Green Carving, when should I coat it?

[Ubernoob]

There is a fair bit to do and I am unsure how to construct the tail as it is wider than the centre section of timber.

I could butt join it to either side with some 3mm dowels or make the tail from one piece and join it just at the beginning of the tail. The tail will be made from the darker Ironbark timber that is used on the sides.

Wow, that is quite an owll any idea what kind?

I have been making a money box based on a Barn Owl, pic taken from my Toy thread-

R0247737 (2).jpg
Should look nice when finished, the African Ironwood comes up pretty good when waxed.

[Robson Valley]

Barn Owl = gotta love that flat face. Very thoughful design.

Too cold (-28C) and shady for a pic. 2-3 nights ago, an owl hit a mouse or vole in 6" snow in my back yard.
They land with wings spread out and we can see the primary feather pattern in the snow!
Snow evaporates. If you didn't know, just some dents in the snow this AM. Only -26C at sunrise!

[Ubernoob]

Nice, a couple of my friends were back from Canada earlier this month, they are in London Ontario and weren't looking forward to go back to the cold.

As there is already a pic of it in the thread and it is a carving of sorts I'll pop a WIP pic here too. The coin mechanism(of sorts) works well so tomorrow I will set the face in and add some epoxy and red wine pearl to finish it.

R0247773.jpg

I'll go back to my toy thread from now on, I will pop the Dolphin up here when it is done.

[Robson Valley]

I can't label these things as "toys". Instead, I find them to be carvings to admire.
There's a badly flawed philosophy which claims that all carvings must be functional.
Wrong.

7:30 AM temp has come up from -28C to just -10C today.
I'm OK. Eastern Canada is getting hammered by blizzards.

[Ubernoob]

They are made to be played with, if they break, they break.

I decided to coat the green dolphin, we'll see what happens, wonder if it will go mouldy under the oil?

The section below the fin should have been relieved a bit more and the bottom fin looks a bit odd but as it may fall apart I couldn't be bothered getting it perfect.
R0247781.jpg

[Ubernoob]

Third and final one, came up quite nice, three dowels in the body and three in the tail, hopefully it stays together.....

R0247802.jpg
Lower fins are too far back, not sure why I didn't notice that 'til I was almost finished.