving rasps.  Approx. four hours of work(?), approx. 45 lbs.

Progession

Another limestone carving

This is an older piece (around 10 yrs).  All hand tools only, no grinders or pneumatic carvers.  What took me a couple weeks (on-and-off) I can punch out in a day with the Trow & Holden carver.

Limestone head (approx. 50 lbs)

Limestone carving

Playing around with some limestone blocks that were left over from some construction.  I'm using an angle grinder and a 1/2" Trow & Holden Type-B pneumatic stone carver.  Lots of fun though my hands ache and the angle grinder might be overheating.

 First unfinished piece (around 35 lbs)

 Rough out of the second (about 25 lbs)

 A little more work on the second, mainly with the angle grinder

Safety first!

Old Austin map from the Austin American Statesmen

Old Austin map from the Austin American Statesmen circa 1978-80.  It was an art contest sponsored by Milwood Homes.  The winner who was judged to have colored the poster the best would win $75 and have it published in the paper.  I won (yay!) and bought a bunch of old collectable coins with the winnings.  I have the original poster also buried somewhere in the garage.