Monday, March 27, 2017

Carving A Crocus

During the winter many afternoons we sit at the dining room table get out our knives and carve.

Far Guy likes to carve flowers.  He likes the design process and the challenge.

He wanted to carve a Crocus.  He talked about it for a year.  He had no pattern so he designed his own.  What is the worst that can happen?   You end up with firestarter.

Carving a Crocus

In front are petals and two leaves.   A crocus usually has six petals.  The one in back is a special crocus as it has seven petals…we even have one with five!  He scoured the Net and looked at colors of crocus.  He decided that he likes the ones tipped in dark purple the best.

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Finished crocus

The rare five petaled crocus.

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Crocus in progress.

It was a fun project.  He did all the carving.  I did the final touch up sanding, he painted them with gesso and then turned them over to me for the final painting…as I painted them I started out light and they got darker and darker as he urged me on….darker please!  The stamens are toothpicks rolled in glue and then sawdust and finally painted.  Each petal and leaf attachment are reinforced with pins….toothpicks with glue on them.

It may have been winter outside, but inside we had blooms and a few finished projects to gift to friends!

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28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely!

Shirley H.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful crocus. A guy who carves flowers in winter and says "please" to his wife while she's painting his petals is a keeper!

linda m said...

They are gorgeous. You guys did a fantastic job.

Moms Musings said...

They 're beautiful.

DJan said...

What beautiful crocus flowers! They are wonderful and all are rare to my way of thinking. :-)

Kansas Kay said...

They are beautiful & You both do great work! So creative!

Phyllis Pritchard said...

Beautiful!!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful, SI love crocus. Looks impossible to me that they are carved.

Red said...

Quite a challenge but very rewarding when it's completed.

Linda W. said...

Wow, that's really good!

Henny Penny said...

You both are so talented! That looks just like the Crocus that came up here. I've just caught up, again. Can't believe I had missed four posts. It's that retired husband thing I'm trying to adjust to.

Henny Penny said...

Oh, I meant to thank you for the ideas on that long legged tower. I worked on it yesterday, trying to tone down the "ugly" some. :)

Tired Teacher said...

Well done!

Wendy said...

Wow!! You brought home a beautiful spring flower. You are so talented!

Pauline Persing said...

Beautiful. Goodlooking Crocus.

Rita said...

Gorgeous!! :)

Lady Fi said...

Wow - those carvings are gorgeous!

thecrazysheeplady said...

They are perfect!

Karen said...

Wow, those are so pretty! I think you should carve pansies next ;-)

Linda Reeder said...

Oh, those are wonderful! I'm with FG, I like the shaded purple ones too.

Lynda said...

I love the crocus! They are the first flowers we see in the spring and they make us smile a LOT!

diane in northern wis said...

Your carvings are just amazing. I love these crocus and especially the fact that you made them purple! So beautiful. They are so professional looking. Great job on the carving and the painting.

The Furry Gnome said...

Very nice little flowers!

Granny Marigold said...

I have Crocuses that are that purple that fades to almost white on the end. But how you get from the rough pieces in photo 1 to the end product is beyond my comprehension.

Jenn Jilks said...

That is amazing!

Leah said...

These are beautiful - you two do great artsy work together!

Sam I Am...... said...

They are lovely! Just gorgeous...you 2 are so talented!

MTWaggin said...

My favorite flowers as they are the very first ones that bloom in the Spring! So nicely done you two!