Monday, September 26, 2011

Two Giraffes






It's a great feeling to sell your work and also to make gifts of you work, but when your work ends up as part of someone's special occasion it's the best! My daughter's childhood friend, who I've seen grow up and become a lovely woman recently got married. She requested my daughter and I collaborate on the design and carving of a topper for her wedding cake. Her favorite animals are giraffes and she wanted two giraffes kissing to be the feature. I was a little nervous because she has been carefully planning her special day for several years and a lot of people I know were going to be part of the occasion. Add to that the fact that I have not carved a lot of animals and never giraffes. And I haven't carved anything that would be something to put atop a wedding cake. But that was her wish and we did our best to make her wish come true. Before it was all over, some cursing took place, but only in the privacy of my shop. I chose a piece of spruce I had lying around. I got this from a carving club meeting and, honestly, did not now what to use it for. I have an aversion to carving softwoods in general. I knew my daughter would insist on having it sanded smooth for painting - also not my style. You can see where the cursing will come from. But in the end it all worked out. My daughter did a wonderful job on the painting and her friend was more than happy. It was my gift to her. Better than a blender in my opinion!

3 comments:

The Art of Caitlyn Dailey said...

It was an awesome collaboration!

Carvin' Tom said...

I think it looks great. How big is it?

Carvin' Tom said...

About sanding softwoods smooth. To me the jury is still out on the correctness of the process, but 3 coats of sanding sealer with a 320 grit touch up after each coat will give you a "paintable" surface that is smooth as anyone could ever want.

It actually brings out the grain in basswood, believe it or not:-)