Customer Reviews

Carving & Painting a Black-Capped Chickadee with Ernest Muehlmatt

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I enjoyed this book particularly since I have taken carving classes with Ernie Muehlmatt several times and believe that he is a wonderful, giving and natural teacher.

The author carves the entire bird including feet and branch out of just one piece of wood. Nice trick if you can find a piece of wood big enough! The photos and directions look great, but I would have appreciated it if I'd been given information on making bird feet and legs. A lot of bird carvers just order commercially cast pewter feet and legs, but if you want to enter your bird in competitions you need to make your own feet and legs. Most bird carvers use a combination of metal rods and plastic wood to have a structure strong enough to support the bird's body. Mr. Muehlmatt's chickadee has carved toes that do not support the body, but just blend into the tree branch. So, if you aren't working with a big hunk of wood that is large enough to include the wood branch you are out of luck for bird legs. I do think his chickadee is stunning and I'll use this book for his insight and information. I also like the clear and copious photos, I'm just disappointed that it is unlikely that I'll have chunk of wood big enough to make a bird relying solely on his directions.