I carved this nametag as a result of a request by the
president of the Kansas City Woodcarvers Club, Jim Willis. He requested
that members carve a nametag of their own design to be worn at club
meetings. So I thought long and hard for a month or so as to what I might
carve. Since I have been known to have been somewhat associated with
trains, I chose this old steam engine locomotive. I would call it a
caricature of a real steam engine. I wanted to carve something that
would be fun and that wouldn't take a week or two to carve.
The nametag is
carved from basswood. This is a straight on view.
Here is a view looking from the top and downward. I
wanted the nametag to be three dimentional looking when viewed from
any angle.
I wanted it to
be as light as possible so that it wouldn't pull my shirt or jacket off.
So before starting I chose a lighter piece of basswood to work with and after
carving it, I hollowed out the back as much as possible.
As for the pin,
I looked around in stores at the ready made ones that are designed for
nametags but none were really long enough to attach the fairly large tag, so I
chose a large brass safety pin. This pin keeps the nametag in the position
in which you fasten it. You have probably seen pins that when attached
they work their way into some odd angles. I also wanted the pin to be
hidden inside the hollowed out area so that when attached to my shirt or jacket
it would not tilt forward. The nametag stays flat against my
clothing and the pin is entirely hidden when attached.
I
carved a v-groove close to the top of the carving within the hollowed out
area. The groove was slightly longer than the pin. I filled the
groove with epoxy and held the pin in place until it dried.
I wanted the nametag to
have an antique look but still be shiny. I used colored oil based stain
which I mixed myself and then applied my own antiquing finish. Lastly
I gave it several coats of varnish which gives it a yellowish glossy
glow.
Article written by:
Mike Lawrence
February 10, 2008