Nathan Wilson and I finished our first commission together.  It had its ups and downs, but it was over all very positive and a total blast.  We worked 10 hour days over a 6 day period and worked on site the whole time.  We set up a tarp tent soon after starting the project and with the wind blowing very hard at times, it nearly blew over a few times and collapsed more times than we could remember.   We started with sketch ups of the proposed crest heads and after all the formalities, such as price, dimensions and other considerations, we started the first day after finishing our last day of class at Freda Diesing School.

Nate, looking over logPreparation of the log

We started by preparing the log–a first-growth western red cedar.  And after the surface was prepared and all the roughage taken off, we had a smooth surface to work on and put the crest heads.

"Refugee" tent that we set up to keep the rain outBeaver crest with primary and secondary forms colored

Next we painted the primary and secondary forms.

Killer whale and raven crest heads

Then we started carving.

Eagle, beaver and wolf crests

Then, finally we painted the tertiary areas and after getting approval from the clients, we were done.

final approval

Very exciting project and I am looking forward to what’s next.  Stay tuned.

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