Celtic Warrior

The title may give a big clue as to the subject matter for this carving.

The wood is a piece collected from the woods locally. I decided on a range of carvings depicting Celtic Warriors. each will be given a name and will be wall hanging pieces finished in Danish oil and pyrography.

The use of Elder Furthark runes link the carvings to the 5th century AD just after the Romans abandoned Britain. These warriors are linked to the Arthurian legends and held the Saxons (Sace) at bay for a while.

The pyrography depicts the name of this warrior as

MADOC ab OWAIN

The runes under the name show the name in the Elder Futhark alphabet.

The use of the term ab or ap means 'son of'. Its normally 'ap' but 'ab' is used when the second name (the name of the father) starts with a vowel sound.

The other Runic letters are just a random selection.

At this stage the eyes are not finished. there are a number of ways the eyes could be detailed and I am in two or three minds on what to do. The usual method is an old stone carvers method of drilling holes into the eye to add simple but effective detail. I am researching different eye detail and will complete once I've found a detail I like. Some sculptors leave the eyes vacant!! Me... I want some life in the eyes.

Here he stands in full.

Height: 33 cm

Width: 13 cm

Carving height: 11 cm

Carving width: 9 cm

The helmet would have been Iron and many were based on old Roman designs or 'borrowed' from Saxon raiders.

A new approach to the traditional carving. I hope to do a series of warriors and then see what they may fetch on the shelves of the virtual shop.

This guy is:-

Woodwose Carving Celtic Warrior #001 Madoc ab Owain 2011

Your thoughts and views are as always very welcome.

regards

~Dave~