The Annual Meeting of the Caricature Carvers of America  will convene September 21, 2012 in Sacramento, CA.  Membership   is limited to twenty five active members with an additional group of Emeritus Members who have served in past years.  At each Annual Meeting members trade carvings among themselves as a way to collect carvings of fellow members.  Here is a sneak peek at Trade Carvings from the 2011 meeting that is normally only seen by members at annual meeting and is shared here to highlight examples of caricature carvings. Read the rest of this entry »

Tree Noggins  have been a staple carving project that is a good exercise in face carving with a rustic flair as well as a novelty carving that is popular at carving shows.  Here is the latest edition of Tree Noggins  to compliment previous postings on the same subject.  Leading the parade is another “split personality” carving in a basswood limb that contains both a white colored wood and a honey brown colored wood.  Looking straight into the face one can notice a crooked smile.  Looking at the profile of the white side of face one notices a smile while looking at the darker profile one sees a frown.  Sixteen Tree Noggins follow in a photographic journey with a variety of faces that were all carved using only a knife. (click on each photo to enlarge) Read the rest of this entry »

Egg Noggins  are carved out of a basswood hen egg into either a single head or an elongated bust.  Pictured here is a clown head, a couple of Clown busts, two Pirate busts and a candle carrying old geezer in his night shirt and cap.  These are a continuation of the ongoing development of Egg Noggins  depicted in earlier postings. (click on photo to enlarge) Read the rest of this entry »

A Fifty Wedding Anniversary  gift was carved out of a butternut wood strip measuring six inches long, two and a half  inches tall and a half inch thick.  The letters ”L – O – V –E”  were drawn on the wood freehand with each letter slightly behind the preceding letter in a stair step fashion. Knife cuts were used to shape the letters with the help of a gouge.   A shallow gouge was used to texture the front of the letters while the number five was recessed in the back to join with the opening of the letter “O”  to form the number “50”. A Danish Oil finish was applied followed with a soft paste wax that was buffed to a rich sheen.  The Love plaque is intended to stand on its own as a table top decoration with the beauty of love backed up with fifty years of marriage.  All of which is a metaphor for a love that lasts.

The pumpkin egg noggin carved out of a basswood hen egg was being used as a “go by” in a class taught at the recent Caricature Carvers of America Seminar in Converse, Indiana.  Dale Kirkpatrick, aka Carver Dale was using it as a study guide while carving an egg noggin for himself.  A fly landed on the pumpkin’s  head and being the ever alert observer that he is, Dale took a picture at just the right time to capture an amusing scene.  It appears that the eyes of the pumpkin are looking directly at the uninvited fly. Now that is what is called “serendipity.” Read the rest of this entry »