Here is a recent commision for a large Boston Carving Company style eagle. The customer wanted the banner longer than on the original eagle, and in order to do that I had to give it a different shape. The eagle is 64″ wide at the banner and 60″ wide at the wings. Here is a photo of it in bare wood, before any finishing.
Normally this eagle is about 6″ thick, but the customer was mounting it in his living room and did not want it sticking out that far so I had to redesign it to only 4″ thick. The other change I made was to add some more detail to the talon on the shield. I’m not sure if I like it.
Because the customer wanted the eagle heavily aged, I had to stain the wood before painting it. This assures that any sand throughs don’t show bright new wood. Here is a photo after staining.
Here is a photo of the paint before the lettering and the aging process.
The customer wanted the eagle heavily aged. It was more than I was comfortable with. I sent him photos at different stages and he kept telling me, “More.” He wanted most of the paint removed from the wings. Here is a photo of the finished eagle. I’m not happy with the finish, but the customer was.
Beautiful! Is tere a pattern available for this eagle, maybe in a smaller size? When you stained it, did you use a dye stain or a pigmented stain and what color was it?
EXCELENT
Vin, there are patterns available in three sizes on the patterns page. I used a water based dye. It was a medium brown.
John, I just bought the 36″. What is the size wood I need for this? 36″ 24″ 4″?
Josh, cut the pattern out and bring it with you to the lumber store with you. The 36″ eagle needs a piece of wood that is 36″ long and two inches thick. I’m not sure the width but measure the pattern. You can also add another 2″ piece on top of the head area to give the carving a deeper look.
Thanks John!
hello john, very nice work , you said smaller how small? and can you change the banner into a snake?
David, I can make it any size you want. Anything you can dream up I can make.