Carved lion's head for violin

[george wilson]

This is a carved lion's head for a violin. I had made a violin in baroque style for a concert master. It had the 18th.C. style fingerboard,lower bridge and other features that violins originally had. Old violins have been modified to the modern neck format. He wanted it to look unique,so instead of the usual scroll,he wanted a lion's head. This is another neck I carved after making his. It is German maple.

These are not the best photos.We are having trouble with the camera.

Note how the ends of the tuning pegs become the centers of sunflowers.Sunflowers were signs of love.The lion is meant to look a little whimsical,as were many lions carved in the period.

[Chris Padilla]

George,

So tell us what you stink at when it comes to woodworking!? LOL...I bet it is a very very short list.

Amazing carving....

[george wilson]

I stink at getting pictures of wood work onto the computer. I never saw the need for computers until recently. They are great for communicating,and I am trying to learn.

[Casey Gooding]

Fine work!
We need pics of the rest of the instrument.

[Bruce Page]

Holy Moly George, is there anything that you can’t make? I’m starting to develop a complex here…

Seriously, your work would make an excellent book – I’d buy it.

[Barry Rowland]

Beautiful work! I can only dream of making a carving like that!

Do show us more pics!

[Jameel Abraham]

The detail here is just stunning. The teeth and tongue are just tiny. George, I've got to visit you someday...

[Jim Becker]

That's incredible, George. Thanks for sharing it! "WOW"....(I'm saying that a lot about the work you've been posting...)

[glenn bradley]

That is just splendid work. Bravo . . . Encor . . . Roses and all that. Really beautiful coloring to show off that carving too.

[george wilson]

This is just a neck,I never made the rest of this violin. I have other violins I made here,but they have the usual scrolls.

[Gary Herrmann]

Oh George, I'm an IT consultant. I'll trade ya a bit of knowledge for a bit of knowledge.

Nah, I'm content to read your posts. PM me if you have any questions about the silly electron stuff.

[Berl Mendenhall]

The great seventeenth century German maker Joseph Steiner carved lions head scrolls on some of his instruments. Although not that kind of detail. They decorated musical instruments in that period (the Italian Guitar). The decorated instruments went to Kings and high end clients. Stradivari inlaid a couple of quartets of Violins, Violas, and Cellos, one set was for the King of Spain. For some reason they never got delivered. He had those instruments most of his working life. One theory is, once made he couldn't part with them and kept them in his shop as an advertisement to show off his skill. I don't know that that's true, but it makes a romantic story.

Decorated Violins, Violas, and Cellos fell out of favor late in the seventeenth century, but they continued to decorate Lutes and Guitars.

[Richard Francis]

So when are you going to do the book? Can you do it in conjunction with Williamsburg and make it about the goings on in the shop there? Sort of 18th century tools brought to life with anecdotes. Or if not a book then an ebook illustrated that we could all benefit from.

[David Keller NC]

George - As a somewhat advanced carver, I'm seriously impressed. Carving baroque detail in mahogany or walnut is one thing - carving that sort of detail in maple is quite another, and despite most woodworker's affinity for curly maple, carvers hate it - all of those grain direction changes make carving exceptionally difficult.

May I make a suggestion? Put together just one thread by category. For example, "tools made by me" or "musical instruments made by me", and post successive photos to new posts in the same thread. The reason that I suggest this is that it's easy for threads to get buried, and I think I can speak for all of us - I don't want to miss one!

[george wilson]

Williamsburg would finance a book,alright,many of their curatorial staff have made books.They called it "publish or perish",or publish or remain unknown. So,they made books.However,Col.Wmsbg. also kept all the money for these books. If I went to the trouble to make a book,I might share the money with a financial backer,but I would want to keep some of the money. Being retired,I don't think they would want to help me with a book,anyway.

Another think is,such a book would only have sales limited to a relatively small group,such as in this group.