Carving the Blue Heron

There is a lady by the name of Janet Jones, from Lakeland, who sells used books at local flea markets, I had previously purchased several excellent books from her that I use for reference when I carve different birds. Those books also contained a few photos of Blue Herons, but again, they were not just what I needed. One day, while I was at the flea market looking through her books, I told Janet what I had in mind for this project, and told her if she ever found a book on Blue Herons, I wanted it, regardless of price. About three weeks later, when I dropped by to visit her again, she told me she thought she had found the book I was looking for down in Ft. Myers, Florida. I wasn’t a large book, but it was devoted almost exclusively to excellent photos of Blue Herons, from all angles, along with a very complete and informative text. I finally “Struck the Jackpot!” For only seven dollars, I came home from the flea market feeling good about the carving project, because now I had a book that would help me design, and complete this project. I decided to carve the Blue Heron in the mating phase and plumage, because it is more colorful, and has the plume protruding from the front of its breast. The legs have a brick color that is not present at any other time of the year. This coloration is also faintly noticeable on the neck of the carving. At other times of the year the Blue Heron has a deeper gray color, and the breast plume is absent; so in my opinion, the bird isn’t nearly as pretty.

I have all sorts of power tools to help with my wood carving, but I had much rather take my time by using hand tools, such as carving knives, and wood chisels, and mallet, when I do the work. It may take longer, but I enjoy carving that way. There was a lot of wood to be removed from the large body blank, and it took me most of the winter, down in Florida, to rough out the body. When it came time for me to go back to our cottage in Maine, I packed the roughed out parts of the Blue Heron, along with the book, into a box, and brought them home with us. I didn’t do any work on the carving during that summer, but late in the fall, I designed a completely new neck and head, using the Blue Heron book as a guide. The original plan had a neck that was very short. My own designed plans had a longer neck, placed in a slightly different location on the body. The first head was too large, with a crest made of wood. This was not suitable for my purposes, so in late October, I drew my plans for the new neck and head. The new neck and head are made of three pieces; in order to make the grain of the wood run in the right direction. Doing this makes the neck much stronger than trying to use a crossed grain piece of wood. Another reason for doing this is the fact that it is very hard to carve across the grain. I used a band saw to cut the two curved pieces for the neck, and following this, I sawed out the head. I brought the roughed out body of the heron, along with the pieces of the neck, and head, back to Florida in late November, of 2000.

I worked diligently throughout the winter (when I wasn’t going to flea markets, or chasing yard sales).
After I got the body shaped to my satisfaction I drew out the patterns of the feathers onto the body; then completed carving the two neck pieces and the head. Those three pieces are held in place with a hardwood dowel inserted between each section. A hole, the size of the dowel, was drilled into each piece to be connected. These neck pieces were not glued in place until I was satisfied that they matched as near perfect as I could carve them. I also wanted to be able to remove the neck, so that it would not interfere when I carved the wings, legs, and feathers. I brought the carving back home to Maine, for the second time in April of 2001.

Carving the feather patterns on the body of the heron was very tedious. I had to draw in every single detail of each feather, which then had to be carved in the right sequence. This required lots of planning, and forethought, because there was no room for errors; and very little opportunity to correct mistakes, with such a detailed carving. Consequently, I spent many hours thinking about what had to be done before I ever attempted
to start the actual carving. I spent untold hours, both during the days, and while laying in bed at night, planning my next moves. The most difficult part of the carving were the long feathers that flow down the back, and over the sides of the heron. Sometimes I was able to work only an hour or so before I would set the work aside, and take a break. The work had to be perfect, and one mistake would ruin hours and hours of work. The front of the neck, and breast, also have some intricate carving. When I was taking carving lessons from “Mike” Murphy, he emphasized the fact that the placement of the eyes on a bird are very critical. I think I did quite well on this carving, in this respect, because no matter from what angle you view this Blue Heron, the eyes stare right back at you.

Several people have asked: “How are you able to carve in such detail?” The answer is simple: “No matter what you are carving, you simply leave what you want in your carving, and whittle the rest away.” That statement may be overly simplified, but basically, it is exactly what needs to be done. I hate to even think about hours of time I spent trying to figure out what I wanted to use for the plumage feathers, that protrude from the front of the breast. I asked many other wood carvers, and even had broom straw sent to me from Tennessee. I brought home long pine needles, that I gathered in Florida. I found none of these materials were satisfactory, so in the end I took the advice of my carving instructor; Arthur “Mike” Murphy, and used narrow strips of aluminum
sheeting, that were cut from stock that I bought from the Advertiser-Democrat weekly newspaper, in Norway, Maine. The sheets of aluminum were previously used for printing their paper, so they were a recycled product.

The legs posed another set of problems, because of the height and weight of the carving. I needed more than just wooden legs for support. I finally made a pattern for the legs from coat hanger wire, and used solder to attach the individual toes in the correct position of both legs. With this part completed, I spoke to Philip Edmunds, of West Paris, who happens to be an excellent welder. When I asked Phil if he would weld me up some Blue Heron legs for a carving I was doing for my daughter, he gave me a puzzled look. Then he said:
“In all the years I have been in business, no one has ever requested anything like birds legs”. Then I explained I had made a pattern from coat hanger wire , and would come down to his shop to be present, in order to advise him on my exact needs. He agreed to try it, and we set a time to do the work. Phil used three-sixteenth steel rods for the legs and toes. He followed the pattern, which I had made, very closely, and did an excellent job of welding both the legs and toes into the correct angles and shapes.

I took the nearly completed legs home, where I finalized the job by fitting the toes to a fairly flat piece of shell rock that I purchased in Florida. I had to heat each individual toe until it was red hot, then place it on the shell rock, and by using my pliers, bend them individually until each toe was fitted in place. With this done, I used a grinder to sharpen the tip ends of the toes to make them look like birds toe nails. ( I want to mention that each steel rod extends two and a half inches below the toes, in order to lock the bird and feet to the base.) I drilled holes six inches long into the body of the heron, at the correct angles to hold each respective leg. Then I cut
pieces of basswood long enough to fit the whole length of each leg. I sawed a groove into the back side of each piece of basswood, then fitted them over the steel rods. To hold the basswood to the steel, I used five minute, two part epoxy. I filled in the sawed out groove with two part automotive epoxy, that is made to harden in about twenty minutes. I also used the same type of epoxy to shape the knee joints, as well as where the upper legs joined the carved portions of the upper thighs, near the body of the heron.. I finished shaping both legs to make sure they had the right size and tapers; then carved the necessary designs onto them. The toes were covered with two part plumbers epoxy, which is very similar to auto epoxy. I did each toe individually, which meant I had twenty minutes to apply the mixed epoxy around each toe, and get it shaped, before it hardened.

By now things were beginning to come into shape, and the carving was looking more like a Blue Heron. I had some nice pieces of rock maple hardwood, that I purchased at Andover Wood Products. May main concern, regarding the base, was having sufficient weight to offset the possibility of the carving being tipped over by someone who might touch, or accidentally hit it. The heron is thirty inches high, including the base, so again, I thought long and hard before I came up with the solution to the problem. I called up my son, Ron, in Sebec, Maine, and asked him if he had any old lead, because I wanted to weight the base for the Blue Heron carving. He said he thought he had some “kicking around someplace”. Ron and I could both be classified as “Pack Rats”, in that we both hate to throw anything away if we think we might have a use for it, at some point in time. In this case, it turned out Ron found some old lead sink traps, that he scrounged from the town dump. We retrieved them from alongside a stonewall on his farm, where they had been laying for seven years! I took several pounds of lead home with me. After that I found an old axe, and chopped the lead into smaller pieces. I had already made the base for the carving with two pieces of rock maple, cut and finished to the same size. I hollowed out the bottom piece of the base, leaving enough wood around the outer perimeter to enable the two pieces to be glued together. With this done, I got out my propane stove and melted the lead until it was molten; then I poured it into the lower base. As you may have guessed, the molten lead caused the wood to become smoking hot, and it smoked quite a bit, but soon the lead cooled sufficiently to harden. After the lead hardened and cooled I glued the two pieces of the hardwood base together and clamped them securely to hold them in place until the glue cured. The completed base now weighed about eight pounds, and best of all, the lead is completely hidden. Now all I had to do was to drill holes down through the shell rock, then into the rock maple, and into the hardened lead, in order to accommodate the the three sixteenth steel rods that extended two and a half inches below the heron’ s feet. The rods were installed into the holes and checked carefully to be sure they were a perfect fit, but were not glued in place. I would need to wait until the very last thing before doing that, so that I could remove the heron from the base when it came time to do the painting.

I finished detailing the feathers by using an electric burning needle, and burned in the barbules of each feather. I made the two crest feathers by cutting them off from a roll of brass stock that I happened to find on one of the shelves of my workshop. I used this because it is stronger than aluminum, and also will not bend as easily, and of course, will not rust. I shaped each piece with tin snips, then drilled holes in the back of the head, and inserted them, and secured them with five minute epoxy. The plumage breast feathers took longer to complete, mainly because there are so many of them. Again, I cut them into narrow strips with tin snips. I used Gesso white primer acrylic paint and painted each piece before installing then in place on the bird. To install them, I drilled each individual hole into the body and inserted the pieces of aluminum after dipping each individual butt end into five minute epoxy, before inserting it into the drilled hole. Now I glued the first neck piece to the body. Then I glued the second neck piece, making sure it was turned at a slight angle, to make it appear more natural. .I finally glued the head into position, again turning the head slightly, making sure the joints were a close fit, to make them as inconspicuous as possible.

It was time to complete the base by adhering the shell rock to the rock maple base. I used five minute epoxy to do this, and made sure the hole for the feet were aligned properly. After the epoxy hardened I inserted
the feet onto the base and used a combination of Dunham’s Wood Putty and water, mixed with hardwood sawdust, as a filler to build up underneath the edges of the shell rock. I built up the top of the base to a height of about one quarter inch, to resemble mud. In the front section I used the same combination of ingredients, except I left the surface quite level. Before this dried I inserted pieces of cattail fronds on two opposite corners.
I later poured clear two part epoxy over the top half of the front top of the base to make it appear the heron was near water. To protect furniture, I glued green felt to the bottom of the base, and installed a short leg on each corner of the base.

Now began the process of painting the carving, as well as the base. I removed the bird from the base and placed clear plastic over the top of the base. Then I pierced holes in the plastic, where the legs fitted into the base; then inserted the feet back into the holes in the base. This way the plastic would protect the base from any paint drippings while I painted the heron. For a primer I used white Gesso acrylic base paint, thinned with water to a consistency that was thin enough so as not to interfere with the details of the carving. The trick in painting is to use very thin paint, much like dishwater, applying several coats to build up a suitable coating of the paint. Acrylic paint dries fast, and I sped up the process by using a small hair drier to blow warm air over the wet paint. In this way the paint dries in a minute or so, and the painting process can be repeated frequently.

By this time it was mid-September, of 2001, and my goal was to present the carving to Natalie at our annual “Thanks-mas” party family gathering, held each November, before Cynthia and I head down to Florida for the winter. The date of that year’s gathering was November 10th, so time was of the essence. I found that I had left all my paint brushes and acrylic paints in Florida. This meant I had to purchase the necessary supplies, in order to complete the painting of the Blue Heron. I had a book that informed me of the colors of Acrylic paint
required for the heron, so I picked up what I needed and began the final painting. I have learned that you can read all sorts of “how-to” instructions, and still not get exactly what you want for suitable colors for a carving. I always end up mixing several colors together until I get the blended shades that I feel are right for my purposes.. None of us see colors in the same light, and I would bet “dollars to doughnuts” that if ten people painted the same type of bird, they would end up with ten birds with different colorations. I have seen this happen on several occasions, while taking wood carving classes. This is exactly the way it should be, because as artistic individuals, we want our work to be our own distinctive styles. I have always felt that if I am satisfied with my carvings, than that is all that really matters.

I completed the painting of the Blue Heron about two weeks before our “Thanks-mas” ( i.e.: Thanksgiving and Christmas) party. With the painting completed, I finalized the project by gluing the legs to the base with five minute epoxy. The weight of the leaded base lowered the center of gravity, so it would take a hard blow to tip the carving over. Best of all, no one realizes the base is weighted, until trying to pick it up. Phil Edmunds asked me if it would be possible for him to see the completed carving? One day I took it to his home in West Paris, and his wife told me he was down to the town’s well house. I drove down there and showed the finished carving to Phil. When he looked at the Blue Heron, he exclaimed: ” Wow, I didn’t know you could do that kind of work”. I felt complimented, and was pleased that his work helped to make the carving project turn out as well as it did. Two years ago I was invited to demonstrate wood carving, and show some of my carvings, in the Forestry building, at Fryeburg Fair, in Maine. I borrowed the Blue Heron carving from Natalie. To protect the carving she had a custom built Lexan case made to go over it. Many people were able to view it, and all admired my work, so I was very pleased. Of course doing the carving over such a long, (two year) period, made it difficult to accurately determine the total time required for the project. My best “Guesstimate” is well over two hundred hours. Wood carving is a talent that can be learned to some degree, by receiving instructions of the unlimited techniques involved. I also believe a big part of this ability is God given, and I feel blessed the good Lord provided me with some of this craftsmanship that provides me with many hours of enjoyment, satisfaction, and gratification.

I wanted this project to be a complete surprise to Natalie, so those who knew about the carving were all
informed not to “spill the beans” so to speak. Everyone did a remarkable job of keeping our “secret”. On the day of our “Thanks-mas” party on November 10, 2001, Natalie received her own full sized Blue Heron.
When the carving was unveiled, her eyes lit up, and her mouth popped open in amazement! The expression on her face, and the joyous response, made it all worthwhile to me.