Horse head very tall hiking staff

artmakersworlds

Red Grapes walking stick Buckskin Horse head tall walking staff.

This equestrian style horse head staff is the tallest one I've made so far. A full six and a half feet from base to head.
There is a bend to this staff, but it's quite comfortable to walk with. In fact, being SO tall, it's center of gravity is only slightly below the hand hold area. It truly feels stately to walk with. Don't let that bend fool you. This is a very strong staff. It certainly passes my strength tests.
All my sticks have a story. When I pick up a hunk of wood, I rarely have a plan ahead of time. I have to walk around with the stick, study it's natural shape and an idea almost always just comes.
Well this particular stick I pulled off a fallen tree and a big chunk of wood from the tree trunk was still on the top end of this one. Normally I'd just saw that off but.... the more I looked at it, the more it just looked like a running horse. I've drawn enough horses ever since I was a kid, that carving one wasn't that difficult. Well except for the fact that bit of wood is basically a knot and was as tough as nails to carve. (Power tools to the rescue.) I looked on line for other "horse head" sticks, and found that most are very simple, stylized heads. So getting each tiny detail wasn't all that important. (In my drawings, I'd shape every little vein in the horses face. Not necessary here.)
Once the head was done, what to do with the rest? I had a lot of ground to cover. Well, I already knew what colors I'd be using. The twist below the head is something I've done many times. This one though, starts to twist in one direction then changes to the other. Something hair might do. Think of that as an extension of the horses mane. I painted it accordingly. Slight highlights just like real hair.
Now for the best part. I wanted to use some real horse hair as a decorative feature. But I don't own a horse. I looked on line and pretty much struck out. However, I hike in a local woods where there are frequently horse back riders. One day a pair was just returning and I asked if I might have some horse hair trimmings. The rider very graciously snipped a hand full for me.
Originally I wanted to put the hair up under the head. Right over my hair carved twists. This staff is tall enough that I thought this would work. But no. The hair was too long and I really didn't want to give it a hair cut. So I ended up putting it under the hand hold. This works just fine. It can flow in the wind and not get tangled up in your hand.
I tied the cut end together tightly and gave the rest a shampoo. Once dry I sewed the ends very tightly into a leather sheath. Then that was sewn under the brown band you see. There was an annoying gap where the clump of hair was so I braided a bit of dear hide and added the black band above the whole thing. Viola! And as with all my sticks, the paint used is an artist grade acrylic, with several coats of clear gloss for added protection.
A rubber foot is at the base. (yes removable.)

Tall horse head walking staff with real horse hair decoration.

Horse Head very tall walking staff

Thought it might be fun to include a few pictures before this one was finished.
Here is a good, yet still rough outline of the head end.


This equestrian style horse head staff is the tallest one I've made so far. A full six and a half feet from base to head. There is a bend to this staff, but it's quite comfortable to walk with. In fact, being SO tall, it's center of gravity is only slightly below the hand hold area. It truly feels stately to walk with. Don't let that bend fool you. This is a very strong staff. It certainly passes my strength tests. All my sticks have a story. When I pick up a hunk of wood, I rarely have a plan ahead of time. I have to walk around with the stick, study it's natural shape and an idea almost always just comes. Well this particular stick I pulled off a fallen tree and a big chunk of wood from the tree trunk was still on the top end of this one. Normally I'd just saw that off but.... the more I looked at it, the more it just looked like a running horse. I've drawn enough horses ever since I was a kid, that carving one wasn't that difficult. Well except for the fact that bit of wood is basically a knot and was as tough as nails to carve. (Power tools to the rescue.) I looked on line for other "horse head" sticks, and found that most are very simple, stylized heads. So getting each tiny detail wasn't all that important. (In my drawings, I'd shape every little vein in the horses face. Not necessary here.) Once the head was done, what to do with the rest? I had a lot of ground to cover. Well, I already knew what colors I'd be using. The twist below the head is something I've done many times. This one though, starts to twist in one direction then changes to the other. Something hair might do. Think of that as an extension of the horses mane. I painted it accordingly. Slight highlights just like real hair. Now for the best part. I wanted to use some real horse hair as a decorative feature. But I don't own a horse. I looked on line and pretty much struck out. However, I hike in a local woods where there are frequently horse back riders. One day a pair was just returning and I asked if I might have some horse hair trimmings. The rider very graciously snipped a hand full for me. Originally I wanted to put the hair up under the head. Right over my hair carved twists. This staff is tall enough that I thought this would work. But no. The hair was too long and I really didn't want to give it a hair cut. So I ended up putting it under the hand hold. This works just fine. It can flow in the wind and not get tangled up in your hand. I tied the cut end together tightly and gave the rest a shampoo. Once dry I sewed the ends very tightly into a leather sheath. Then that was sewn under the brown band you see. There was an annoying gap where the clump of hair was so I braided a bit of dear hide and added the black band above the whole thing. Viola! And as with all my sticks, the paint used is an artist grade acrylic, with several coats of clear gloss for added protection. A rubber foot is at the base. (yes removable.)
Tall horse head walking staff with real horse hair decoration.





Thought it might be fun to include a few pictures before this one was finished. Here is a good, yet still rough outline of the head end.