Sunday, June 7, 2009

Banjo and Cameo

ANTIQUE BANJO

Several months ago I posted some pictures of this banjo as a work in progress. This is the completed instrument. It is not playable, as the neck is warped, but the owner only wanted it in displayable condition.

I changed the neck angle, fabricated a tension ring, and made a new bridge. It has a new head, tensioning bolts, fifth-string peg, and strings.



CAMEO

Here I am working on a Cameo of my granddaughter Julia.

The material is Basswood, three-quarter inch thick and fourteen inches in diameter. I enlarge a profile picture to use as a pattern, and carve the face in low relief. The finish is paste wax, with mahogany colored paste wax to tone the hair to match Julia's red hair.

I did it as a Christmas present for Julia's other set of grandparents, Peggy and Chandler. They liked it enough to ask me to do Jenny and John, their other grandchildren.