Creating a Carousel Figure
Follow our process of creating a carousel figure from patterns, sketches, body glue-up construction, carving, sanding, priming, and finish paint. The following galleries showcase the steps involved in bringing our carousel figures to life.
IN THE BEGINNING….
Ideas become laminated blocks of basswood.
Early on, large amounts of wood are taken off quickly using large gouges, mallets and an occasional power tool..
Soon, the character of each carousel figure begins to emerge.
Tools get smaller and smaller as we arrive at the fine details.
Eventually fine detail carving comes to an end and we are ready to prime!
And then we paint…
For durability we use oil based sign paint and enamel. It prefers to be laid down flat and does not have a lot of drying time like traditional oil paints do. This creates challenges when we try to create special surface textures such as the shark skin saddles and blended fin colors on the hippocampuses, or the saddle blanket and leather textures on many of the horses.
Tah Dah!!
