Second Viking shield FINISHED

Second Viking shield FINISHED

I am glad to say that I have finished my second Viking shield and it turned out quite good. Typical of me, that I am not 100% happy with it, but then again I never am happy with my work. But that's me in a nut shell I suppose.

So this is the finished Viking shield, that has been aged and ready to be hung on the wall.

It took me ages to paint the design and when it was almost finished I realised it looked more Roman than Viking. I then looked at a few books on my bookshelf and decided that a few Celtic designs from the Book of Kells would look good in the medallions and I am hoping that it looks more Viking now.

I used natural earth colours like burnt umber and yellow ochre as these colours would have been available a thousand years ago. The green colour was made up with yellow ochre and some copper oxide. Once I was reasonably happy with the painting, I then aged it and put a few coats of wax over it all. There is a slight brown colour to the wax which gives it a rough antique finish which is what I was looking for.

I then pined and nailed the boss on to the shield before putting the handle on the back. I decided to pad the boss with some of the jute webbing as I feel this gives it the look and feel of a real usable Viking shield. This shield was however made and designed as an art piece, but I am confident enough that it would work well as a re-enactment Viking shield, although I am sure it would get destroyed in battle.

Over all, I am happy with this project and am fighting the urge to build another few shields. I think my next project will be to finish a self portrait piece that I made when I was in college a few years ago. The portrait is called Evidence and although I got a distinction for it, I never got round to putting a few final finishing touches to the piece.

So until next time, thank you for reading my blog and please comment if you wish.

Blind Carving part 4. New sculptural wood carving from a wooden pallet. Finished

Blind Carving part 4.   Finished 

New sculptural wood carving made from a wooden pallet 

 

 

Finished with clear wax

 

 Brown wax makes it look less grey and warmer

 

 

The finished blind carving, hung on my kitchen wall.

This is the finished blind carving that I made from an old wooden pallet.

As you can see it turned out OK considering how bad the wood was. All the sections married up and they match well, which was a surprise as each piece was carved blind from each other.

You can also see how the wood reacted with the iron oxide vinegar mix and also how the brown wax made it look warmer.

Now its time to plan another project, so if anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to leave in the comments.