Elk in the Snow Inlay WIP

[JimSawyer]

My brother's B-day is fast approaching and I want to make him something to remember all of the good times up in the mountains hunting with his wife's family.
So I started this. I hope I can get it finished in time...

This first pic shows the start. I inlaid the basic shape of a mountain, (mystery wood), into a 12" X 16" piece of basswood.
Oct03234.JPG

Then aspen and dark lacewood details are added...
Oct05246.JPG

At the same time, I'm making tree inlays of poplar and aspen that will be put in later...
oct05263.jpg Oct05259.JPG

I add a piece of aspen to the bottom of the piece, and clamped it up. Here's the three inlays that will be put together...
Oct06348.JPG

Here's a close up of the mountain details...
Oct05270.JPG

And again, the three inlays so far to be put together...
Oct05254.JPG

Now the background, middleground, and foreground are brought together...
Oct27374.JPG

Now I begin work on the elk...
Nov12461.JPG Nov25478.JPG

Now the elk is in place...
DSCF0835.jpg

I still have to put in some basswood to show detail in the snow...
DSCF0837.jpg

And finally a close-up of the elk's face...
DSCF0832.jpg

I still have to figure out what I'm going to do to frame this....

Thanks for clicking in.....
As always, comments and critique are welcome....

[tony coleman]

looks great jim,
your brother will be realy pleased with this bday prez,

[Tango]

The master at work. That is awesome.

Now that you have me hooked on inlays.... One question
How did you bring the elk & the mountains togehter?
Donna

[JimSawyer]

Well that's a loaded question Donna....lol.
I briefly touch on the technique in issue #36 of SSW&C, but basically I drop bothe the banks of trees and the elk down after they're made. I call this a reverse inlay. We've been working with forward inlays so far.
I'll try to make it simple if I can. First look at the second picture. You can see the register marks I made on the back ground where the trees are going to go.
After I've made the snow in the trees, I drill on the outside, and cut in a clockwise direction, (the wood turning counter-clockwise), and drop the trees down. The elk is done the same way.
A lot of the pieces I've done over the years are made this way, with both forward and reverse inlays, used back and forth throughout the proccess.

Did this help???

[Forester21]

Looks like you are getting the hang of this inlay thing... LOL
It looks fantastic Jim!!
T

[evilbadger]

Awesome job as usual Jim.

[WoodCarverOH]

Jim, You are the Master!
Looking forward the finished project.

Are the lines defining the upper leg on body, inlaid or drawn in?

[JimSawyer]

Nothin' but wood....
Nope that's inlay.......

[Joel Kaufman]

Wow, you are quite the artist, truly amazing custom work. One of these days I'll try some inlay work myself.

[martzy]

I don't know. He might not like it. Why risk offending him. Send it to me instead. I'll find it a nice home.

[wood-n-things]

Preparation is definitely the key to success. You are doing a wonderful job.

[ubgoofy2003]

WOW, Jim, that is going to be fantastic. You are a master. I haven't tried wood inlay yet. I tried it with acrylic & really need practice. Just don't know what kind of frame would look nice with that, if any. How thick is the edge. Maybe you could make a frame in reverse. Drop the picture in from the front instead of the back. You would still have to cut for the picture to fit down into the frame though. Just a thought. You do great work, Jim. Thanks for showing us.

[Tango]

Well that's a loaded question Donna....lol.
I briefly touch on the technique in issue #36 of SSW&C, but basically I drop bothe the banks of trees and the elk down after they're made. I call this a reverse inlay. We've been working with forward inlays so far.
I'll try to make it simple if I can. First look at the second picture. You can see the register marks I made on the back ground where the trees are going to go.
After I've made the snow in the trees, I drill on the outside, and cut in a clockwise direction, (the wood turning counter-clockwise), and drop the trees down. The elk is done the same way.
A lot of the pieces I've done over the years are made this way, with both forward and reverse inlays, used back and forth throughout the proccess.

Did this help???

Thanks Jim for the explaination. I think I understand. I'm a long way from trying anything like your elk project, but you are giving me ideas. Now I just need some more saw time, so that I can play with more designs. I'm still having issues with the start/end of my cut, so I need to first work on that.
Thanks for sharing your projects. They are truely amazing.

[Spirithorse]

Fantastic job! Martzy beat me to the suggestion that you could send it to
me in case your brother doesn't appreciate the work you have done! LOL!
God Bless! Spirithorse

[Wood Dog]

Thanks for taking us along with your project, its going to be a super sweeeet gift.
One thing I can't seem to get settled in my brain is what difference does it make if you are dropping the inlay down or pushing it up. I know you scroll CW for one, and CWC for the other, but why does it matter? Your going to sand both sides anyway, or not??????