Custom 10 ft. grizzly carving – Westerville, Ohio

We traveled to Westerville Ohio to carve this bear on site in the back yard of a residence. We used this sketch as our design reference…

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This log was red oak and was 10 ft. tall x 3.5 ft. wide…

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I started by roughing in the head working on the tilt of the head. Also, carving a space in the mouth to fit the taxidermy inserts…

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OK! The face/ head is finished by burning and oiling. Now, it’s time to form the shoulders/arms…

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Now, on to the legs and base…

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Burned and oiled…

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Next, I used expanding foam to fill holes and imperfections in the wood that would allow rain to get into the wood. Then, I sand and texture the foam and rub wood filler over it and reapply the oil on the raw wood as well as paint…

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Here’s a before and after before the taxidermy inserts and after. Wow! What a dramatic difference!!

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My daughter, Rose, helped apply the claws using epoxy clay…

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My oldest daughter, Rebekah, helped me paint the final finishing touches…

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After 10 days of carving, it was time to say goodbye and return home…

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Don’t forget to check out this video time lapse of the project!

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