Winston started his carving career as a hobby in his garage in 1976. Winston has made thousands of original pieces over the last 35 years. Today he currently specializes in custom belt buckles and stone sculptures who's style and originality are comparable to no other.
"Everything you can imagine is real. Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." ~ Pablo Picasso
As a 50th year birthday gift to his wonderful better half Kelly, Winston hand carved and made this one of a kind belt buckle. In honor of the great Artist Picasso.
The buckle is hand carved and made of thirteen different pieces of precious stones including mother of pearl, picasso marble, turquiose and multiple colored jem stones. This original by Winston is one of a kind and here is a step by step process on how the artist put the beautiful buckle together.
On October 24th 2015 Winston Packaged this Hand Carved Eagle into a sealed canister and sent it flying high into the Las Vegas, NV jet stream.
The Eagle is Hand Carved by Winston and is one of a kind.
The Gold Lip Mother Of Pearl Eagle is mounted into a sterling silver frame and can be worn as a necklace.
Deep in the Nevada desert Winston walks to the highest peak to release the eagle carving via orange and black balloons and one sparkly alien head balloon.
The balloons are attached to a protected capsule with Winston's hand carved eagle and certificate of authenticity safely inside.
Winston does a preflight check before lift off.
Below is a video posted on youtube of the event on 10-24-1015
Tracking the jet stream on his Phone the carving flew 150 degrees South East. Headed for Flagstaff or possibly as far as Southern Arizona
Above on map one Winston marked the exact coordinates of the lift off. They launched it from The Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.
From the compass in the image above you can see which way the eagle flew in a South East direction at 150 degrees towards Flagstaff, Arizona. However after recalculating the jet streams Winston believes the capsule went South East at 50 mph only to hit a 80 to 100 mph jet stream headed north east meaning the capsule could be anywhere in the mid west from Texas to as far north as Michigan or Maine.
Here is the certificte of authenticenty and a picture of the eagle that were placed in the protected capsule and sent into the sky. Be looking out for a cluster of orange and black balloons with one sparkly alien female face balloon. Stay posted for more info on where the eagle landed and who found it.
Winston and Kelly wish you best of luck and may the one who finds this eagle carving be blessed.
"Snow Leopard of Fire" This carving just left Winston's Studio for JW COOPER in the Famous Bal Harbour Shops of Miami. Made of Hand Carved Mother of Pearl, Sterling Silver and a Branch Coral Tongue, This Snow Leopard Jumps with Life. Call 305-861-4180 J.W.Cooper for more information on this hand made buckle.
Posted are pictures of Winston's New Super Bowl Belt Buckles.Winston will be available today February 1st 2015 at The Gilbert Ortega Gallery.
You can view these two handmade Super Bowl Belt Buckles in Scottsdale, Arizona at The Gilbert Ortega Gallery located at 7155 East Fifth Ave, Scottsdale AZ 85251 (on the corner of 5th Street and Scottsdale Rd)
Turquoise sculpture by Winston valued at $10.00 per carat.
In today's rare turquoise market that adds up equaling
$1,064,550.00 (for the cost of the turquoise un-carved)
Winston sculpted this work over a six year period in his life.
The life size eagle has in addition 8 famous Native Americans
hiding in and about representing Winston's title for this sculpture.
Titled: OUR TRUE FOREFATHERS
CURRENTLY: This original sculpture is being prepared for a Super Bowl weekend show in downtown Scottsdale at the world famous Gilbert Ortega's 5th Avenue Trading Co.
(on the corner of 5th Ave. and Scottsdale Road)
Showing dates are Jan. 30th and 31st from 10am to 5pm
Come celebrate with us the best Mother Nature has to offer in large gemstones.
Winston has finished a custom handmade buckle for the famous author Patricia Cornwell. The carving is based on one of the characters "Lucy Farinelli" in her new novel Flesh and Blood. The carving simply titled Lucy was finished and sent to Patricia in November of 2014. Below are images of Patricia wearing the buckle surrounded by friends as well as a close up of the beautiful handmade buckle made by Winston.
Why Lucy? In the her new novel Flesh and BloodScarpetta investigates a shipwreck, looking for answers that only she can discover and analyze. And it is there that she comes face to face with shocking evidence that implicates her techno genius niece, Lucy, Scarpetta’s own flesh and blood.
Winston visited Arizona in December of 2014 and wanted to show his new buckle to Alice Cooper the owner of Cooperstown. Unfortunately Alice wasn't at the restaurant at the time of Winston's arrival. However the staff and our waitress Alisha was very kind and intrigued at the newly made belt buckle. Here are some images of Winston showing off his handmade buckle at Cooperstown in downtown Phoenix, Arizona.
The food, drinks and service was great. Winston recommends a visit to Alice Cooperstown if you're in the neighborhood. Located next to Talking Stick Resort Arena in Downtown Phoenix.
This is not the first time this has happened to the artist Winston. It’s actually happened to him twice over the past 6 years. He most recently had one of his Original Pirate Head Buckles gone missing from the courier (a local UPS drop off / P.O. Box facility in Las Vegas) Unfortunately Winston only had $500 of insurance from UPS and to top that off he will have to re-carve the buckle again so he can get it to his customer who special ordered it.
Title: Jack The Pirate
Why does this matter? Well, first of all Winston recently celebrated his 67th birthday in October of 2014. Nevertheless he's popular, his carvings are in demand and he's backed up with custom orders to fill. The lost buckle slows down his production time and makes it hard for him to fill his seasonal orders to retailers such as J.W. Cooper in Bal Harbour, FL
The missing buckle is numbered and signed by Winston with an inscription etched into the backside of the silver and gold buckle. Winston said " If this carving is ever found it would be a miracle. I wonder how many years after my death it will take for that buckle to resurface" Then he chuckled his usual lighthearted laughter and said "Love you son, I got to go.. Times a wastin!"
This Mother of Pearl above has been hand ground by Winston and ruffly polished using a large diamond bit grinding wheel. Then edged and prepped to reveal it's natural white and yellow mixed colors. Each Piece is different because it's pearl-yellow flows one way and it's pearl-white mixes in beautifully a different way in every piece.
Winston Draws The Custom Buckle Onto The Mother Of Pearl
Before He Extracts it From the Pearl
Now it's time to take the edges off and rough the carving out
Back Side of The Eagle Head Carving
The Beak and Feathers of the Eagle are starting to come to life
Finally after 3 days The Eagle Buckle is Finished
Before Gold and Silver Mounts are added.
Winston announced: "It's with a humble pride that I gratefully offer this eagle carving to the winner of this years World Championship Belt Buckle contest. We americans carry a certain pride of this soaring bird where some of us have even been very fortunate to carve or paint his image. May you and your family wear him for many generations to come."
Snow Leopard Carving by Winston. Sterling Silver Belt Buckle all Hand Made. Currently featured on the front page of JWcooper.com
Hand Carved Mother of Pearl. American Bald Eagle by Winston. Sterling Silver buckle and Hand Made Gold Stars. This buckle is one of a kind and was sold at JW Copper's Website
Winston has hand made a Eagle War Bonnet. The eagle is considered by Plains tribes as the greatest and most powerful of all birds, and thus the finest bonnets are made out of its feathers. it was also a mark of highest respect because it could never be worn without the consent of the leaders of the tribe.
Each feather is also hand tied with real down feathers. The colored hand made indian war bonnet in front of the feathers is cut gem stones and not glass beads. Winston added real weasel tails and fur hanging from the hand made bolo tie.
Real hand tied red felt feathers. Each mother of pearl carved feather is tipped with a dark Picasso marble tip. Each feather is also hand tied with real down feathers.
The First and Only Winston Has Made in 37 Years of Carving. All Hand Made Coins are 18K Gold Including The Pirates Gold Tooth. Hand Made Sterling Silver Buttons in The Black Beard Pirate's Hat. The Gold Earring Actually Dangles From The Pirates Ear.
Winston has signed every carving he's made over the last 37 years. The gold and silver work is hand made as well including the18K Gold Flag on Back of Ring.
On the back of this 1 of a kind hand made ring Winston not only signed it he wrote a message It reads: Are ye dare'n to be wear'n the ring mate! The Silver Ring Band is Hand Made Cut Wide for Wearability. It Covers 4 Fingers on a Normal Size Hand.
This ring has already been sold but when asked if he would make another WInston said maybe.. He explained it was very hard to make the ring because of the miniature size. The hand made carving and design process Winston uses to make this ring is not like any other. The custom gold and silver pirate ring is not a cast ring you can order by the hundreds from china. It's made in the USA, It's the old ways of making jewelry by hand. Made by a artist with a true vision and complete control over all his custom carvings.
