Celtic Tribal Oval

This is certainly the most ambitious carving I've done, and in my opinion, the best so far. It also happens to be part of a commission for the wonderful *Ellygator.

Material: Reconstituted Jet Stone. Copper Wire.

Method (carving): [You can check out some work in progress pics here:[link] ]
1: I made a printout of my original knotwork design, ( [link] ) as requested by Elly, and downsized it till it fit the slab of jet I had selected.
Next, I taped it down with clear packing tape.
After that, it was a matter of cutting the design out with an EXacto knife, making sure to scratch lines in the jet as I went. Then, a quick coat of black Sharpie over the design. This shows up surprisingly well on the jet, partially due to the Sharpie reflecting red under strong light.

2: On to the carving!
I use a Dremel tool for all of my carvings. (I have one of the little multi speed's right now, but I'm upgrading to the new XPR soon.) The first carving step is to define the lines a little, then it's just a matter of patience, and control, and knowing when to switch to a different size of burr. For the back and other sunken area's texture, I use several sizes of round burrs. Then, after the carving, everything gets sanded down. I use a fine grit sanding sponge for this kind of thing, as it produces smoother edges. And it's fast.
Next comes putting a little 3/4 in. buffing wheel on my Dremel tool, loaded with my own special buffing compound.
{if you want to make a compound that is easy to remove and cuts well on stone based materials, try fine tumbling media in beeswax. I use the fine and the polish. It comes right off of even light colored projects with a little hot water and soap.}
Finally, I made a couple dimples with holes in the center for attaching the chain.

Method (chain):
First, a word about hand hammered chain: People who make it are crazy. I love doing it.

This part is fairly simple, but easy to mess up. I took a spool of 16ga copper wire, a pair of round tip pliers, pair of wire dikes, a chasing hammer and a chunk of steel to shape the links and hammer them, then after assembling the chain, it was off to the sink and my container of liver of sulfur. This stuff makes a wonderful blackening agent as well as being useful for other types of patinas. Pair it up with a Brillo pad and you get the effect I use on my chains. Then a little epoxy, and the chain is very securely attached.

All in all, this was a fantastic project to work on, and I'll definitely be using this style of carving again.

If you would like something similar, just note my main account, =LadyBlacksword, for a quote.

Carving Design, Original Knotwork and Photographs are Copyright Lindsay Legler 2007/2008. No reproduction without written permission.