Woodcarving a pointer dog

[micktoon]

Good evening all.
I have started the latest woodcarving project its a pointer dog pointing, I have copied from a project in a book which I think is an English pointer but I am adapting it to be a German Wirehaired Pointer if all goes to plan, it is being carved from Lime wood again.
It was first drawn out then band sawed from the blank of wood, then drilled and fret sawed where the gaps are between the legs etc. I have then carved with gouges , then microplaned then rasped and sanded to reach the rough shape.
The photos show the progress so far, now it will be a case of keep checking what it looks like from various angles and carving more and more away until it reaches a stage where more fine detail can be added once the over all shape is correct......still plenty to do yet !


























Its getting late so not too much text to go woth the photos but I will put more in my next update,
Cheers Mick.

[Stanley]

Looks like the usual standard.... Good day's work Mick. How's the leg progressing?

[PanBiker]

Impressive Mick, you certainly have some natural talent.

[micktoon]

Hi Stanley and Panbiker, thanks for the comments. This post will give you an idea of what I am aiming for , The leg is not bad Stanley my knee is still troublesome but I dont know if much can be done about it now.
I forgot to mention the size of the carving last night.
This carving will be about say 7 inches long x 5 inches high x 4 inches wide roughly, the base is all part of the carving this time and should look like the dog is standing in rough grass.
I will post a few photos of my dog who is a German Wirehared Pointer to give people an idea of what one looks like, they are called Deutsch Drahthaar in Germany from what I can gather. They are not a very common dog in the UK compared to the German Shorthaired pointer. They are HPR breed , that's Hunt , Point and Retrieve dogs so will point at game , hunt it down if shot but not killed and retreive it back..well that's the theory anyway, Otto has a habit of point, hunt, catch kill and eat. They are very clever loyal and robust dogs but need lots of running and outdoor type life really.

Here are a few photos of him pointing, these photos are a few years old now, it looks like he is left handed here but he does point with both feet.

This is general idea of the rough coat , he does not have as much beard and bushy eye brows as some. This style of point stance is more of a waiting to see where I will throw something.


This is a good point for game , when you see him locked on like this its 100% something is in that long grass or bush, he will stand for 10 minutes if you let him.


This bottom point photo is a 'maybe still in there' stance but a rabbit may now be down its hole or moved away leaving some scent.


I have been laid low with a cold or could be man flu today so nothing more done to the carving.

Cheers Mick.

[LizG]

It's amazing; you're very talented. I didn't know whether Stanley was asking about your leg or the dogs 'carved' leg LOL.

[Cathy]

I'm really enjoying watching the creative process. Just lovely, thanks Mick.

[micktoon]

I hope you are still watching Cathy , thanks for the comments everyone.
I have managed to get some more done to the pointer carving, its been hard trying to make it look like a German Wirehaired Pointer rather than just a pointing type dog in general and it might not end up looking like one yet but this is what stage its up to now. There has been lots of delicate carving , filing and sanding and its starting to get there.









The photos have not come out very well I think I have the camera left on the wrong light setting ? , I will check before taking the next shots.
There is still lots of tricky bits to do to get final detail done and also I am not sure of the best way to do the base, its really meant to look like the dog is standing in rough grass hence the bottoms of its legs going into the ground.
I will not get back to it for a few days now so hopefully will see it with 'fresheyes' when I look at it again ans spot what needs doing better .
Cheers Mick.

[Stanley]

Looks good so far......

[plaques]

First class study. Showing plenty of movement with spot on piercings. Wish I could do half as well.

[Gloria]

Excellent, you can certainly read dogs.

[plaques]

Mick I think your carving easily matches this painting. Vintage Pointer Dog Print 1931 by R. Ward

[micktoon]

Thanks for the comments again, sorry the photos did not turn out too good , I dont know why but will get better light next time. Plaques that painting is the double really, I am basing this carving on a project in a book, that is an English pointer like the one in the painting, they are slightly different to the German Wirehaired pointer in build and head etc so I am just adapting as I go. I think if I did another one I would go of the stance of Otto pointing in the middle photo in my posts above, he has that total concentration stance when game is just feet away and he knows it

Cheers Mick.

[micktoon]

A little bit more done to the dog carving but been on with the lathe so just tinkered and put in some basic muscle tones, its amazing how much better it looks as detail goes in.
I hope to get more done later in the week.





A couple of people that have seen the photos but not the carving seem to think its about 18 inches long , its actually only say 5-6 inches long and about 4 inches tall.
Cheers Mick.

[micktoon]

Hi All , I have finally got around to finishing the carving of the pointer dog, its ended up more of a German Shorthaired pointer rather than a Wirehaired like my dog but that was mainly down to time to try and get it finished . I am planning at some point on doing a bit larger carving of my dog with the rough coat.

From the point I left off, I just had to refine the shape and contours of the dog, you can not see that much in the photos probably but more or less every part was altered. I used carving tools , riffler and needle files dremel type tools and lots of careful sanding.





Once the main body was done it was time for the head and the worst part the eyes, this is the head ready for the eyes to be done.



First I drew the eyes on making sure they looked even and spaced in the right place each side, as you can see in the background I am using a tablet to view a photo for reference.



They came out ok but I needed smaller tools than I had really so I think if I did them again I would like to have done them not quite as deep set but overall they look pointer like and the face still has the right look about it.





This was the dog ready for final sanding but I was not happy with the base , the dog is standing in what should be long grass or heather, so I decided to re do the whole surface of the base so it looked more like flowing long grass, this is it before.





This is the new base with the grass like texture, I think it looks much better than the tooled finish it had before.



A mix of beeswax and pure turpentine was then scrubbed in with an old toothbrush, then the carving warmed with an electric heat gun so the wax went liquid and soaked into the wood, this is it before being heated.



This is the finished thing after buffing up, the first shots are in the shed and the last are in the house where I thought the light would be better but I am not sure it was really.













So job done in the end, I have lost track totally of how long its taken but I bet a full week say 40-50 hours ? The main problem with the woodcarving is there is no going back once you take wood off its gone , so you spend a lot of time deciding if its safe to remove more and which bits need to be reshaped, no doubt the longer you have been carving the faster you will be able to decide.

Cheers Mick.

[Stanley]

I'd give it house room Mick!

[plaques]

Lovely job. You can see the movement in its muscles. I'll bet its ears gave you a worrying time. A bit of pressure in the wrong direction and 'ping', hours of work gone down the tube. You never put a foot wrong!!

[Stanley]

[micktoon]

Thanks Stanley ,
Plaques , you are right about the ears , one false move and the tip of the ear would be off, it still will be if the thing takes a knock. The other weak point is the whole thing is only supported by the 3 legs which have grain running across them and are narrow , if it was dropped even from say 6 inches I think the legs would break . I will just have to be careful with it I think

Cheers Mick.