I thought I would not be uploading anything on my blog anymore but bigger projects like this one deserve a special post. I would post regular work in progress photos on my Instagram but it will be nice to have them all together right here.
This is a large relief carving done in butternut wood, the charms are finished with oil paints. It took me around 90 hours to finish. The carving board itself is 20x8 inches, the frame adds around 1 inch on each side. I was originally doing this for myself but somebody was seriously interested in the piece.
Have a look at the work in progress by reading more!
Just removing the background took close to 20 hours, then it was time to individually carve each charm.
It was a big learning experience and I would approach some of the charms differently now, but I am still proudly looking at these work in progress photos.
Some sanding done to the end. This takes always longer than it seems it should, I just couldn't get properly to some areas with my carving tools to remove bits of fuzziness.
The very satisfying part of finishing the carving with Danish oil!
The golden colour that pops up on finished butternut wood is always very satisfying.
When the Danish oil fully dried, I started painting process by dark outlines and side shadings.
The painting took about 30 hours total, way longer than I expected. I don't normally paint much so mixing the right shades took some extra time.
And here is the finished piece, just waiting to be framed:
All good to go!
