Carving a name sign with a utility knife, part 2

A couple of hours of work was all that required to complete the letters. There are a few tool marks left behind, but after all it is also a hand made sign, so it shouldn't necessarily look like it was moulded in plastic.

The profiles of horses at the ends of the board are my first attempt on carving something that elaborate. One of the challenges compared to letters is the fact that there aren't that many straight lines on a horse.

My first idea was to carve the horse in the same way as the letters, so the shape would be a depression. After looking at the horse I ruled that idea out. The ears and legs are pretty thin, so I think it would have looked strange to carve it that way.

Instead I decided to carve around the horse, so the horse itself will stand proud of the surrounding area.

For this part of the carving I had to stray away from the notion of using inly a utility knife.
This spring at the annual flea market held by the local shop in the village, I was given a small set of carving chisels that looks like they were intended to be used for carving linoleum .
They were far from sharp, and looked pretty cheaply made.
I guess they are from the 70'ies or the 80'ies, based on that they are made in Japan. Newer chisels of that sort would most likely be made in China or India.

I sharpened a pointed scalpel shaped chisel and a small gouge.

I traced the outline of the horse with the scalpel shaped chisel, and removed the material around the horse using the small gouge. This was actually easier that I had imagined, and I think the end result looks OK.

If I was going to paint the sign, I would paint the background red, the depressions should be white. That would give white letters and two red horses on a white background. I think that would look good. But it will be up to my friend if she wants to paint it or not.

The completed name sign.

My Linoleum carving chisels used for carving the horse profiles.