All of the woodwork you see here is cut from different types of wood and then puzzled together and carved to shape. No paint or stain is used. The colors are the actual colors of different species of wood. Believe it or not, some wood comes right from the tree in very bright colors. Purple heart is actually naturally bright purple and gets even brighter in direct sunlight. Yellow heart is a sunny yellow, Padauk is bright orange and seasons to a brown color with age. Some wood, like Blue Mahoe and Blue Pine has a grey color, and Poplar can have tones of green. One of my favorite woods to use is Bog Oak, and while it does not grow black, its color is still natural. This wood gets its color from steeping in the briney water of a bog for thousands of years. Because there is no oxygen at the bottom of the bog, the wood does not rot and eventually get found and milled into planks.

The fun is figuring out how to use these different species of wood to create a piece that looks as realistic as possible. With the owl to the right, I’ve shown what all of the pieces look like before I assemble and carved the piece. Below right is the finished Great Horned Owl. I pay close attention to grain pattern, figure and wood tone to get the look I want. I don’t use CNC because I believe in the tradition of hand crafting.