This is a little closer to this current date...it is a hawk...bas-relief in the round done what...just 2 years ago now...maybe 3.
Note the hole through the beak for a lanyard...said lanyard would then appear to be being bitten by said hawk....quite handy really.

I'd show a pick of the entire piece but the additional 21/2 feet of syrian damascus steel (in raindrop pattern) double edged sword attached to the elk hawk handle and guard was rather awkward to fit all into the foto.
The damascus I get is from the self same city from a family I have dealt with for decades....good friends...grandpa, son, grandson....many generations they all work my steel...grand guys really.

P.S. carving the feathers thus did a fab job of enhancing the grip...it gently catches in the hand...stays firm very well...not slick...or smooth if I carved it flush for example.

Only dilemma with antler ever is having to work within the parameters (at times and depending on the project) of the material's natural proportions....hence I didn't want to shave off too much just to make things look needlessly symmetrical in this case...(that piece of elk was pristine too...it would have been a crime to grind away chunks of it ...to not to use it all...so ya )
Oh yes....the process of enhancement and preservation I use is 1st I shape the piece to suit the purpose...then design on it...then carve it...then use a homemade mixture of crushed and ground black walnut shell paste with a carrier linseed oil...coat the entire piece...let it dry...with jewelers tools scrape and polish the most upper exposed flat to the gentle grades going in..giving the enhanced appearance of a greater (false) depth...as if (in this case) the feathers truly went underneath each other...the lighting here was a little too bright to show the proper shadow ...to see in a natural light the true nature of such depth work...The crushed black walnut shell extract seals the antler and helps preserve it ...ad millennium infinitum. Direct antler carving application of work is just as limitless















And I'll pop up other photos...more detailed and diverse in carving and purpose ...(after I finish dinner) ....for your perusal

What I could immediately find of "key pattern work" a more geometric form of patternwork...knotwork...in some cases irregular shapes altered through carving to appear towards center to balance...
none of these is over 2 inches in diameter.fairly small...truly small is expecting detail carved portraiture of your puppy on a 1/4 inch button of antler







Fairly standard knotwork under 1 1/2 inch in diameter and just less than an 1/8 inch thick and pierced through...



And lastly of course zoomorphics are fav of mine...







got a soft spot for this little guy..he was my icon here at tmo for a long time...he's less than an inch square..and 1/8 thick out of narwhal horn...I did even more humour applications ...which since done in B+W was perfect for my coffee mug and some of my blank t-shirts..I don't like to wear logos or advertising ...but I love pleasing to the eye pattern and design.. ...
..or course much of what you have seen thus far was applied to inlay ...gunstocks, hunting knives and bows...all kinds of things...as well I then pull out sketch paper...then do pen and ink...then do finished illustrations...then do graphic comp. ...make silk-screen work...prints...wicked t-shirts etc.. and usually finish either integrating the same carved design into a painting or starting a new oil painting.....this little guy spawned quite a bit of humour actually....




this here is more indicative of what results with pen and ink illustration from a carving. The size of the original (ink) is about 4 feet tall...sharp clean lines...perfect for posters and such...the final design in oil ended up being integrated into a 8 foot tall 12 foot wide scene painting.



I'll stop here or I may as well post my entire portfolio ...but it is in all a small sampler of what varied work I have done and do...I'd show my carved inlaid music instruments off, my work in whale vertebrae, more tools, jewelries, weaponry modern and renovations/ reconstructions and embellishments on period piece weapons ...and more carving and inlay but...I'll leave it there... :

So...there in a brief nutshell is what I do after explanations....sorry 'bout the photo quality... a photographer I am not...so there is a rundown not only of the artistic end of my work but cross applications thrown in.

So ....tighten the post up a bit and...time to go back to the bench and continue on the part...