Capturing the Art of a Tansel Powder Horn
Foreword: Tansel powder horns have fascinated collectors for years with their large federal eagles, dogs chasing deer, and heroes of the day. Much of the interest comes from each Tansel horn being unique, offering something new to collectors. But the rarity of Tansel powder horns allows many collectors to see only a few of the known horns. Years ago, the author decided to begin making the artwork on Tansel horns more available to historians and collectors by doing ink drawings of all the Tansel horns he could get access to, in addition to those where he could get owners [often auction houses and museums] to provide good photos. So far, about 115 Tansel powder horns have been documented in ink sketches. Some sketches have appeared in prior magazine articles on the Tansel family and their horns, and all sketches will eventually be available in a reference book on the Tansel horn carvers and their powder horns. In the meantime, readers may enjoy seeing how a Tansel powder horn ink sketch takes form, from beginning to end.
Author’s Horn Sketches: This short article will not overwhelm readers with all the steps in preparation, preliminary pencil sketching, and final inking needed to produce a Tansel powder horn sketch. Those interested in more details can find them in the author’s article, “The Art and Craft of Sketching Powder Horns,” published in The Honourable Company of Horners’ book, The Hartley Horn Drawings, A Collection of Powder Horn Drawings by Robert M. Hartley [2010], with copies on Ebay. This “overview” article simply shows the daily progress while sketching an Indiana Tansel powder horn, from start to finish. Each image was made at the end of a work session. Session times varied, depending on how long the author could work before his eyes get blurry or his hand stiff, at which time he stopped rather than risk mistakes… especially when doing the final inking. The pictures begin with the first day’s pencil sketching and end with the last day’s finished ink sketch.
Session #1: After the first drawing session, light working lines had been laid out [very light and hard to see], and a decision made on where to locate the eagle to prevent the second major figure, a lady, from running off the top or bottom of the paper. The main figure, the federal eagle, was then sketched in pencil. Not only placement but orientation of the eagle is important for achieving a realistic final ink drawing.
Session 2: The horn’s second major figure, a lady, was added in this session, along with two secondary figures of a dog and deer. A good pencil sketch starts with the eagle, followed by the figures closest to the eagle and working outward as more figures are added. A faint line marks the border of the carved area to the right of the deer, used to locate figures correctly and scale figures better. It is the first step in outlining the edges of the horn’s body around the artwork.
Session 3: It was a short session, with only two deer and a partial dog figure at the bottom being sketched. Faint lines now mark the right and bottom edges of the decorated area on the horn’s surface. Unusual figures take longer to draw than “standard” Tansel figures; on this horn, the lady and the deer with turned head and stiff front legs were non-standard figures requiring more time.
Session 4: This was a long session with all remaining carved figures penciled into place, including the scalloped basal border. After the figures were in place, the outline of the horn’s skin, or decorated area, was finalized around the figures. The last items sketched were the horn’s spout and butt plug, since they cannot be properly located until the final outline of horn body is completed.
Session 5: The inking process started in this session, with the outside edges of the horn’s skin inked first. Figures then began to be inked, started at the bottom and then the side of the drawing, so inking was always done from the outer edges working inward to prevent smudging the remaining penciled-in figures. Fine shading lines [eagle’s feathers, border scallops, etc.] are not added until the figure is inked; fine shading is then done free hand while inking the figure.
Session 6: The eagle is the most complex figure on a Tansel powder horn, with its “million” small details including shading/veining feathers, stars, and banners. Therefore, the eagle takes more time than other figures to ink. In this session, it was the only figure inked due to the time involved, making the session one of the longer in the horn’s sketching process.
Sessions 7: This session completed the inking of all remaining dog and deer plus the narrow “wedding band” bead/ridge separating the horn body and throat. The horn body’s skin, or decorated surface, was finally done.
Session 8: The last session inked the horn’s spout and plug. Both ends of the horn require attention to how light reflects off their curved surfaces, so they will appear natural. This plug had several small wood chips missing around its base, requiring pre-sketching with awareness of how light changes/reflects in the darker chipped areas.
Last Detail: After the horn sketch is inked, its pencil marks must be carefully removed/erased with a soft erasure to eliminate all traces of the preliminary pencil work. The clean-up process is done gently so the paper surface is not discolored or damaged. When finished and all erasure “dirt” discarded, the finished drawing has only its last and most enjoyable step remaining. Each horn sketch is then signed and dated in the lower right area, signifying another original Tansel powder horn has its artwork documented for posterity.
Documentation: Documenting original Tansel horns today will prove valuable in the future. Many Tansel horn copies are being made, most of which are easily identified. But some copies by better craftsmen are being aged and antiqued with added wear and damage patterns, making them much harder to identify. Over time, with more handling, more dings, and more dirt… and unfortunately the removal of the carvers’ identification… some new horns will become almost indistinguishable from original horns, making documented horns more desirable and valuable.