Making a
Character Slot
The process of making a hand carved character slot takes a great deal of artistry and little bit of production line efficiency. It all starts with several large blocks of wood. The individual blocks are glued and pressed together to create the necessary thickness. Patterns, similar to those that are used to make a suit of clothes, are used to cut the wood into roughly shaped legs and arms.
These legs and arms are then further carved by chainsaws and chisels and sanded to create the realistic human looking model. The arms and legs even have realistic carved wrinkes in them. The legs are proportioned to the style of the slot machine selected to create added realism.
The most difficult and time consuming part is the careful carving required to create the head and face. Each head is hand carved with a full head of hair and glass eyes, if requested.
After all the body parts are carved, they are assembled together. A fully restored slot machine is placed on the legs and last, but not least, our newly created friend is dressed up in authentic buckskin, cowboy hat, headdress, or whatever is necessary to recreate the image you are trying to replicate. Genuine hand-tooled holsters are specially made for the different cowboys. As difficult and time consuming as the wood carving is, just imagine how difficult and time consuming it is to find a full Indian headdress or stitch up a buckskin outfit. The end result of these weeks of effort is a unique, truly one of a kind, collector's piece.
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