Acrylic, Brass, and Wooden Skull Beads (Plus Other Carvings)

[willydigger]

I stumbled onto a Starlingear Bead that I really liked, but couldn't afford. It inspired me to try making a wood version.

Here is the Starlingear Curby.

Here is my skull evolution.

Then I decide to create my own design.

First the Meathead:

Then the Villain:

Wanting to try different wood and eventually soft metal, I started messing around with the dremel and came up with some good stuff.

Brass, Bronze, Copper

My neck light (Streamlight Nano)

A few wooden ones! All Koa wood.

Bolivian Blackwood on a Boker Gnome.

A few more wood varieties. Zebra, Burmese Rose x2, Cocobolo.

I encourage you to give it a go. See what you can come up with!

Thanks for looking!

 

[CWL]

I like them! You've got some skills there! :thumbup:

 

[tinwiskers]

Great Great job! I am a lucky owner of 4 of these items, love them all

 

[culpritish]

Very nice!
Being a skull afficianado, I must say that you are a very talented sculpter; I have tried to "give it a go" but I can only sketch skulls, not physically make them!

 

[SidC]

Wow. Those are really bad ass! :thumbup:

 

[willydigger]

Thanks for the compliments. I decided to try Copper and Bronze too. They turned out really well, though the Copper was a lot harder than I expected. From left to right, Brass, Bronze, Copper.

 

[kidcoyote]

Keep up the great work

 

[willydigger]

Check out the Curly Green Maple!
(Rosewood, Green, Koa)

 

[willydigger]

I also started doing some tiki's!
(Koa, Zebra)

 

[doc trinidad]

totally awesome dude!!!!

 

[FlaMtnBkr]

Mind going into your process? Like what do you start out with, what tools you use, how you hold the little guys, etc.

Very cool.

 

[willydigger]

Mind going into your process? Like what do you start out with, what tools you use, how you hold the little guys, etc.

Very cool.

Initially I started with scrap wood from my son's karate class.

With the more exotic woods, I use pen blanks from a local wood shop. Premium Koa pictured below.

From there I round the square block to round. I draw a skull pattern and begin sanding and cutting. Below are a couple brass pics initially from 3/4 round stock.

Here are a few Tiki building shots.

Tools include a dremel and tiny, tiny engraving cutters. A lot of sand paper too. There are other pics on EDCForums.com and CPFMarketPlace.com for those interested.

 

[rsb563]

Looks great. Keep it up!

 

[willydigger]

Check out these two new ones! The first is a M3 with a silver base. Basically it is a silver and resin composite. It polishes to a brilliant finish, will patina dependent on the base metal, and is chemical resistant.

The second in Opal Acrylic. A semi-transparent/milky white acrylic. The face is also polished though you can't tell in the pics. It reminds me of a ghost!

 

[USMCSNIPER34]

Man those are awesome could you plz email me I have a few questions for u. Usmcsniper34@Yahoo.com

 

[SOC_MRN_Leon]

You even think of selling these? Im interested in that m3 stuff

 

[willydigger]

I don't have a gold membership so I'm not allowed to sell. You can email me about trade options. willydiggerATgmailDOTcom.

 

[willydigger]

Also, this is just a sample of my pics. I have much more on the edcforums.com site including a pic of the Gorilla King!

 

[Spinerazor]

did you melt the material yourself into little blocks to start these or did you find the material?, if you bought the material where did you find it, i'd like to try something like this myself too!, thanks!

Thanks for the compliments. I decided to try Copper and Bronze too. They turned out really well, though the Copper was a lot harder than I expected. From left to right, Brass, Bronze, Copper.

 

[willydigger]

By far the metal is the hardest to do. I would suggest you practice a design in wood first. The round stock I got from old scrap at work. It is 3/4 inch. You can check McMasterCarr for pieces. Wood is pen blanks to start. Everything can be found on the Internet. The most expensive to make is probably the copper and brass. The copper is the hardest metal to carve, followed VERY closely by aluminum.