Viking Walkingstick

Here are some pics of the new walking stick I've been working on, the designs are a Viking style of knotwork instead of the Celtic knotwork styles I've used before, and I've experimented using wood burning as well as carving, I think the over all design has turned out pretty nice. The piece was made from a branch from an apple tree that got blown over in a storm a few years ago.
There are three sections to the piece, the carved head at the top, an about ten inch section of relief carving, and an area of wood burning on a two foot section of the shaft.


The top was supposed to be like a dragon ship head; but it doesn't look very dragon like to me, style wise I think got it pretty authentic looking to what I wanted, an actual ships head being much larger would be far more detailed; I think I might add a little detail to it with wood burning.

The designs I've used are from a style of Viking design from the late eleventh century, called Urnes Style because of its best known example the Urnes Stave Church in Norway, the oldest remaining stave church and an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Typically the Urnes Style is a broad curved interwoven knotwork plant or animal ornamentation.


The section of relief carving based on some of the carving on the door of the Urnes church. The interpretation of the carving is that it is either a stylised lion, a symbol of Christ fighting a snake symbolizing Satan or a scene from Norse mythology of intertwined snakes and dragons destroying the world during of Ragnarok. I'm of the belief that its of both, as many times pagan symbols were repurposed to be used as christian ones. As in the Thor's Hammer becoming a type of cross.

In the relief carving I changed the beast, whatever it was, to a stylized deer intertwined with some vines or tree trunks or whatever.

And now I'm working adding more Urnes Style designs to the shaft of the walking stick with a wood burning tool.


More to come...