An Unexpected Use for a Dental Drill



May 22, 2005 -- Artist Clare Sieffert has found a unique use for dental equipment. She uses an ultra high speed handpiece and dental drill bits to carve one-of-a-kind works of art on gunstocks and pistol grips. This high tech tool is a kissing cousin of the same tool your dentist uses to drill your teeth. Ouch! Like your dentist's drill, it is powered by a large air compressor and turbine, and spins at an astounding 400,000 revolutions per minute! This ultra high speed and the tiny size of dental drill bits, makes it possible for Ms Sieffert to carve designs of great delicacy and detail in wood, unaffected by the direction of the grain.
    
Ms Sieffert carves and paints portraits, wildlife and hunting scenes on gunstocks. Her clients decorate their rifles, shotguns and pistols with memorials of their children, their dogs and their prize trophies. She has been an illustrator and portrait painter for many years and offers another unique service to gun owners.
She embeds oil portraits under the finish of gunstocks. They are not photo transfers of some sort. They are hand painted, using artists' oil paint and a tiny brush. Portraits or wildlife scenes can stand alone, or have a painted or carved frame.
    
After bleaching the area to be painted, the artist applies one coat of a linseed oil based gunstock finish to it. Then she paints the portrait with brown artists' oil paint, which is also linseed oil based. After the painting dried, multiple coats of the gunstock finish and gun wax were applied on top of the painting to protect it. The painting will last as long as the rest of the finish of the gun lasts.
    
The artists achieves a remarkable illusion of depth and space in wildlife scene carvings while removing very little actual wood from the gunstock. Ms Sieffert also uses her dental drill to carve eggshells into works of art.
    
She offers her skills to gun owners under the name "The Virginia Gunstock Carver". Clients can specify what they desire to be carved or painted down to the last detail, or they can be very vague and leave the design up to the artist. More information, and many design suggestions can be seen on her website: www.csarts.info     She can also be contacted by phone: (540) 563-5911.





An Unexpected Use for a Dental Drill