Since Covid I started messing around with yard art/driftwood sculptures. Recently I started doing some stuff in stone based on mud/sand/siltstone pieces I found. Carving or setting those is trickier than wood for sure. The first two are stone. Always wanted to find a fish fossil, but epiphany was it could be fun to build one sorta like a fish fossil…lots of Ray Troll influences…
most of these are at least 4 feet long
I am a big fan of wing nuts, copper wire and boat nails and colored stains. there's a diagonal support strut under both of the fish heads to help prop the weight and support the mesh and frame better. These are heavy...
This driftwood had an amazing twist grain and it was an easy follow for an abstract horse head sorta thing. This guy is built to rot, but is pretty solid trunk material and high sap so his legs will go first....
Gull skull with seaglass, he's a little wet in this photo but when dry is bleached white and gray, 4 feet long...
Another 4 footer
the stones found had their own anatomic vibes and are so soft they likely would erode in a few years on a puget sound beach, i figured that would make them easy to carve and drill into. Carve, yes, drill not so much, you burn through those stone bits quickly even when wet and it's much easier to loop the wire around a carved cuff than drill a hole through. Didn't try masonry bits because the stone kind of shatters a little on exit anyway. Note to self, invest in much better than N95 when stone carving!
Figured out the easiest way to assemble was build a mesh frame and wire it to the frame
Stoop dragon, this guy's more like 6 feet and the skirt there is a huge piece of fatwood my neighbor found and gave to me, it smelled like the most fantastic pine tar when carving the flames
most of these are at least 4 feet long
I am a big fan of wing nuts, copper wire and boat nails and colored stains. there's a diagonal support strut under both of the fish heads to help prop the weight and support the mesh and frame better. These are heavy...
This driftwood had an amazing twist grain and it was an easy follow for an abstract horse head sorta thing. This guy is built to rot, but is pretty solid trunk material and high sap so his legs will go first....
Gull skull with seaglass, he's a little wet in this photo but when dry is bleached white and gray, 4 feet long...
Another 4 footer
the stones found had their own anatomic vibes and are so soft they likely would erode in a few years on a puget sound beach, i figured that would make them easy to carve and drill into. Carve, yes, drill not so much, you burn through those stone bits quickly even when wet and it's much easier to loop the wire around a carved cuff than drill a hole through. Didn't try masonry bits because the stone kind of shatters a little on exit anyway. Note to self, invest in much better than N95 when stone carving!
Figured out the easiest way to assemble was build a mesh frame and wire it to the frame
Stoop dragon, this guy's more like 6 feet and the skirt there is a huge piece of fatwood my neighbor found and gave to me, it smelled like the most fantastic pine tar when carving the flames
Last edited:
Thank you again