DALL SHEEP 2 - PHASE 2

September 28, 1998

Carving sheep horn is always a challenge. The first challenge is to free the forms for carving, which was accomplished this phase.

This process is always difficult in sheep horn because of the tremendous internal, torque-like forces acting within the horn. Saws and bits bind and break easily. I tried a new technique this time where I treated the front and back of the horn separately. After tracing the outline of the front sheep, I drilled pilot holes around them and then used a small straight burr to grind through the horn in a "join the dots" fashion. I lost two drill bits in the process, but was successfull at liberating the sections of horn, which will not be used, without waste. The use of a saw was avoided completely. I then repeated the process on the rear half of the horn for the background sheep. These sheep appear smaller to accentuate the distance from the viewer,

I can now begin the process of refining the outlines and cleaning up the rough surfaces.

Till next time,

Shane

Copyright © 1997 - 2006Shane Wilson