[Woodcarver] new carving photos

[Alex Bisso]

I posted some photos of a Mountain Man bust that I recently carved.  With
the exception of the necklace details and some other minor refinements the
carving was done in a class with Jeff Phares at the Western and Wildlife
carving retreat in Bulah, WY a short time back.  The basswood was very light
so once home I used the finishing technique taught by Jeff at the class.
For the basswood, this began with flooding the wood with an analine dye
(caramel).  After this was dried, it got a couple of coats of diluted (with
mineral spirits to linseed oil consistency) Bartley gel varnish and then the
color was added with artists oil paints using the diluted gel varnish
mixture as a medium for the paints and working while the varnish carving was
still wet.  I was very please with the results.  You can view the photos at
my picturetrail site at:
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=583547&uid=467059

Alex