Clock Peddler Project, Part 1

This post is the first in a series of three that will take you through the steps I took to produce a carving of an old-time clock peddler. (Part 2, Part 3) My cousin is a clock collector. He also repairs and re-conditions clocks. When I visited him and his wife in May of this year, he showed a cast figure to me. It appeared to be a copy of an original woodcarving. He asked if I would be interested in reproducing it in wood. As you will see the figure was very interesting and well done. Thinking since it was carved from wood originally, I said yes. He offered a rough slab of basswood that was at least 20 years old. I did some quick measuring and decided it would work.

During the carving I became more and more skeptical of the original method used to make my model. I am now convinced it was never carved from wood but fashioned from clay and cleverly made to look like wood. The fine details, such as the threads in the stockings, the flowers decorating the back-board holding the clocks and the fine details in the clocks, including the roman numerals could not have been added by carving into wood. The original artist is not identified but I would welcome any information dealing with the origin of this model. I did my best to reproduce the figure and used artistic license to deal with some details that required magical powers I do not possess.

This post will cover the preparation of the wood, including surfacing, trimming and adding scrap pieces to accommodate the pattern. It will also show making the pattern, applying the pattern and cutting the blank on the band saw.
The second post will show many photos taken during the carving progression. The third and final post will show the completed carving, both without and with the stain.