Swimming Right Whale

View more work by Mitchell Toolie



Mitchell stands out as a carver in his ability to add great motion and realism to his animals.  In this case, the twisting body of  his bowhead whale, the bumps on the snout and position of the flippers all bring this whale to life.  Carved from a dense fossil bone (probably walrus skull), the whale is suspended by a thick brass wire.  The base is a fossil whalebone vertebrae disk with a separate piece of bone jutting upward to provide sufficient height to suspend our swimming bowhead.