“No Comment,”  is the position of this blog as its main purpose is instructional, informative and encouraging of woodcarving.  Other blogs may be set up for interactive comments and ongoing discussions, but for this blog, comments are not solicited due to uncontrollable span and spurious dirty tricks.  So do not try to log in to make comments because that function is basically blocked.

“About the Carver”  under “Main Menu”  has contact information for any specific question.

“No Sale”  from this blog which is designed to give instructional, informational and encouraging of woodcarving items of interest to all who visit.  The WOOD BEE CARVER participates in a few woodcarving shows throughout the year where carvings may be purchased.

Woodbeecarver.com is a virtual tour of the journey of carving projects and ideas by the WOOD BEE CARVER  that are shared openly to all who visit by way of the internet.

Thank you for your visits and always remember “Would be carvers would be carvers it they would carve wood.”   After each visit, carve something on your own realizing “that the more you carve the better you carve”  and the only way to learn is to “carve as often as possible.”  

Woodcarving is an open door to friendships made and being made.  A carving can be an extension of the personality of the carver, so much so that we can know the carver through their carving without having met one another in real life.

The “Cajun Band”  carved by Dan Slater   is an example of the “Woodcarving Friendship Connection.”

Around 1987 I met Ray Johnson who talked with me about starting a local woodcarving group.  Just as the group got organized, Ray moved to Nevada for health reasons and I did not hear from him for years until about two years ago.  We communicated by way of email and internet connections.  Ray’s health continued to fail resulting in his death.  His good friend Dan let me know of his passing.  Thus it was through Ray that I met Dan long distance through email and internet connections.  Recently Dan emailed me photos of a recent carving project.  His “Cajun Band”  is such a clever idea and well carved so I requested permission to post more photos of his “Cajun Band”  so that visitors to this site could be inspired and encouraged by these wonderful carvings.  Dan also shared a few words about his project.

Take a photographic journey along the path of the development and completion of the “Cajun Band”  while appreciating the creative ability of carving friend Dan Slater who becomes your friend as well in the “Woodcarving Friendship Connection.”

                                 Dan says, “As far as how the idea came to be, well it started with a mouse.  I have a friend who plays the violin and was recently married.  She’s pretty small so I thought a mouse playing a violin would be a fun idea for a wedding gift.  She loved the mouse.    Well I thought that the mouse was fun so I thought why not do a whole band.  The cajun theme came from that.  The Maestro was an idea that got stuck in my head and wouldn’t leave.  I interrupted the band to carve him.  Overall the band took about 8-11 months carving off and on I’d guess.  My big mistake on this was scale.  I figured the piano should be 1″ to the foot.  Well that was fine but it meant that the rabbit on the violin is about 2.5″ tall.  Ever try to carve a violin 1.25″ long?

I work full time and do a lot of overtime and even attend classes at UNLV as well.  As a result I don’t have a lot of time to sit and whittle.  Where I do get a bit of time is at red lights.  I drive a lot as part of my job.  A lot of the band was carved at those.  My car is usually full of chips.

The band is carved with knives and palm gouges.  About the only power I used was in texturing the alligator skin,  It would have taken too much time to do it with gouges.  The paints are acrylic and they are sealed with deft.”

Thank you Dan for a carving theme that is music to our eyes and carving spirit.  Keep the “Woodcarving Friendship Connection”  connected.

Helvie Knives  is introducing Series # 3 Signature knife of the WOOD BEE CARVER series that can be considered a “detail carving knife.”  The knife is pictured in front of two characters called “Traveler” which were carved using the knife in the picture.  Each “Traveler” is carved out of a one inch square by three inch tall block of basswood.  The Series # 3 Signature knife blade is an inch and a quarter long with a curving up cutting edge to meet the twelve degree slope of the back edge.  This design of the blade allows for a slicing cut almost any way it is used in a push or pull slice as well as sideway, upside down and right side up direction of the slicing cut.  Go to “Cool Links”  and click on “Helvie Knives”  to find ordering information.

Two three day classes in Whittle-Carving were held at the Burchfield Nature and Art Center in West Seneca, NY April 20 through 25.  Twelve students made up the first three day class and thirteen students made up the second three day class.

Those attending the first class and pictured in the first photograph below are Mark Dobrzenski, Lyle Morgan, Rob Lucci, Rich Ralthel, Don Arnett, Paul Yaeger, Joe Bublinski, Joe Reimers, Angelo Partlato, Jim Gardon and Leon Standish.

The second photograph  below is of the second class which included Paul Yarrows, Bob Longyear, Doug Bathke, Jeremiah, Bill Kushner, Bonnie Powell, Ken Kohl, Dot Kohl, Rich Reimers, Bill Sager, Mary Vanderbosch, Larry Bishop and Bob Chaffee.

The central theme of each class was learning face carving using only a knife to shape the wood using the Rule of Three of Facial Proportions as the overall guideline.  Several carving exercises were introduced to learn to slice with the cutting edge while making  notch cuts and three cut triangular cuts in order to open up the block of wood to begin shaping into the angles and planes of the face while rounding square corners and flattening round surfaces.  Students chose a major carving project in which to apply the lessons learned during the various exercises.  Many chose a human figure from among the variety of carved go-bys that were used as models in carving a similar project.  Students were very intent upon learning while the time passed all too rapidly as the end of the third day came too soon.  All students agreed that they learned much especially how to survive carving only with a knife.

The WOOD BEE CARVER made new friends in the wood carving family of carvers in Western New York.  Making new and lasting friends is perhaps the most important thing about participating in a carving seminar making us all “survivors” to carve another day.

Thanks to Ken Kohn and wife Dot for organizing these classes and hosting me in their home.  Below are a series of photographs depicting the instructor’s demonstrations with each student.

This Whittle Doodle  was carved to be one segment in a Friendship Cane to be given as a surprise at a forthcoming woodcarving show to a person who has contributed much to the carving community.  A Whittle Doodle is doodling with a knife to carve faces in relief and embellish blank space with free hand chip carving.  Click on each photo to see a larger version.  The monochrome finish is artist oil paint Raw Sienna mixed with Boiled Linseed Oil followed by a protective finish of Deft and then Howard Feed and Wax. The block of basswood is three inches tall and approximately two inches square.