burton.c

Starting to think about what to carve

So now its time to get serious. Thinking about what to carve is a combination of the ideas I have in my head that have been mulling around and developing for a while. Today the one which is surfacing is a development of a wave form combined with a Mobius strip. This type of form enhances the wood with lovely areas of light and shade and a sense of swirling movement. I am thinking about whether to carve it in lime and paint some of the faces to create contrast, or to do it in spalted wood and let the grain come through.

I will have a look at some of the pieces of wood from my wood store!!

Then I can start to develop my initial concept in a more real way………

Starting a New Year in Carving 2023

My workbench is back in my workshop and my chisels are sharpened ready for a new year of carving. I am so excited. I always take a break over Christmas and New Year and come back with loads of new ideas for things to carve. The next few posts will be short and look at the process of carving from start to finish.

Preparing for an exhibition

Exhibiting my work is an exciting part of producing and selling it. It gives me the chance to chat to people who are genuinely interested in art and sculpture about what inspires my work and how it is produced.

The first stage is to choose the type of event and the location that will be most suitable to showcase your work introduce not to the public. This can be anything from craft fairs, arts fairs, open studio tours, exhibitions, online events or art shops. This decision matters. Different people will visit each of these venues and they will have different expectations of the type of work they wish to see and perhaps buy. I have found open studio tours and art fairs to suit my work better than craft fairs. I also like showing my work in shops and at exhibitions. Generally I enjoy events where I can meet and chat to the public.

Once the decision is made and events identified I try to get onto the mailing list so that I am notified when the event is inviting applications. This is often months in before the event. Application forms vary greatly, but generally ask for photographs of work, dimensions, prices and information about the artist and their work. I am nearly always developing and making new pieces and try to have new work available for exhibition so that people always have something they have not seen before.

If accepted I always spend sometime updating my website with event information, new works and images. My next exhibition is with the Tate Aisle Gallery at Birkenhead Park Visitors Center 6th-20th August 2022.

As the event approaches it will advertise itself, but I always share information on Facebook, distribute flyers and let as many people as I can know about the event. The events I attend are usually exhibiting the work of a number of artists, so it benefits everyone if it is well publicised.

During the last couple of days before the event I check that all my work is ready to exhibit, labelled, priced and packed ready to go. I then deliver it and either set up or oversee the display of my work. If there is an event launch I make every effort to attend because it is fun, a chance to chat to other artists and to the public.

At some events you need to be present throughout, at others you may be asked to be there a couple of times to greet and chat to visitors. Sometimes there is an opportunity to run a workshop or give a presentation. These a great opportunities as people love to have a go and love to see how work is produced. This can lead to commissions and to people asking for tuition in my workshop at a later date.

At the end of course unsold work needs to be collected and safely taken home. Generally I find the experience very positive and really enjoy being involved as fully as possible.

Wirral Open Studio Tour 2022

Wirral Open Studio Tour is on 11-12th June 10am-5pm this year. Artists from across the Wirral will open their studios to anyone who is interested and wants to drop in and chat about how they make their art, some artists may be at work in their studios so that you can watch them work. Their work will be on display so that you can view it and get an insider explanation of what the work means to the artist. Many artists will have works for sale, and whilst there is no pressure to buy it is an opportunity if you are after a special and unique piece of art.

I have carved two new pieces especially for Wirral Open Studio Tour which are ready for their first viewing along with other recent pieces.

I experimented with ‘Orca’s Tail’ carved in lime and mounted on slate. The whale traditionally symbolises wisdom, knowledge and strength. It has been a lovely piece to carve and I have experimented with introducing colour, something I will continue with in the future.

I have just completed carving ‘Ocean’s Embrace’ in lime wood. It is a variation on a Mobius strip which symbolises eternity and love. It is carved as a wave form and I imagined it hugging a wild swimmer or a surfer. Light and shade flow through the pierced areas giving it a sense of rhythm. Another piece about the sea and its sense of freedom!

Coming Out of Lockdown

For me carving during lockdown was a self indulgent experience which gave me plenty of time to develop ideas and to carve new pieces. What more could I have wished for! however as the second year of intermittent periods of lockdown passed something changed. The urge to be creative left me! No contact with people, no visiting galleries, no travel, no time with other carvers, no inspiration! And so for the first part of 2021 I dried up. However things changed as lockdown ended. My husband and I booked a trip to Cumbria and a house for 10 people .We went for a weeks walking with my sons, their partners, my sisters and my niece. We has a fantastic week of walking, talking, laughing, eating, drinking. An oasis of love after a drought.

I came home ready to carve and started on a piece of spalted chestnut, a pale delicate coloured wood with dark veins of salting running through it. I had an idea for an abstract piece that would show off the natural grain and allow me to express feelings about the light being at the end of the tunnel. The form I settled on was that of a partial mobius strip almost spinning like a galaxy opening up. It is called ‘New Beginning”. It just felt right at this time.

So many people had not spent time together and had missed important family time but were now able to see those people. I wanted to capture something of the nature of the love that and got many of us through lockdown. I carved ‘Eternal Love’ out of a piece of olive wood. The form is based on a Mobius strip which symbolises eternity. I worked hard on the finish to create a silky smooth tactile finish.

Then just for fun I carved a whale tail, a project I had been thinking about for a while. I stained it with Van Dyke crystals before finishing it with Danish oil and wax.

These were finished in time for Wirral Open Studio Tour, my first exhibition in two years. A lovely event. I opened my workshop and garden and filled them with woodcarvings. It was lovely to chat to the visitors, just fantastic. Chatting to people about carving, sharpening, types of wood and opportunities to learn how to carve. I came out of it thinking about what to carve next: finish my gargoyle, finish my Gollum portrait, develop some more abstract ideas?? Definitely a shopping trip to replenish my depleted wood stores.

Carving in Lockdown

Carving really helped me during lockdown. Suddenly I went from a busy schedule of carving, jewellery making and family life to all the restrictions of the covid lockdowns. In March 2020 I got back from an extended holiday feeling as though I made it back to the UK by the skin of my teeth. The coronavirus pandemic was causing increasing concern around the world. I got home, bought in a big food shop, bought a turbo trainer for my bike, went to the last pre covid meeting of professional woodcarvers at Michael Painters studio. We chatted about what was to come and how uncertain everything felt.

I tried to buy kiln dried lime from two of my normal suppliers but they were having problems with their supplies, but after a short delay I was able to procure the much needed wood.

By 23 March 2020 the first covid lockdown started! Aprils weather was superb, sunny and warm, just a fabulous spring. Events were all cancelled, shops were closed. There was no Wirral Open Studio Tour or Liverpool Summer Art Market. So I filled my time with my allotment, exercise and wood carving.

During the first lockdown I had carvings to finish and new ones to begin. I was half way through the carving of Female torso which I had been working on at Michael Painter’s studio. I had made a maquette out of plastercine, and so could complete the piece from it.

I was also half way through an Elven face which I had been working on at the professionals group. The aim was to free up my carving style and enjoy carving a humanoid face without being a slave to trying to obtain a perfect human face. My plastercine maquette was useful to help me obtain the correct proportions, depth to the features and anatomically correct details such as eyelids, lips and facial musculature. I am always working to improve gaining facial expression as I want it. The carved piece is as yet incomplete.

The time came and went for Wirral Open Studio Tour and I submitted some pieces for their on line exhibition. During the early weeks of lockdown I had been experimenting with the idea of making some more functional pieces, and had made a number of bowls inspired by natural forms.

The sun continued to shine and I continued to carve a small acorn pendant that a friend had asked me to do and a smaller version of my Eagle’s Head for another friend. Both are sill packed away in storage boxes awaiting the time that I can see my friends again.

As the summer progressed I returned to a piece that I had started over a year earlier – the head of a staffie. I had completed the obligatory plastercine maquette. I started to carve the staff in a piece of hawthorn with a beautiful grain, but such a hard wood. Never again!!

Whilst the weather held I continued with a series of semi human faces which I had been doing just to entertain myself and did a new “Tree Spirit” face.

As the summer drew in I left carving out in the garden to return to my studio.I completed male and female torsos in deep relief carvings to consolidate my proficiency in carving the human body. Doing carvings of the male and female forms together made me concentrate not he differences between anatomies and the differences in proportions, musculature and form. I used photographs of dancers as source material because they are well proportioned and the musculature is clear.

As we moved into the second lockdown I was asked to make three “Spiral on a Stone Plinth” for a friend who really likes the symbolism of the spiral representing our journey through life and our personal growth. The symbolism seemed poignant in these covid times, they were to be gifts for people who had seen much during the pandemic.

It made me think about doing some wood carving in response to the pandemic and this led to a “Tree of Life” carving and a Mobius Strip carving called “Eternal Love”. I was thinking about our need for strength, resilience, and new beginnings.

More recently I have returned to a recurrent theme of the female figure and have carved a female torso in the round, a younger woman than the first one. Again `I started with a plastercine maquette and created a slimmer form and started to play with the form, cutting away and changing the shape of part of the limbs.

Over the last year or two I have been improving my skills with regards to carving faces, and so I challenged myself to carve a portrait of the character Gollum from Lord of the Rings. As always I started with a plastercine maquette and spent a few days correcting depth of the eye sockets, the shape and size of the eyes, the cheeks and the expression created by the shape of the mouth, facial muscles and eyes. Once this was complete I started to carve a block of lime, gradually creating the nose by dropping back the cheeks, forming the eye sockets and then forming the mouth and chin. My work always goes through various stages. Initially I block out the overall form, and then start to form the features and think “how will this ever look like Gollum?”, then I re-carve the cheeks and jaw line and think “this is rubbish!” Further adjustments are made and the nose shape established, “maybe it looks a bit like Gollum.” Then I worked on the bulging eyes expressing fear and excitement and finalised the nose shape, “Um, getting closer.” Next the mouth was roughed in, wide and grinning uncertainly, “can I capture this expression?” Still a way to go!!

I have just been asked to carve another heart bowl, the third lockdown looks as though it will come to an end soon. Perhaps the end is insight and this will close the circle on what has been the strangest year I have ever known. How would I have ever survived it without carving to occupy my hands and to keep my mind busy.

Making Maquettes

A maquette is a scale model made as an initial draft to help planning before starting a sculpture. It is used to help to visualise the overall form, plan the proportions and add details. It can be a rough model or it can be actual size or a scale model of the final piece. It is best not to scale up or down too much if it is being used to create exact measurements as it can lead to inaccuracies (perhaps no more than X2).

When I first started to learn about woodcarving I was encouraged to use maquette, but in my enthusiasm to carve I did not make the time to make maquette and just got on with my carving using images in my head, my drawings or photographs as source material. This I think was most significant beginners mistakes I made in my early carving days.

These days I always make maquette for complex or unfamiliar forms. They are always worth the time and effort and make carving easier, faster and more accurate. There are many ways of making maquette. I make mine from plastercine supported on a wooden base. The plastercine can be formed and reformed repeatedly improving the proportions and finalising the relationship between components and the details. As plastercine can be both added and removed (unlike wood carving) it can be used to refine and develop ideas and as the basis of discussion with friends, tutors, or those placing a commission with you. Maquettes are important in commissioned pieces to help to finalise the the form with a client, aid clear communication and ensure that the client is happy with the final sculpture. You also get to keep the maquette when a sculpture goes to its final home as a unique record of the piece. I am thinking about doing some maquettes in clay to create a more permanent record.

Making a maquette

To make a maquette I start by mounting a piece of dowling onto a wooden block. The size of the block and dowling depend on the size of the maquette that I am making. In this example I used 10mm diameter dowling. The length of the doweling depends on the height of the maquette. I then drilled a 10mm hole into a left over piece of wood with dimensions 7cmX 5cmX 5cm. It just needs to be big enough to make the maquette stable.

Then I glued the Dowling in place with wood glue and left it to dry overnight.

I then stuck drawing pins into the dowling to make it easy to apply the plastercine securely so that it will not twist around as I make the maquette.

Before starting to model with the plastercine I usually warm it overnight in the airing cupboard or in hot water (not in the microwave, this can go wrong!), knead it and apply it to the dowling post. Think about the dimensions of the the final piece and of the maquette and add enough plactercine to create the overall shape.

You can then start to model it with clay / plastercine modelling tools, kitchen utensils or modelling tools you have made yourself.

It is well worth taking your time with the modelling, refining and improving it until you are satisfied that it is right. I often create a maquette starting from a photograph or drawing and then make it over several days, building and rebuilding it. I measure the dimensions to make sure that they are correct and then model the details. The advantage of working over several days is that you can take long breaks and then return with a fresh eye and then adjust the maquette. It is also worth looking at it from different angles – front, sides, above etc. so that you have all around accuracy. It is surprising how direct things can look from different angles. A face can look right when viewed from straight on, but the nose may not be long enough when viewed from the side. You should also think about where the final piece will be displayed and viewed from as this changes the perspective. Many human figure sculptures in churches as mounted high on the walls and will be viewed from below. Consequently the feet should be carved a bit smaller and the face a little larger than normal to talk account of the effect of distance.

As a last thought, always work in good light, daylight is best for this kind of work.

Scaling Up and Down

If your maquette is the same size as the final sculpture (1:1) then transferring the dimensions onto a piece of wood is very simple. However maquette are often smaller than the final woodcarving and so scaling up is necessary. There are many ways of doing this. I frequently take a simple mathematical approach. For example, if my maquette is 2/3 of the size of the final sculpture then I will need to increase all dimensions e.g. maquette height 6cm : final woodcarving height 9cm, maquette width 4cm: final woodcarving width 6cm. The positions of all the features will be scaled in the same way. To calculate these you can take the final woodcarving height and divide by the maquette height to gain the scale i.e. 9/6=1.5 The scale is 1:1.5 Each dimension needs to be increased by multiplying by 1.5.

This principle can be applied to any scaling e.g. if the maquette height is 9.4cm and you want the final woodcarving height to be 15.2cm then the scale is 15.2/9.4=1.6, and so all dimensions need to be increased by multiplying by 1.6

The same idea can be applied to scaling down.

There are other ways of scaling up and down. I sometimes use a printer to increase or decrease the size of images used for relief carving. Be careful with images for carving in the round as dimensions may the distorted.

Carving the Human Face

Carving the human face is a very specific area of carving. I have recorded the main steps and some of my reflections as I was learning. I have been fortunate enough to be working with Master Carver Michael Painter to develop my skills in this area.

I started by carving half faces (left or right side of the face) under his guidance. This allowed me to start to understand the profile of the face, the relative proportions of the face and how to carve the eye, nose and mouth. I then went on to carving complete male and female faces as the feature are significantly different.

There has been much written on the proportions of the face and it is worth reading up on this to start to appreciate some of the basic rules. The eyes are about half way down the face. The nose is about half way between the eyes and bottom of the face. The area below the nose can be divided into three and the second line is where the lips part, the third line is the top of the chin.

For a half face I started by drawing the profile onto the side of the wood. The profile of the face can then be cut with a band saw or roughed out, keeping the point of the nose as the high point, and dropping the forehead, cheeks and mouth areas.

The forehead can be rounded to form the top of the head, and the cheeks taken down and sculpted back towards the jaw. The cheeks lowered and the eye socket formed. The area to the side of the eyes can be cut away towards the temple, the face does this to allow for peripheral vision.

The nose will have started to form and can be shaped so that is is like a triangle , the tip is the high point and it gets lower towards the bridge of the nose. The bridge of the nose can be formed carving it lower than the brow area. Either side of the nose is dropped away (always further than you think). The nose is half on and half off the face, and when looked at from below forms a 90 degree angle with the rest of the face, as shown on the third diagram below. The cheeks must have been dropped away low enough so the nose protrudes appropriately.

The cheeks and eye socket adjusted and further defined. Getting the eyes right is really important as they are a major focal feature of the face. The eye socket can be carved with a gouge. It is larger than the eye and the eye ball can be shaped and rounded like the front of a golf ball with visible curvature from side to side, and less curvature from top to bottom as this dimension of the eye is smaller so the curvature is less visible. The face is about 5 eyes wide at this point, and the two eyes are about an eye apart. Checking for symmetry on each side is essential, as is ensuring the depth, size and shapes of the eyes are the same. Mark the centre front of the eyeball so that the eye is looking ahead and the high point of both eyes is symmetrical.

The upper part of the eye leading up to the brow can be shaped. Women have higher, more arched, lighter brows than men.

The eyelids can now be carved, draw in the position of the eyelids ensuring symmetry. The angle of the eye changes with the expression on the face. Eyes are angled slightly upward on a smiling face. Eyes are not simple almond shapes. the highest point of the upper eyelid is not in the middle of the eyelid, it is a little towards the nose. The lower eyelid is not just a regular curve, it has an upward curve near the nose and a downward curve towards the outer edge of the eye so the chisel needs to be turned upside down to get the inner curve of the lower eyelid.

Once you are sure that the eyes are correct and symmetrical on each side of the face cut the inside line with a small flute to get the shape and recheck the size, shape and symmetry. Now use a bullnose gouge with a curve that matches the curve of the eyelid to cut the lines sharply. Use the same chisel to slice into the cuts and reduce the level of the eyeball. The lower eyelid tucks under the upper lid on the outer side of the eye so the lower lid needs to be cut away a little at the outer edge.

The iris can be carved by carefully cutting its outline, keeping it centred on the cross drawn on the highest point. the level of the iris can then be lowered slightly, maintaining the rounded shape of the eyeball. Remember the iris is not a complete round as the upper part is hidden under the eyelid. Finally redefine the socket above the eye with small flute to form the crease of the upper eyelid and use a small flute to carve below, close to the eyelid to define the eyelash area. Smooth into the face gently.

Stop carving and have a good look at your work at regular intervals to check for symmetry from every angle and check and the relative heights of the different features of the face.

Now refine the shape of the nose, use a chisel to cut in the groove between the nose and the edge of the mouth on both sides. These drop away below the level of the cheeks, and start by forming the crease of the nostrils. The nose has bone and cartilage along the bridge and therefore is wider at this point and so is not quite straight (as on the first nose drawing earlier in this blog). The nose also tapers towards the bridge, and the bridge is lower than the rest of the length of the nose. Once shaped the length of the nose can be blended into the side of the nose and then the cheeks. The nose tapers just below the tip before the columella (flesh between the nostrils) starts. The nasal wings are angles back from the columella. I would leave carving the hollowed out nostrils until the end incase further adjustments are necessary. A small flute can be used to extend the crease of the nostrils around the back of the nasal wings a bit. Keep checking for symmetry throughout.

Make sure that the mouth level has been dropped enough and is rounded like a half barrel to form the profile of the mouth area (think Homer Simpson). Draw in the outline of the lips. In men the outer edge of the lips are in line with the pupils, in women the lips are slightly narrower and the lips are fuller (although this changes with age). Boldly cut the philtrum (the furrow below the nose) as this helps to form the shape of the top off the lips.

Cut in the central line of the lips quite deeply using a bullnose chisel with the right curve, a number 3 is about right. To create a smile curve the mouth up at the outer edges, to frown down a little. Then use the chisel to curve the upper lip into this cut. Cut away the lower outer area of the lip with a large flute and cut away below the lower lip and shape the chin. Carve the curve or the lower lip. The lips are not exactly smooth, so cut grooves into the lips were I have shaded on the diagram and then blend into the lips. Look at your work from below the chin to check the curvature of the mouth and chin. Redefine the edges of the mouth if necessary.

Details can be added, such as the the dimple when a face smiles, the eyebrows, the nostrils and the hollow at the temples. A C shaped groove either side of the mouth and then blended helps to create the smile muscles around the mouth. A groove being and under the chin can be added to indicate the transition from the chin to the lower cheek. These details start to make the face more cohesive and increase the reality.

Your work can be finished with a more refined chisel finish or using scrapers to create a really smooth finish, this is a matter of personal preference. Two coats of half and half Danish oil and turpentine will protect the wood and enhance the grain. Leave to dry after each coat for 2-3 days. Applying wax over the dried oil created a lovely lustre and tactile finish.

I will be blogging about carving ears and hair in the near future.

Influences

My love of sculpture started when I was 18 and studying for my A-level in Art. As part of this I did a project on a sculptor called Ted Roocroft who was a pig farmer turned sculptor. He produced beautiful concrete sheep finished with pebbles, and specialised in woodcarving. Pieces like “War and Peace’ left me awestruck. It seemed like another world, one that was far beyond me, as I had no tools, no experience of sculpture and could not see how I could gain the skills.

Many years later an opportunity came my way to do a night school in woodcarving with Wirral woodcarver and sculptor John White. I have been carving with him for over 10 years. I started with the basics of using chisels safely, basic cuts, understanding the grain of wood and completing simple projects such as a relief carving of a leaf. He continued to guide me through a variety of projects, increasing the depth of the relief and the complexity of the subject and building up to three dimensional pieces and specific skills such as incised writing. I gradually grew in confidence and built up the range of tools I felt comfortable using. He taught me how to develop my own ideas, and the process of going from an idea, research, drawings, modelling and carving the final sculpture.

Recently I have. been lucky enough to be able to spend time carving with Master Woodcarver and Sculptor Michael Painter. In September 2017 I spent two days carving with him on a course he was tutoring in Penrith. I wanted to start to learn about carving the human face and Michael is second to none in this skill. He first ensured that all of the small group of students could use chisels safely, but we were quickly able to go onto individual projects. I carved my first human face with carefully structured guidance from Michael.

I am now lucky enough top be able to go and carve with Michael about once a month. To date I have carved a number of faces with his help and am now able to carve faces with gradually increasing proficiency. I still have portraiture and the rest of the body to learn about! Oh and so much more.

Carving the Lioness Head

This blog follows on from my earlier blog about researching ideas for this carving. This is not a technical guide to carving a lioness head, but illustrates the processes used in carving, finishing and mounting a woodcarving.

I developed my ideas by drawing and modelling in plastercine, after which I thought about the wood for carving. For this project I had a lovely piece of hawthorn cut from a tree as it was felled. It had been seasoning in my shed in a black bin bag for a couple of years. It was not fully seasoned, but with care it could be carved. It has a lovely grain and the right proportions for the piece, but is very hard wood for carving. I decided to do the piece in lime. If it goes well I may do a larger version in the hawthorn at a later date.

The lime is about 220x150x150mm. It has an even grain and is much softer and easier to carve. I started by marking the midline that will indicate the middle of the nose, head and neck onto the block. This is always marked and remarked onto a piece as I work to help to ensure symmetry.

The outline of the head was drawn onto the block from the side showing the neck, the slope of the head, nose and the positions of the nose and mouth. As the plastercine model was nearly the same size as the lime block the drawing could be done without scaling.

The lioness head was then roughly shaped creating the line of the top of the head, nose and neck, being careful not to remove too much wood so that the ears could be formed later.

Then the sides of the head were roughed out, the widest points are the ears, so again wood was left here. The nose is narrower than the main part of the head, where the widest area is the just behind the jaw, where the jaw strength comes from the large bone and muscle structure. The head narrows to the mouth and nose. The neck was then shaped and rounded under the ears so that the ears stood out.

The ears were then roughly shaped, on a lion they are rounded like a teddy bear. I chose to carve them partly flattened back to help to create expression. The sides of the nose were then carved.

The eyes of a predator are always on the front of the face as the have binocular vision. They are positioned so that the lioness can see down either side of the nose and give a clear field of vision. The eye positions were carved so that the eye brows appear and are symmetrical on each side of the head. At this stage I looked at the piece from close ups, from a distance, and from a variety of positions to ensure symmetry.

From the brow the head slopes back between the ears to the neck, and from the brows the face drops away infant of each ear. The eyes have a very large socket in lions. the eyeball within the socket can now be carved, Eye lids and details can be added later.

The nose and muzzle was then formed. Then time to get brave and take a saw to remove the wood from the open mouth, whist leaving wood for the large canines and teeth. This was achieved with a combination of sawing and carving. Wood for the teeth was left with lots of extra bulk to protect them from breakage.

I then took a couple of days out to look at the piece and check the eye position, symmetry. I added details to the eyes, and created the muscles in the cheeks joining different areas of the face and increasing structural integrity.

The surface was smoothed using chisels and scrapers, so that I could start to see the impact of the forms on light and shade. Fine adjustments are then easier to make. The whisker ridges were then carved and the curvature of the nose shaped, and nostrils created. The teeth and inside of the mouth were then refined.

The lower canines fit into the gap between the upper canines and upper incisors. The lower canines are closer together and smaller than the upper canines. My study of the lion skulls really helped me to understand how all of this fits together.

I then started to hollow out the neck and the inside of the head so that the hollow area joins with the back of the mouth. Enough wood has to be left in the skull to support the pole that the lioness head will be mounted on. I then hollowed out the area behind the eyes and pierced the eyes through removing most of the iris and leaving the pupil attached by a bit of wood to the top of the eye.

The final smoothing proceed was done using chisels and scrapers both inside and outside the piece, smoothing until a great finish is achieved. A tool finish can be used, but I felt a smooth finish was more cat like.

The lioness was finished with two coats of Danish oil and two coats of wax, buffed up to a satin sheen. It was mounted on a plinth made of American black walnut using a piece of 22mm Dowling also finished with Danish oil and wax.