Bald eagle silhouette frame

Here is a current project of mine. I was asked by a coworker of mine with Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ if I could carve an eagle in a frame that will hold a photo of a volunteer who monitors a bald eagle nest in New Jersey. I jumped on the opportunity! I love carving wood. I have carved many things in the past, but more recently have done lettering of my logo and other small signs to use at events. I thought carving a silhouette would be neat and found an example online but this one was suggested to me and it looks awesome!

First I made the frame. It’s made from salvaged tongue & groove cedar that I salvaged from a renovation job at my friends house in Barnegat Light. I have a ton of this old wood that used to cover all of the interior walls in his house. It’s a 8×10″ frame that will hold a mounted 5×7″ photo of the volunteer who is holding a bald eagle nestling. I printed out a copy of the silhouette and transferred it to the frame by tracing the outline with a hard pencil. I then started to carve out the wood in the silhouette. After carving out the silhouette I lightly sanded it with 220 then 320 grit sandpaper. Finally I stained the silhouette black. Once it dries I plan on staining and finishing the rest of the frame with a hand rubbed satin polyurethane. More photos to come of the finished product…