“The Inventor of the TOOTH BRUSH” was inspired by a humorous story that the “tooth brush” was invented in _________ (a state noted for hillbillies) and as everybody knows, hillbillies have very few teeth.  With this caricature carving, this hillbilly pointing to a tooth brush with a one tooth grin on his face indicating his pride in himself for inventing the “tooth brush.”   If it was invented anywhere else it would have been called a “Teeth  Brush.”   This story is an illustration of how funny common things are named which does not always fit the actual description as in, “Why do we drive on a parkway and park in the drive way?”  Such play on words often give inspiration to a carving idea.  This carving was whittle-carved with only a knife out of a one inch square by five inch tall basswood blank and was colored using the “painting softly” method described elsewhere in this blog.