PLEASE, no multi invitations or self promotion in your comments, THEY WILL BE DELETED. My photos are FREE for anyone to use, just give me credit and it would be nice if you let me know, thanks – NONE OF MY PICTURES ARE HDR.
Oliver was carved from one-hundred-year-old cypress by Susan R. White. It took her about two months, working six hours a day, five days a week, using hand tools, in the old tradition.
Once Oliver was roughed out, the fine work was done with delicate chisels and gouges. Final sanding was followed with a heavy coat of epoxy to seal all the wood and end grain.
Once the epoxy had cured, the figurehead was again sanded in preparation for final painting and coloring.
Oliver is wearing the dress uniform of John Paul Jones – fitting attire for a frog of Oliver’s stature. In keeping with the general scheme of Larinda, a modified version of a 1767 colonial coastal schooner, period colors were selected for Oliver Southwood’s uniform.
Oliver is holding a very heavy brass telescope. This strong piece lends strength to his otherwise thin arms and hands. ( I realize frogs don’t have arms and hands, but please allow for a little poetic license here. )
During the thirty years of building Larinda there was never any doubt the figurehead would be a frog.
