Rich, Holli and daughter Skylar Smithson are owners and manufacturers of Helvie Knives which includes their signature series. The carving of Cinderella utilized three Signature Knives in carving a ten inch tall Cinderella on a two and a quarter inch by four and a quarter inch base. Skylar especially likes the Princess characters of Disney creation and is the recipient of this carving to add to her collection as a three and half year old who loves wood carvings.
Every carving project is a learning experience in which the carver attempts to create the best features of a particular subject. Carving the female face is more of a challenge than doing a caricature of a male face because female features are soft while the male face has hard lines. So even though Skylar immediately recognized the carving as being Cinderella by saying “It is HER,” yet from this carver’s perspective the face is not as soft, feminine or as youthful as had been hoped. So it is back to trying again on the next feminine project to carve the face closer to as it should be. This is another example that carving is an every growing and learning experience with each carving being simply a “practice piece” from which to continue to do one’s best. Read the rest of this entry »
Pictured to the left are the Survivor Students of the Whittle-Carving Class taught in Camdenton, MO (Lake of the Ozarks region) August 3-5, 2012. Included in the photo are Jim Wilson, Ray Fisk, Wally Norman, Jim Long, Brad Welch, Bonita Richards, Carolyn Curtis, Tom Wyrink, John Sejod, Barry Gentile, Tom Leaset, Marilyn Peck, Ken Gossage and Bud Murray.
Students learned in the knife carving class the basics for using a knife in a slicing action to make notch cuts and three cut triangular cuts to open up a block of wood for additional cuts to shape the project to its basic form. These cuts fall into the mantra that “one cut is not a cut to end all cuts,” but only an opening so that additional cuts can be made. To accomplish these lessons a three version face study stick was carved as the beginning project to not only practice the slicing cuts but also to learn about the Rule of Three of Facial Proportions. Read the rest of this entry »
Pictured to the left are the Survivor Students of the Whittle-Carving Class taught in Camdenton, MO (Lake of the Ozarks region) August 3-5, 2012. Included in the photo are Jim Wilson, Ray Fisk, Wally Norman, Jim Long, Brad Welch, Bonita Richards, Carolyn Curtis, Tom Wyrink, John Sejod, Barry Gentile, Tom Leaset, Marilyn Peck, Ken Gossage and Bud Murray.