Wildlife Wetlands Walking Stick (SOLD)

Featuring Mike Stinnett’s wood carved walking stick #93. Carved out of a single piece of wood.

I made this walking stick for a retired field biologist. The purpose was to bring together a few of the things she loved from the wetland ecosystem. As you can see in the video below, I carved this from a single piece of alder wood. The antennas on the crawfish were made of leather and added. It took me at least two months. I really enjoyed it!

Video of his process down below!

Watch The Video of the Creation of this One of a Kind Walking Stick!

November 7, 2019November 7, 2019 by Stinnett Studio Categories: Videos, Walking SticksTags: art, Artwork, carved, carvings, hyper realism, mike stinnett, staff, stinnett sticks, walking stick, walking sticks, western art, wood carver, wood carving 4 Comments

Wood Carved Birds and Berry Walking Stick

Here’s the full video on how I made a Chickadee and Blackberry Bramble walking stick! If you’re interested in some of the tools I use or recommend, check out the link below.

* STORE https://www.amazon.com/shop/stinnetts…

As an Amazon Associate, I earn fees from qualifying purchases.

April 25, 2019April 25, 2019 by Stinnett Studio Categories: VideosTags: art, Artwork, carving, Chickadees, mike stinnett, outdoors, power carving, power tools, stinnett sticks, walking sticks, wood carving, wood working 2 Comments

Carving the Details of Chickadee Walking Stick #89

I just keep working my way upward on this Chickadee and Blackberry Bramble walking stick. It is ending up being much more detailed than I realized it would be when I first started. I seem to have a habit of making my job harder and harder with each new project.

1 dad carve spring small

2 depth cuts small

My next step is to establish the diameter of the hand grip. As shown in one of my previous posts, the hand-grip will be Blackberry vine twisting around the stick’s shaft. I’m using my Arbortech Mini Grinder to make depth cuts.

3 Thinning the shaft small

After chipping away the wooden rings that I made with the mini grinder, I use this angle grinder to smooth the surface. I’ve left the shaft thicker below the hand-grip area because I still have more designing to do. But in the end I will use the same technique to reduce the rest of the walking stick’s diameter.

4 hand grip small

It took me quite a while to realize that this particular winding pattern was only possible for me to do by carving three vines instead of only one.

6 carving flowers 2 small

I started refining the shapes from the base of the design and am working my toward the top, saving the Chickadee birds for the last.

7 carving flowers 3 small

In order to carve the beaded texture in the flower centers, I used a diamond bur to carve a nice, little concave shape into a stone bur.

This technique works well for small eyes and It will also work nicely for shaping the individual sections of the blackberries.

8 leaf details small

Here I am detailing the serrated edge of the leaf using an inverted cone bur.

I use this type of bur a lot. It’s especially helpful for undermining the subjects and removing unwanted wood from negative spaces in tight places.

9 dewalt in the woods small

I’m hoping to spend a lot of time out in the country this year, and with this portable power station. I’ll be able to take my work with me.

11 carving in the woods small

The power station is able to power my micro motor and hand piece as well as my mini grinder. I will be testing it’s limits this summer.

Thanks again for stopping by! I’ll stick with it and keep on carving! Hope to share my progress with you next week! For those of you who are carvers or know someone who would like to carve, I’ve included some associate links to some of the tools I’ve mentioned here. To see other tools that I use or recommend you can visit my amazon associate store where I also earn fees on qualifying purchases.

April 12, 2019 by Stinnett Studio Categories: Work in ProgressTags: art, birds, carving, carving tools, chickadee, mike stinnett, power carving, power tools, stinnett sticks, walking stick, wildlife, wood carving, wood working Leave a comment

Sculpting a Maquette for Reference

As I continue to work on my Chickadee and Blackberry Bramble walking stick, I realize that it is very difficult to know how to get the size and shape of the birds to match. Also it is hard for me to imagine, while looking from the outside of the burl, where the subjects will connect and how everything will come together.

So I’ve started the project by sculpting a couple of maquettes from some oven bake, polymer clay. My added dilemma is that there are bark pockets in the burl that I have to work around.

My design is having to take a little different twist, here and there,including the second bird being turned around and facing outwardly as it looks upward. This is where the real project will have to conform to the wood material and won’t turn out identical to the concept drawing which I posted earlier.

1st photo 2nd blog on 89 — Using polymer clay to sculpt a maquette

2nd photo 2nd blog on 89

To further help with keeping size relevance I used a caliper. This allows me have more confidence about getting my size and shapes similar.

kalips on maquette

I’ll continue to carefully work myself into this project a little at a time. Here I am using a micro motor and hand piece with Saburr Tooth burrs. These are amazing burrs for removing wood quickly in the rough out stage.

3rd photo 2nd blog on 89

Blogpost2 photo7

I’m adding vines, leaves, blossoms and berries, as I go, trying to keep everything connected and supported so it won’t break off easily.

blogpost2photo8 — A cluster of Blackberries to the right

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to continue sharing my progress on this walking stick. You can find some of the tools I use or recommend here:

As an Amazon associate I earn fees for qualifying purchases.

April 3, 2019April 3, 2019 by Stinnett Studio Categories: Walking SticksTags: blackberries, blackberry bramble, carving, carving tools, chickadee, mike stinnett, power tools, stinnett sticks, Stinnett Studio, walking stick, wood carving 2 Comments

Using Power Tools to Carve Wood Walking Sticks

I’m carving a brand new, custom ordered walking stick. It has a couple of Chickadees and some Blackberry Vines. I’d like to show you how this is coming along and share some of the tools that I used.

stick concept etsy — Concept Drawing for a Carved Walking Stick

I started with this naturally shaped Pine Burl and began by removing unwanted parts of it with a DeWalt Reciprocating Saw. I really like the fact that this is cordless and it will be just the right thing for me to take my work out into the countryside for some beautiful views.

saw resized for wordpress — Click Here To Buy: Dewalt Reciprocating Saw

I’ve saved a selected branch coming off of the burl, to serve as the tail of the bird on the top. That way the wood grain will be strong and keep the tail from breaking off. The DeWalt Oscillating Multi Tool worked great to make a starting point.

recip resized for wordprss2

Click to Purchase the DEWALT Oscillating Multi-Tool

(Tool Only)

I continued to carefully remove bits of unwanted material to begin revealing the shape of my top Chickadee.

roughout6

roughout2

I also used my Arbortech Mini Grinder to help me do some shaping.

roughout4

I use this tool a lot. It’s a fast way to remove material. I use it to make depth cuts and to shape. So, below is a picture of the beginning of my Chickadee and Blackberry Bramble walking stick. I have a lot of work to do and I hope you’ll come back to see my progress. If you’re looking for some power carving tools I hope you’ll check out the links to Amazon that I have given.

(as an Amazon Affiliate I earn fees on qualified purchases)

89 roughout for wp1

March 26, 2019March 26, 2019 by Stinnett Studio Categories: Walking Sticks, Work in ProgressTags: animals, art, flowers, mike stinnett, nature, power carving, tools, walking stick 3 Comments

Carved Copperhead Snake Cane #84

Buy this Copperhead Cane on Etsy.com

This one-of-a-kind walking cane is carved and painted to resemble a Copperhead Snake. Carved from a single piece of Lodgepole Pine wood, hand painted and signed and numbered #84 by Mike Stinnett.

November 9, 2018 by Stinnett Studio Categories: Walking SticksTags: art, carving, copperhead, for sale, mike stinnett, OOAK, snake, stinnett sticks, walking stick, walking sticks, wood carving 2 Comments

Carving a Brook Trout Pendant

October 26, 2018October 26, 2018 by Stinnett Studio Categories: VideosTags: art, brook trout, carving, fishing, keychain, mike stinnet, pendant, sports fishing, stinnett sticks, stream, Trout Leave a comment

Brook Trout Pendant Key Chain

Brookie

Available in my Etsy Shop

This 2-7/8 -inch Brook Trout has been carved by Mike Stinnett from a single piece of Pacific Yew wood and hand painted. It is strung on a real, steel fishing swivel with a key chain ring added. It is completely 3-D.