Earlier this summer I completed a small carving as a study for a larger project I hope to work on sometime over the winter – a red fox captured mid-leap, about to pounce on its prey. I created this smaller version as a way to test the idea I had for the painted finish – one that would utilize the natural beauty and color of the mahogany wood combined with only a minimal amount of black and white oil paint. I documented the process on the @ninthwavedesigns Instagram feed, and have gathered the images together in the slideshow below.
One element of this project that I especially enjoyed was discovering the versatility that the Pfeil Abeggelen detail knives offer. I was originally intimidated by the super sharp double edges on this tool, but after just a few minutes of practice I felt comfortable using the knife for both pushing and pulling cuts. After completing this project using the medium size knife I added both the smaller and larger versions of these to my carving tool collection. I am certain I will be putting these to use on a regular basis going forward.
I have included descriptions of the stages of the project with each image below:
Update: See more information about this project in the Leaping Fox Carving Study Demonstration Videos blog post.
