Looking at my mechanical fish piece, I felt like the window was pretty "thick". I had wanted to dish the inside of the piece first, and simply overlooked it. Once the piece was carved, it was clear I'd missed it. I mentioned it to Dan, and he said, "Make a jig and go ahead and cut the dish on the back, you'll be glad you did". It was the push I needed to take the risk. It could have damaged the piece and set me back almost as far as Jamie on the project.
Here's what it looked like before:
You can see that the middle part of the window is amost 2" deep. Here it is after the dish carve on the back:
The reason it's an important but subtle change is that much more of the creature behind the window will be visible from a wider range of viewing. It was the right move, and the little push from my competitor was appreciated.
I also carved the piece that will act as the background behind the mechanical fish:
When it finished carving, I realized it just needed a touch more work. I decided to add just a few more dips and curves. I could have used a hand held grinder, but I wanted it to be subtle and avoid sanding. I turned to some hand chisels...and within 3 or 4 minutes I got the look I was trying to get to.
The next step will be to create some "risers" to bring the window about 6-8 more inches above this background. I'll use HDU to build it up. Stay tuned!
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