Another Update/Gourd Project

Front and top view

View From Top

With Top Off


View Of Bottom

I have to this point finished the top by wood burning in the designs of the 4 Directions and placing in the colors, White (North), Yellow (East),Blue (South),Black (West).

I have also used Waxed Irish Linen Thread to tightly wrap the stem of the gourd to be used as a handle.

After drawing on and wood burning in the Four "Thunderbirds" and surrounding designs, I used leather dyes to color in for contrast and also cut Four Circle of Turquoise and inlaid them into the gourd and ground and sanded down flush with the gourds surface and polished.

Under the Four Circles of Turquoise it is yet to be determined what will be put into that space...I am still listening to the Gourd tell me what it wants...today may be the day for the answer.

Note: I also completed the bottom design and wood burned that in and colored with Leather Dye.

Update/New Gourd Project

This is an Update on the new Gourd Project...here I show some of the designs that I had drawn on with pencil then wood burned in...there will be 4 panels of the design as well as some other designs yet to be determined. I will follow with more pictures as I progress.

Note the top picture showing the top cut out, and the inside of the Gourd, later(bottom picture) showing the Gourd with the top back on.


As usual...you can click on each photograph to enlarge for a better view.

New Gourd Project

Very Thick Canteen Gourd

View from Top

It has been quite some time now since I did another Gourd Art Project, I have been getting sidetracked by making flutes and other carving projects, so here I am back the the making of another Gourd Art Project.

I have chosen this very nice Canteen gourd for the new project, it is very thick, a full 1/2 inch thick I found after cutting it open to clean out.

I started to draw out some of the designs on the Gourd with pencil, and as you can see by the lines on it , I have chosen the layout of the top which I will cut out after wood burning the main design in the top and then carefully cutting out the top with an Exacto knife to remove as little of the material as possible so the top will fit back snugly when placed back on.

You may click on the photographs to enlarge for a better view.

I Will post more pictures as I go showing the progress of this new Project, pleas stay tuned, same blog, same station...girnning here....lol.

Finishing a Project

This is a Buffalo ( American Bison ) that I had started about seven years ago by cutting out the rough figure from a block of Black Walnut, with the intention of doing a detailed carving of, however I set it aside until the "Mood" was proper and the piece would show me how it was to be.

For some reason I kept drawing a blank in my mind so I put it up on a shelf till the vision would reappear to me once again and speak clearly to me...well it just didn't happen right away , so I moved on to other projects that were begging to be created.

I had almost forgotten about this wonderful piece of wood till after I had finished the last two flutes that I have posted here recently, and was drawing a blank once again as to what new project to begin...suddenly I heard this small voice from across my work shop...."Hey Bob...remember me?"...looking across the shop my eyes rested upon that rough cut Black Walnut blank of a Buffalo..and it began to speak to me once again.."It is time for you to finish what you started seven years ago..follow me I will show you how it will be."

I walked over to the shelf, picked it up , and could again see the vision of a Buffalo and just how it should look, so carving knives in hand I began to carve ever so carefully and precise, feeling the warmth of the wood admiring the grain and working the contures of the body shape with the grain and began to envision the depth of cuts and sanding to achieve a three dimensional figure that would represent the look and feel of a real Buffalo...well after about 5 days of hand carving..I think I have achieved a rather realistic rendition..and anatomically correct Buffalo...except..maybe I should have made the head a bit larger....click on the photographs for a larger and closer view..

The Buffalo stands Three and Three Quarter inches tall by Six inches long....and in case you didn't notice...it is a Bull Buffalo.

Rear view of Buffalo

View of Underside

View of Other Side

Catching Up

Black Walnut Flute Displayed on Deer Antler/Skull Stand

Close up of Carved Buffalo Block (Bird) carved from Cedar

Aromatic Red Cedar Flute on Deer Antler/Skull Stand

Close Up showing Details of Cedar Flute

Close Up of Horse (Hand Carved Cedar) Block

Click on the photographs to enlarge for better Detail.

It has been a game of "Catchup" since I got out of the Hospital, the garden went wild weed wise and the Zucchini and Yellow Squash grew to enormous size and had to be picked and thrown away making room for new growth to be picked at the smaller size for eating and selling.

I finally got caught up in the garden and was able to again get back to finishing up on two Flutes that I had started. Pictured above are two flutes, one (Top one) is Black Walnut with a 1" bore and a hand carved Aromatic Red Cedar Block (Buffalo-American Bison) and 4 diamond shaped pieces of Turquoise that I cut and inlaid into the Walnut and sanded and polished flush with the Flute's surface for decoration.

The Second Flute Pictured is made from Aromatic Red Cedar with a Horse that is hand Carved for the Block.

I am slowly healing and getting some better every day but still have to take it a bit easy and be patient till I get my strength back and continue on with my creations.....thank you to all who sent me good wishes and thoughts...."I shall Return" to some semblance of normalcy soon.

Ghosts,Dolphins,Cloud Day Dreaming

Look up in the sky.....it's a Ghost Cloud

Does this look like a Dolphin to you?

Gold Finch perched on a Cosmos stem eating the seeds from an expired bloom.

A very colorful bloom of an unknown species of wildflower.

You may be wondering why I haven't posted in sometime now....well, just the short version of the whole episode, I have been in the Hospital again and this time it was quite a trip spending a whole week in there while the world outside went on without me and I sure did miss posting and was very glad after the Doctors released me after a week in there.I again escaped the Knife(keep your fingers crossed) for yet another time and am mending fairly well from a case of Ischemic Colitis.....which was treated with No Food, No water and massive doses of Antibiotics and bags and bags of IV stuff for four days, then they allowed me to have some liquid for a day and a half and finally, on the Fifth Day after noon allowed me semi solid food for dinner and ordered up solid food for the Sixth day...my body accepted the solid foods and so they think their process worked and I am now back home,weak,wobbly legged,woozy,and going to try to get out again tomorrow and do some work again.

I am still making more Native Flutes and have another one that was about 3/4 completed before I went into the IV Tower as I call it....lol....and plan to work on it till completed and will then post a photo of it.

Flute Making Process

I start out with a blank that is 2 in. x 2 in. x 24 inches and then using a planer I make it smooth and even on all sides and planed down to a 1 3/4" size.

The flute blank is then sawed in half so that it may be routed out and each sawed side must be perfectly flat and smooth so it can be glued back together after routing.

This is the routed out insides of the Flute Blank, note a small routed out part , it is called the Fast Air Chamber...also referred to as the FAS.
The Larger routed out area is called the Sound Chamber.

This is one of the finished Flutes with a Carved Eagle Head (carved out of Cedar) for channeling the air from the FAS over the dam and over the cut out and shaped sounding edge just about 1/2 inch away from the FAS to create the sound. Next holes are drilled in the top portion of the flute for fingering the notes and tuned by shaping the holes to different sizes to make the proper note (6 Holes). I also cut and inlaid a diamond shaped piece of turquoise into each side and ground and sanded down flush with the flute wood surface and polished to a bright shine.

The Flute is then shaped into the round shape by sanding and carving and sanded very smooth.

The Flute is then sealed with Tongue Oil , both inside and outside allowed to dry overnight and another coat put on after using 0000 steel wool to create a velvety smooth surface and feel, and finally after that coat dries,again steel wooled to a velvet finish, then coated with one to two coats of fine paste wax and buffed.

Top view of this Flute.



The next Finished Flute with a Carved Bear with an Inlaid Turquoise Heart Line and also a matching Heart Line of Turquoise inlaid on each side .

Close up view of the Carved Bear (Cedar) with inlaid Turquoise Heart Line.

Top View of the Bear Flute.