Elaborate Photos of Hand Made Saber Tooth Tiger

The Puzzle Begins as Winston starts a Hand Made Saber Tooth Tiger made from Picasso Marble, Mother of Pearl and Bolivian Pink Opal. The photos cover Winston's artistic methods over a 6 day period while hand carving a stone masterpiece.

ROUGH CUT FROM PICASSO MARBLE

FOURTH DAY ROUGH CUT FACE AND HEAD

CUT AWAY OF FINE DETAIL LINES FOR NATURAL MUSCLE LOOK

TOP OF HEAD MUSCLES BACKED UP

READY FOR CRATEX WHEELS TO PULL OUT ROUGH CUTS AND COLOR

COVERED IN CRATEX SILICATE CARBIDE RUBBER FROM SEVERAL BULLETS

THREE HOURS OF MULTI GRIT CRATEX TO PULL OUT COLOR AND SMOOTH SHAPE

FIRST LOOK AFTER 320 GRIT SAND PAPER

FINAL AFTER TWO HOURS WITH 400 GRIT PAPPER

THE REAL PICASSO MARBLE SABER TOOTH HEAD

FIFTH DAY HAND MADE DIAMOND BIT CUT HAIR OVER THE TIGER

FIRST LEVEL OF POLISH WITH BOBBING COMPOUND

STIFF BRUSH POLISH AND CLEAN UP IN ALL THE CUTS FOR HAIR

WHITE ROUGE POLISH STEP ONE OF THREE

CARVING READY FOR COMPLETE MOUTH OF TEETH AND TONGUE

CUTTING LARGE FANG FROM MOTHER OF PEARL FIRST ATTEMPT

CUTTING OUT LARGE SABER TOOTH IN MOTHER OF PEARL

WINSTON LOOKS FOR ANOTHER TOOTH IN MOTHER OF PEARL SHELL

FOUND THE RIGHT THICKNESS AND LENGTH FOR LARGE SABER TOOTH

REPLACEMENT TOOTH IN POSITION

MORE COLORFUL TOOTH WITH THE RIGHT ANGEL TO HEAD AND NECK

CUTTING OUT BACK UPPER TEETH

UPPER TEETH CUT OUT READY TO PLACE IN MOUTH

UPPER TEETH SET IN EPOXY LIQUID STEEL FOR A WHOLE NIGHT TO DRY

END DAY FIVE WITH SETTING UPPER TEETH IN SABER TOOTH

CUTTING OUT LOWER SET OF TEETH FROM MOTHER OF PEARL

START OF DAY 6 AND FINAL DAY OF CARVING

CUTTING OUT TONGUE FROM BOLIVIAN OPAL WITH WET DIAMOND

A MOUTH TO CONTEND WITH

DEAD STONE BECOMES LIVE KILLER

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

PICKING THE RIGHT EYE

SPECIAL BLACK EPOXY MIX FOR SETTING EYES

THE EYE ALWAYS BRINGS LIFE TO THE STONE

MANY A HUMAN SKULL WAS LEFT ON THIS EARTH BY THE SABER TOOTH

FINAL TOUCH ON DAY SIX OF ONCE A LIFELESS STONE

A FINISHED TIGER READY FOR THE MASTER SILVER SMITH

Dragon Buckle set in Gold & Silver by Winston

The dragon is in mother of pearl with real buffalo horn, carved into black spikes in the dragons wings  made with silver and 22k gold.

Winston also hand made 18k gold coins set with 11 precious gem stones including Emeralds, Rubies and Sapphires.  The red stones on the outside of the dragon are Garnets.

The back of the dragon buckle is cut and crafted hand made silver, with a gold dragon emblem hand made and signed one of a kind by Winston. This impressive dragon buckle already sold for over $15,000 at JW Coopers.

New Native American Chief Bolo Tie

Winston's Native American Chief is a project that's been on going for over 9 years, it will be finished this month. The carving incorporates real feathers with hand carved feathers just like a real chief's war bonnet which is  made of feathers he received for good deeds to his community.

 Winston's Native American Chief Bolo Tie

The Face is carved from Turquoise, the White Feather is Mother of Pearl and the tips are carved from Picasso Marble. Winston has designed it to be a bolo tie but this hand made bolo will not use the "standard" leather cord.  It will be hanging from silver rope with custom made bullet's tips hanging from the war chief bolo tie. 

The Making of Gold Pirate Belt Buckle Hand Carved by Winston

It's one of Winston's more unusual custom orders and a lot of pre productions was involved to get the buckle to look so unique. The outline face is sketched into the mother of pearl carving.

Time elapse this impressive belt buckle took Winston 8months to make by hand 100%. This is a roughed carved, ready to be detailed stage of the hand carved mother of pearl skull face and coral bandanna.

At this stage Winston's skull buckle carving has had it's eyes set, bandanna finished, earring and gold doubloon added. The hand drawn treasure map behind the face is pre-drawn so the gold work and buckle design will go smoothly.

Hand made gold coin doubloons are individually made one at a time by the artist, all uniquely stamped with ancient pirate symbols. You can see the 22k and 14k gold buckle is also a treasure map rolled up in the corner

The finished buckle is a wonder to look at. The other blog post about this buckle let you see the back side of the hand made pirate skull gold belt buckle signed by the artist Winston. Everything is hand made on the back of the buckle as well and it's solid 22k gold as well. Also you can view Winston's website

How does Winston do that with his big hands?

Winston first starts to make old looking tiny gold coins.  "I melt down scrap 18k gold into tiny round balls of different sizes"

Winston then takes a front hard steel shaft off of a motorcycle and cut the end of it out with carbide tools to look like a old pirate Doubloon.  

Then Winston sets up a small anvil inside of a open bottom plastic can with a white garbage bag. "so I won't loose the tiny shooting gold coin doubloons down the drain" he say's chuckling to himself.

The next step for Winston is to pound out each ball of gold into a tiny coin, then gold solder "mini hand made gold doubloons one by one" on the gold face of the buckle.
View the finished doubloons polished and attached to the buckle. 

The finished product below is a artistic wonder to look at..

                   View more of Winston's hand carved art at www.winstonbuckles.com

22K Gold Pirate Skull Belt Buckle by Winston

This is a solid 22K Gold Buckle and it is hand carved & fabricated with only one cast piece.  The  skull is carved from mother of pearl and the side hanging bandanna is red coral. The small doubloons are all hand made small gold coins of 14k pure gold, including the one in the pirates mouth. Total weight in gold is 51/2 troy ounces

It's one of Winston's more unusual custom orders and a lot of pre productions was involved to get the buckle to look so unique, such as the custom made blood shot eye's made of glass. The price of gold these days just keeps going up and so do Winston's skills as an artist (he gets better with age going on his 40th year of precious stone carving and sculpting) Time elapse this impressive belt buckle took Winston eight months to sketch then make, style, assemble and polish by hand 100%.

Below you can see the back side of the hand made pirate skull gold belt buckle signed by the artist Winston. Everything is hand made on the back of the buckle as well. Made from solid 22k gold with Winston's own hand engraved story on the back (read the history of the buckle below on photo)

The carving sold for $17,000 and is currently estimated to be worth $34,000 Just like his past work the price value always goes up and up over time. 

Read More: Robb Report Article on Winston's Buckles 

Visit Winston's Website:  winstonbuckles.com 

AFRICAN LION & PERSIAN CAT BELT BUCKLE

 THE PESAIN CAT HAS REAL WHISKERS FROM A NYLON PAINT BRUSH EACH COUNTER SUNK WITH IT'S OWN TINY HOLE.  
Hand Carved Persian Cat Buckle made of Mother of Pearl and Sterling Silver this entire project was Hand Made and Carved by Winston.

Close up shot of Winston's Hand Carved African Lion Buckle.
Made from Mother of Pearl and Sterling Silver.

Winston hand makes every piece from the silver to the stone.

AFRICAN LION BOTH IN GOLD LIP MOTHER OF PEARL SHELL WITH ACTUAL GLASS EYES.  

 100% HAND MADE ONE OF A KIND ORIGINAL BY WINSTON.

SMALLEST SABER TOOTH EVER OUTSIDE TO OUTSIDE OF SILVER THE BUCKLE MEASURES 2 5/8" HIGH BY 3 7/8" LONG

THESE PHOTOS RUN OVER A SEVEN DAY PERIOD OF TIME DURING PRODUCTION OF MY SMALLEST SABER TOOTH EVER. OUTSIDE TO OUTSIDE OF SILVER THE BUCKLE MEASURES 2 5/8" HIGH BY 3 7/8" LONG. IT FITS A 1 1/2" STRAP. NOTICE THAT SEVERAL THINGS WERE RE-CARVED DURING THE PROCESS. THE FRONT TOOTH, TOP TEETH, TONGUE, BACK OF NECK. THE CARVING IS ONLY 5/8" DEEP FROM THE BACK OF THE BUCKLE TO THE TOP OF THE CARVING. FOR THAT REASON IT IS MUCH LIGHTER THAN THE ONE CURRENTLY IN NEW YORK. THE SILVER IS MUCH LESS BUSY, I THINK IT REALLY ADDS TO THE CARVING. I HOPE THIS IS WHAT EVERYONE WAS LOOKING FOR. HE LOOKS FIVE TIMES BETTER THAN THE PHOTOS IN REAL LIFE COLOR. I WILL PUT HIM IN A BLACK EBONY WOODEN BOX AS WELL. ALL THE BEST, WINSTON



Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.


We include the individual photos he took over this 7 day project, please enjoy. You can comment if you have questions Winston answers his own email.

Hand carved mother of pearl carved into a skull

From the legendary stone carver Winston comes another beautiful skull buckle, made of hand carved mother of pearl carved into a skull and then hand finished by hours of sanding, buffing and polishing the rock into a majestic piece of art. What kind of rock does Winston use you may ask? That's just part of the secret of skull artist Winston, this particular carving is one of Winston's newest carvings made of mother of pearl and sterling silver the silver around the buckle is also hand made and one of a kind and numbered 1 of 3,225 original piece is set to be sold at the up coming store or it is already sold. The best nature of this carver is his ability to be creative with precious stones such as turquoise , crystal, mother of pearl and Opal. He is best known for his buckles but Winston has had a life's work as a carving artist. He has in his possession two large sculptures that will in time become priceless according to this article in the Robb Report November 2006 page 329, If his belt buckles go up in price every year than who's to say about the price of his sculptures (follow this link) http://www.robbreport.com/Style-Bang-for-the-Buckle.aspx

Winston's original art catalog can be viewed on his website can be viewed on his website at www.winstonbuckles.com

Winston's turquoise sculptures and art/jewelry have been included in numerous
MUSEUM AND GALLERY SHOWS:

J.W.COOPER GALLERY
TIME WARNER BUILDING, NEW YORK
The six and one half year long work of art by Winston "True Forefathers" Currently is on display at J.W.Cooper in the front entrance of the Time Warner Building at Columbus Circle in downtown New York

WESTERN HERITAGE GALLERY
SCOTTSDALE ARIZONA
"True Forefathers" a three foot tall turquoise eagle with eight famous Native Americans was shown Fall of 1996.

GENE AUTRY MUSEUM
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Carefully selected works from the Spirit of America Gallery in Beverly Hills were auctioned at major celebrity charities in the Gene Autry Museum in the early 1990's

TOM CHAUNCEY MUSEUM
SCOTTSDALE ARIZONA
Chauncey Arabians purchased from Winston the thirteen pound turquoise eagle seen on the front cover of Rock and Gem Magazine Aug 1987. The sculpture was later retired to a museum by his family in Scottsdale. It sat along side of the larger than life sculpture Number 2 of John Wayne.

FISHER DIVING COLLECTION
SPRINGFIELD MISSOURI
Winston's large 75 pound turquoise eagle sculpture "True Forefathers" was shown with the famed Fisher Diving Collection – a collection of gold and gems.

GILBERT ORTEGA MUSEUM AND GALLERY
SANTA FE NEW MEXICO
Shown was the first casting of "True Forefathers" a one hundred and thirty pound crushed turquoise molded copy of the original.

PUBLICATIONS
There have been numerous articles in national magazines including:
Robb Report NOV 2006 page 329
RR listed his buckles: one of a hundred most tasteful ways to celebrate the holiday season.
winstonbuckles.com created in 2004
Rock and Gem Magazine AUG 1987 Front Cover
Rock and Gem Magazine APR 1981 pages 56-59
Jewelers Keystone Magazine
JKM listed him in the top 10 carvers in the US Mid 90 retail stores.

WINSTON’S FORMER RETAIL STORES
Winston Minerals – Fountain Hills, AZ
Studio Winston – Laguna Beach, CA
Winston the Carving Cowboy – Ruidoso, NM