Peter Benson carves a large sea bird on the wing
The wandering albatross and other members of the albatross family have the longest wingspan of any bird. They spend most of their lives in the air, only landing to feed or breed. One bird was recorded as flying around 3,700 miles in 12 days. They are found mostly in the southern hemisphere and are endangered. I have included this as a project as I have never seen one and suspect that many readers won’t have done so either. They are incredibly graceful birds and lend themselves to being a subject for a carving. There is not much detail to include and the carving can be mounted in any way that shows off their form well. The whole piece can be completed with only a knife.
Toolbox
Knife and safety glove. You may like to sand it when finished so will then need several grades of abrasive. I have used a piece of basswood 40 x 40 x 150mm and have placed the body of the bird diagonally to get a bit more length. This does make using a pattern rather difficult but, there is one below should you feel you need it. Use the dotted outline for your initial shaping. If I am wrong about this, I suggest you look at pictures of an albatross in flight and use one of those as your guide.
