BS: Wolf's head

Subject: BS: Wolf's head
From: Raptor
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 07:09 PM

I need help. A friend of mine is into wolves and I'm carving her a canoe paddle.

For the blade I'm thinking of Woodburning a silouette of a wolf's Head.

I can't find any suitable art work that would be nice.

What I need is a simple black on white 3 -4 inch wolfs head. Mabey done in hida native style.

Any help would be apreciated!

Raptor

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Sorcha
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 08:54 PM

Raptor, look here..... Several might be suitable.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 09:06 PM

I have a belt buckle of a Haida-designed wolf's head. It's about 3 x 5 inches -- if you'd like I could scan it and send it on tomorrow if you'll PM me you're email address.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: bobad
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 09:14 PM

Some pix here,here and here.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Alba
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 09:19 PM

I was just going to post a link to the first website you linked to Bobad:)

I have 2 black and white art prints of Wolves Heads, if your interested? They are not traditional however.
Jude

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 09:28 PM

Oops. Sorry. I have a Tlingit wolf and a Haida bear. The offer still stands, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Alba
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 09:39 PM

This site here has a buckle with a Tlingit Wolf engraving, is it like your belt buckle Rapaire?
I have a Kwankiutl Raven Pendant which is also on the site as a belt buckle...might be nice to have...lol
See what you've started Raptor:)
J

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 09:42 PM

That's them! I've had mine for almost 20 years!

Now I know where I can get more! Thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Sorcha
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 09:47 PM

The thing is...wolves are NOT dogs...canids yes...dogs no. I've never yet seen a paiting etc that actually got the 'head drop' or 'the eye' right....and I've seen it in person.....

All the paintings I've ever seen have been 'soft'...could have been Malmutes or Huskies...but NOT wolves.....wolves do NOT have nice big brown lovable eyes.......

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Ebbie
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 10:13 PM

A black lone male wolf has been hanging around in Juneau Alaska for the last three years. He makes his home out by 'the glacier' (the Mendenhall Glacier, about 13 miles from downtown Juneau) and makes friendly overtures to our dogs.

Last year he did kill a dog- a beagle that ran bugling and barking madly into the woods after the wolf. The dog didn't come back and the wolf was subsequently observed carrying away the body. The owner was unhappy and wanted the wolf destroyed but most everyone agreed that the wolf was pushed and besides it was in a leashed-dog area.

A friend of mine had her dog with her last week in the latest saga I have heard. Her dog is normally somewhat aggressive- a chow-lab mix - but after she and the wolf had thoroughly sniffed each other front and back, Ceilhi tiptoed back to my friend and sat behind her. The wolf - a glossy, handsome, healthy looking dude - then wandered off.

Many people have pictures of him. He pays more attention to dogs than he does to humans.

I'm surprised that no one has yet tried to kill him. I think the likelihood of it happening eventually are high.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 10:27 PM

A guy up near Challis was walking his dog when the dog started "acting funny." Looking around, the man saw that they were being followed by two black wolves and three gray. The wolves did NOT look friendly, cuddly, or lovable -- they looked frightening.

Needless to say, the guy and his dog walked home as quickly as they could. Fortunately they were within a a hundred yards of the outskirts of town!!

And yes, he DOES know the difference between a wolf, a dog, and a coyote....

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Peace
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 11:58 PM

http://www.sfu.ca/archaeology/museum/nwcc/FS%20T2%204%20wolf%20mask%20RBCM%2018%20Unknown%20(1893)%20Heiltsuk.jpg

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Peace
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 12:02 AM

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/Matted_Prints/MP_7444~Haida-Wolf-Posters.jpg

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 06:05 AM

Now then all you wolfy folks...

In a documentary about wolves in Poland the claim was made that a wolf would not cross a line with flags or markers on. I don't know if I have described that properly - Imagine a piece of string tied between 2 trees about 3' high. Attached to the string are bits of cloth flapping loosly at about 1' or 2' intervals - That's the type of line I mean. Got it?

Anyhow - anyone know if it is true. I find it quite odd if it is!

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Alba
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 06:49 AM

I don't know Dave, but then I am not an all things Wolf expert..lol

I would imagine however that it would be a practice that could adopted by people that see wolves as an eviromental nuisance.
It would after all be much cheaper to use the method you metion if it works than it is to pay for guys to pick the Wolves off with high powered Rifles from low flying helicopters I suppose!
The method you mention sounds like a far more humane way of keeping the animal out of what some think is their territory..but as I say I have never heard of this being used or being an option in Wolf population 'control'
I will be interested if anyone else has heard of it and it's affectiveness.


Raptor, the two prints I have were drawnings done in the 'field' by a close Friend of mine who studies Wildlife and he had his drawings printed up and gave me the Prints as a gift. The Wolves drawn in these Prints are far from the cuddly sort:)

Best Wishes Dave and to you too Raptor
Jude

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 08:58 AM

I really don't think that would work. Wolves aren't stupid.

The fluttering might cause them to pause since this would be something out of place, but I hardly think that it would stop them. Sounds like a folk belief, like rattlesnakes not crawling over a rope.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Alba
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 09:04 AM

You know what the say...if it sounds to good to be true...it probably is:)

J

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 09:22 AM

The only effective way I know of to prevent being bothered by wolves, bears, mountain lions, crocodiles, alligators, tigers and other critters is to be INSIDE a strong building or vehicle while them critters are OUTSIDE. (Naturally, there'd be a mosquito inside with you that gives you malaria....)

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Peace
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 10:13 AM

"Anyhow - anyone know if it is true. I find it quite odd if it is!"

They won't. Things that seem different scare them (read make them very wary). They also have a keen sense of smell, and anything that has 'human' on it will frighten then off. They are almost impossible to trap because of their wariness. One of the better books to read to understand wolf behaviour is Mowat's novel, "Never Cry Wolf". It was based on a biology study and despite being a novel is quite accurate as to the social lives of wolves. It also describes well their 'bush' skills and hunting behaviour.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Peace
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 10:25 AM

Sorry. Neglected to say that if you give the wolves sufficient time to accept the fluttering stuff as part of their world, they'll become used to it and then they will cross it.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Ebbie
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 11:30 AM

The fluttering flags thing, as I remember it, was meant to keep away deer. Not that it always worked. A relative of mine put up a HIGH fence around his garden before he was able to discourage the deer.

My first summer in Alaska I worked at a wilderness lodge. In my off hours I roamed the wilderness round about. Twice I encountered wolf tracks - they are HUGE - and followed them for more than a mile. I must admit I followed them to where it came from, not to where it was going. *G*

The only thing on our lone wolf that is not as pretty as our huskies and malamutes is that its tail is not as plumey.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: number 6
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 11:31 AM

Here is a good picture of a wolfe's head. He was one 'top dog' in his day.

General James Wolfe

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Raptor
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 05:36 PM

Thank you all sooo much!

This turned out to be a nice conversation too.

Raptor

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 05:41 PM

Anyone want to comment on respecting other artists' work enough not to violate copyright by borrowing their images?

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Ebbie
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 05:59 PM

I think you just did, Susan.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 06:02 PM

Crafters I respect-- I call them artists-- have shared their views with me with eloquence. I was hoping one of them would chime in.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: bobad
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 07:32 PM

"Anyone want to comment on respecting other artists' work enough not to violate copyright by borrowing their images?"

It is a time honoured tradition for artists to reinterpret other artist's work. Picasso made 27 paintings, six linocuts and 140 drawings of Edouard Manet's "Dejeuner sur l'herbe."

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 07:35 PM

To "reinterpret" is not quite the same as to use a work as a template.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: bobad
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 07:40 PM

OK, to be technical, all you have to do is change a line or dot and it becomes a reinterpretation, a difficult concept to define.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Alba
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 07:54 PM

Susan I don't understand what you mean...really **BG** I know I am a bit slow on the uptake sometimes..but once I get it, then I got it, if you know what I'm saying:)
Are you suggesting that Raptor would use something from the links that were provided to give him ideas as to what to carve and then???what....or are you saying the links should not have been given as information???
A bewildered,
Jude!

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 10:26 PM

Cranky cranky. . .

Anything he finds on the web is going to be drafted to fit his project and in the process reinterpreted and changed. These are traditional images that artists in principle can't copyright, only their one particular rendering.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 05:21 PM

This is an area where Whitey gets it wrong a lot. The Haida and other Coastal First Nations have an unique concept of ownership in regard to their images; sort of religious ownership. They don't do copyright. Changing a line here or there a bit doesn't excuse the theft. Of course, they can't stop people stealing their art, but what you end up with is stolen (false, or worthless-in-spirit) art.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 05:38 PM

Anything he starts with off of the web is already altered from the original, so using that as a starting point isn't going to be stealing someones art, it is suggesting a direction in which to work, and he is working on something that sounds like it will pay homage to the form and the creature. He asked about a "style" to work within. You can only take ownership and copyright so far. Now if he had a carving and took a cast of it, that would be a theft of the shape, design, strokes, the rendering of the art.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Metchosin
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 07:59 PM

Actually Sorcha, according to the latest science, wolves are now deemed to be dogs and vice versa. Just took a bit more DNA stuff, on top of the wolves and dogs being able to interbreed and produce fully sexually functional offspring, to convince some.

As far as the look in a wolf's eyes, I've not confronted one in the wild, close up, to determine. However, I've looked into the faces of a couple of dogs in my lifetime, who made my blood run cold.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: LilyFestre
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 08:15 PM

Never Cry Wolf is an incredibly story....it's one of the rare books that the movie does justice to. If you are looking for wolf portraits, look on eBay under wolf paintings. One nature artist that I particularly like (and one of his signed pieces hanging in my living room) is Carl Brenders...he made a wonderful painting of a mama wolf and her cubs....

This should start you out nicely

And here are several more

The one I have is of the Den Mother Wolf Family...his work is AMAZING!

Would you post of picture of your art when you have it finished? I'd love to see it!!!

Hope that helps!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Raptor
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 09:10 PM

I'm not intending to pass this paddle off as "Native art" nor am I going to show it as a unique piece.

I'm just carving a canoe paddle. And burning the likeness of a wolf on it.

I don't think one should stop doing anything because someone might have done it before. And I definately wont do an exact copy of anyones art.

As for the spirituality of it I get a feeling of oneness with canoe paddles when I sand them for 100's of hours or hand rub toung oil into the cherry wood to get that smooth as glass apearance.

Susan I'd like to hear more on your views on this. Your perspective is one I've never thought about before.

Once again thanks to all.

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Metchosin
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 09:29 PM

........good idea......

Subject: RE: BS: Wolf's head
From: Alba
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 10:01 PM

Sounds good to me Raptor:)

Jude