Spring bull

The idea to create this animal came from my daughter, who wanted me to make something with horns for her. Since I had previously created decorative animals with a hole – an eye, I chose the same approach to create the bull. My goal was to create a decorative bull that my 8-year-old daughter would like. She likes all kinds of greenery and horned beasts. She chose the paints by herself. :)

I use various types of wood carving chisels to create. I don't have many power tools, so most of the work is done with hand tools. Of the power tools, I use a drill with a tripod and an airbrush. Most of rough and dirty work I did in the basement with specially adapted, small vices. The wood is a walnut log that fell during a storm last summer, which the cleaning crew had left uncollected. Sanding with P120 and P180 grit sandpaper. For the finish, I use blow-dry acrylic paints and synthetic wax.

First, I needed to figure out how big the animal should be so that it is comfortable for the child and so that the materials available to me are in accordance with the plan. Once I had figured out the approximate size and material, I start creating sketches, which happens simultaneously with searching for references. Usually, I do this by sitting at the computer and casually sketching something that comes to mind. At the same time, I'm searching the Internet for what I need at that moment. To create a bull, I'm looking at what a real bull looks like. How it was created in ancient times. What I can found in modern art. If I need to think about a separate element, then I look for those. For example, I looked at individual cow ears or plant elements that are intended to be carved on the animal's body. When the sketches are ready, I let them stand for a while and do nothing. In the meantime, other ideas may arise. When I am finished sketching and drawing, it would not be a bad idea to create this bull from Plasticine or clay. But since I've already made similar shapes before, I skipped this step.

Since the animal has a relatively flat front surface, it is easy to transfer the idea to the material using a template. I took the drawing and made a template from thicker, stiffer paper. I transferred it to the wood as soon as I had properly prepared the piece of wood.

First, I saw out the base of the piece of wood so that it can be secured for processing in small vices. Unfortunately, I don’t have a bandsaw, so I “sawed out” the basic shape using 4 and 6 mm drill bits. I drilled holes around the perimeter of the drawing. At the same time, I drilled the eye – a hole with a 20 mm drill bit. I took a hand hacksaw and sawed following the holes. I smoothed out the jagged border with larger chisels. This results in a flat side edge.

Once the sides are clean, it's time to work on the front and back. Most of it conveniently and quickly removed with an axe. I used a stylish Swedish sculpture axe that I once bought for carving larger logs. For such a small work, it would be better to use a slightly smaller axe not like this one. I roughly cut the resulting shape with a large semi-circular chisel, continuing with finer semi-circular chisels. I cut enough so the top the bull was almost like the intended finished carving. I am using a small block plane to smooth larger surfaces. When the shape was clean, I marked with a template ruler where best to drill the holes for the legs. I drilled not too deep from each side and chiseled out the volume of the legs very careful.

Once the leg volume is cut out, all that remains is to cut out the small details and smooth out the remaining irregularities. More diligently smooth the areas that are difficult to reach with sandpaper. I started sanding with a strip of P150 coarse sandpaper and I sanded the horns with a narrower strip. The areas that cannot be reached with the strip were sanded with pieces of sandpaper placed on a wine bottle cork or on the tip of my finger. I didn't sand the inside of the ears too much, I just lightly sanded them with sandpaper rolled into a tube. I did the same with P180 sandpaper. When sanding, the carving should be viewed in a slanting light to better see the irregularities. On larger surfaces, it's better not to leave any irregularities, but I like that it is possible see the traces of the cut in the ears. After sanding, it's a good idea to lightly moisten the work and, when it's dry, sand it with a sanding sponge. I covered the parts that won't be painted with paper tape. I drew the ornament with a mechanical pencil, roughly like in the sketch. I don't try to copy it, because it hinders creativity. The ornament is the most creative part here.

First, I cut out the outline of the ornaments in the paper tape. Thanks to the contrast between the wood and the paper tape, you can assess how well the ornament fills the area. The ornament was deepened by first cutting out the outline and leaf stalks, then the middle of each element was cut out in a decorative way. It is important that the cut is clean and that there are no uncut chips or stuck paper left. This can cause unpleasant surprises after painting. Once this stage is done, everything was vacuumed up. The first two layers are white paint. Then my daughter's chosen tinted colors. The paper tape was removed the same day, but not before the paint has dried. Before painting, I tested on another piece of wood how the tape would behave when painted, because it can happen that the tape starts to peel off or deform. That kind of tape is not suitable. Nor is a tape that leaves glue on the wood. In general, it was quite difficult for me to find a good tape. Surprisingly, this was very cheep noname tape which worked very good.

Once the paint had set, I went over it very lightly with a sanding sponge. I took a look at the bull from different angles and used a paintbrush to add a dot of paint where needed. I covered it with synthetic furniture wax twice and polished it with a palm tree brush after a few hours. My daughter loved the bull ;)