Igil, Never do any thing the easy way

Well fellas and gals I have had a little side project that I would like to share with you. Its not a drawing but more a functional sculpture. Its called an Igil. "An igil (Tuvan- игил) is a two-stringed Tuvan musical instrument, played by bowing the strings. (It is called "ikili" in Western Mongolia.) The neck and lute-shaped sound box are usually made of a solid piece of pine or larch. The top of the sound box may be covered with skin or a thin wooden plate. The strings, and those of the bow, are traditionally made of hair from a horse's tail (strung parallel), but may also be made of nylon. Like the morin khuur of Mongolia, the igil typically features a carved horse's head at the top of the neck above the tuning pegs, and both instruments are known as thehorsehead fiddle." or so wikipedia says. I sort of stumbled across it when i was looking at some other videos and found this one iv always been completely in love with the mongolian people and their culture. After hearing the enchanting and hypnotizing melody of this elegant instrument i knew I needed to have one of my own. I did my research and found a very helpful and talented Kyle Abbott. here is his video  kyle was instrumental (pun intended) in helping me start this project. The first step in the project was to go out and find the raw materials. We have no shortage of wood here in Okotoks we just had a flood and there were more than enough seasoned longs washed up. also i work for the town so i spent most of the week I started the project looking for a log the ideal shape, size and seasoned too.  Paul (my brother) and I headed out in the rain to find the medium for the project. we found two long both poplar. one was about 14 or 16 incest wide and about 5 feet long. the other a little smaller (this is the one paul found). The big long must have weighed around 450 lbs (no joke when we got home we weighed it) we carried it a long way to the truck and our shoulders were sore for the next two days. but what is art with out a little pain. the second long was also carried out of the woods but wasn't nearly as ridicules a trek. (thanks Paul) The next day I spend my hours after work trying to split the big log only to find that the interior was waterlogged and rotted away. The log was completely unusable. after a whole afternoon I switched to the other log. I started the carving like i would any painting working from my largest tool to the smallest. first i hacked away at it with my axe then with my hatchet. I chose to do the whole project with hand tools. no easy task but so much more rewarding than any chain saw or bandsaw could give you. It also gives me the privilege to get to know the wood, its perfections in its imperfections. With out further a due some pictures of what I have done over the last 3 weeks.

this is the big log. rotted through and through

this is the small log. with its first days trim.

starting to look like some thing.

Profile. this is the point I am at now.

Traditionally the head of the Igil is topped with a horses head. now don't get me wrong I have spent more than my fare share of time with horses and I have no special love for them. I always thought of the Igil as a story tellers instrument. and to me the Raven is the story tellers animal. so that is what will be topping my Igil. plus even if it doesn't make music it will  be a beautiful piece for the corner of any room.

After four years I am a big sucker for roughs so these are a few for this project.