WIP: Part 1- Carving a crazy nature theme back scratcher!

Although I've been working on it off and on for the last several weeks I thought that I'd post the first pictures of my new super-dooper, crazy back scratcher. I cut the 16" long rough-out from a very dry tulip poplar limb that fell in a recent wind storm. I curved the handle outwards to capture the beautiful natural scar left from what was once a branch protruding out from the limb.

I ended up developing a nature theme for the scratcher which has two flowers on the top connected in the middle by a vibrant vine. Coming directly out of the vine in the middle and onto the back side is a lizard and a snake. The head of the scratcher will have a rising sun on the front and the planet earth on the back. Oh yeah, there is a butterfly just above the snake and after I was too far along with the carving to start over, I wish that I had carved the butterfly coming out of the snakes mouth. Oh, well.

I'm just about to begin the sanding phase and that will probably take the most of a full day to complete, then I'll add the final colors and finish. I'm thinking that I'll have to make a video for the final showing which I think might be the best way to make sense of this one crazy project! Back scratchers are currently one of the most popular projects with the kids in my afternoon carving classes and I had to cut out six more rough-out blanks this afternoon for tomorrows session. This has turned out to be a very fun project and my back will soon be reaping the full benefit!