OK, so it isn’t fine art, but based on some really creepy clown heads I saw in a Baltimore antiques shop, I wanted to do something similar as a gift for my grown daughter (not trying to terrorize a child). She likes things that are a bit “off”, and clowns unfortunately come off a bit less than enchanting…so I decided to do a carving based on circus or amusement park “art”. Of course I had to scale back the creepy factor, as my tolerance is a bit higher than most people’s.I did make the eyes a little out of whack…
The wood is a Douglas fir 2x 12 joist scrap that had tight grain and was close to quarter-sawn in places so I wouldn’t get large soft pithy areas of flat grain. I’d recommend this wood for reliefs/ carving with large details; it cut nicely with SHARP chisels and knives, kept that way with a cheap flexi-cut stropping block and lots of their yellow stropping compound. I used a combo of large Pfiel and vintage gouges for roughing and the curved shapes, but for the lettering I used a v-tool to define the lines, then with one bevel down to carve the field. The most useful tool for overall shaping and smoothing was an old Marples straight chisel with a double-bevel, about an inch wide- it was used for outside curve smoothing, cleaning up the lettering, and all-around carving.
If you’re trying for something like this – a commercial-style or folk-art look, I recommend using the largest knives you have; I don’t think commercial shops broke out the ¼ inch chisels until the very end.
Dimensions: 13 inches long, about 9 inches tall. Thickness of carving is about 1 ½ inches at the tip of the nose down to zero (all the way through) near the ear. Clock movement is an inexpensive battery-operated quartz movement inlaid in the back.
Progress shots:
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Note the “ears” of the board used to hold it down with holdfasts during rough carving
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After some smoothing cuts
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After smoothing it with finer carving and a scraper in someplaces (and splinter removal with a sharp, very acutely-pointed chisel), I gave it two coats of gesso and lightly sanded it.
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I painted it with artists’ acrylic paints and gave it a coat of semi-gloss poly, then after it cured, a coat of brown furniture wax to lightly age it.
Looks pretty cool, if not exactly creepy…let me know if you have any questions or comments
Karl