Thread: Green Sea Turtle WIP

Hi RV,

"How to mount this," is a question I ask myself after each carving of a bird flying. The answer to that question has eluded me for over a decade! Nowhere in any Wood Carving magazine or book do they show how carvers mount their flying birds. Nobody talks about it and nobody exposes how it is done. It seems a trade secret! I would have loved to have seen how Glenn Ladenburger mounted his Harris' hawk which won first place in the Wards World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition in 1998, (just to name one of many). All photo's hide the way they are mounted.This seems to be the trend with all carvings showing top and bottom in these competitions.

No one has ever written an article on this subject that I know of. I have seen some whales mounted on a wooden stand like Susan Redden does and some carvers use perspex or a brass rod. Sorry I can't help you RV. If I knew the answer to mounting a carving nicely to expose both top and bottom I would be a very happy person!

I will watch this thread with great interest!
Your green sea turtle looks really great, I'd want to show top and bottom too.

Thanks Featherwood. The wood is so nice, I could carve this into a pile of chips without noticing. Very strange for western red cedar. See how the light distorts the depth of relief among the scutes? The front and back are on steroids!

I did a little carpet-bombing and posted this in the Woodcarving Illustrated site with the same request.
a) glass pedestal = good idea but my house is sort of cluttered, where do I put it?
b) make a wall hanging (marine painting?). Then, 2 lucite/perspex rods come straight out, into the edge/side of the turtle. So, the turtle is horizontal, next to the wall.
c) hanging, horizontal, with 20lb monofilament fishing line. Like that but location again.

I've seen some terrific bird mounts, very careful photography to hide the suspension.
I suppose if the carver feels that they've invented something really sneaky, they want to hang on to it as long as they can.

I suspect that the mounting issue is probably one primarily of oversight than deliberate exclusion. Naturally the photographer of finished work is concentrating on the work itself and not the mechanics of how its mounted. The artist too is more interested in displaying his/her work in the best possible light (including preserving the illusion of movement in flight or water) than concentrating on removing the 'magical' elements by showing the 'bones' as it were. And its simply not where the focus is for the casual observer.

I think a lot depends on what you want to show with this turtle. By that I mean, do you want to put him in a 'setting' or do you want to simply 'show' him? In a 'setting' you have further elements of the carving to consider, like what is the turtle doing (eating, swimming, coming up for a breath, etc), and what 'background' or surroundings do you want to include that are appropriate to the activity chosen. If your first consideration is the lack of space in your house, I suspect that a series of compromises will result in him not 'being all he can be....'

If it was me I'd be looking at some sort of setting with him feeding... head down and beak firmly locked onto something on the bottom of the sea. The angle would give you a view of both top and bottom and the head, being separate gives you more scope to carve attached to the 'bottom' elements. If you go this way, you have to consider how the head is anchored to the body (it has to be strong enough to support the body on an angle in air) and what 'bottom element' he has his beak buried in.

The above is only a thought... I really think it is a very subjective thing, dependent on each work and artist. I'll be very interested to see how he comes out though...

Thanks, Whittling. One of the most thoughtful, constructive critiques that I've read anywhere.

In my mind, the turtle was looking up, either to the left or the right (but for what? You're right) . No reason not to look down towards the floor of the reef. I wanted to tilt the legs as if the turtle was turning but the WRC began to protest so it turns out a little more symmetrical than anticipated. On the wall, it makes far more sense for the head to be down, looking towards the bottom. I can see that posture. I had "bottom" in my concept for the painting as well.
I'll set it aside. Forecast is for a week in the mid 20's with no rain at all. Gotta get out.