Santa is above everyone else in his concern about global warming as his North Pole home and gift making factory is in jeopardy. Thus, Santa is going “Green” to be environmentally correct and to let the rest of us become aware that we are to be caretakers and responsible managers of the good green earth and blue sky of the atmosphere. Santa teaching us about loving one another and giving gifts of happiness both of which can not be without taking care of the environment in our little corner of the world. In this series of carved jewelry pins, Santa is wearing a Green cap to remind us to be “evergreen” ourselves. Read the rest of this entry »
“THOUGHT FOR FOOD” is a caricature carving of an unemployed professor using a play on words by reversing a familiar saying, “Food for Thought.” This carving depicts a “long in the face” professor who is out of work sitting on philosophy books and surrounded by philosophy books which contain the “Thought” that has shaped critical thinking through out the ages. Read the rest of this entry »
“A BIRDIE” is a play on a golfing term for shooting one under par. However, if one is unfamiliar with golf, the term “a birdie” is confusing in that there is no actual “bird” involved in golf unless the golfer accidentally hits a flying bird with a golf ball. The humor depicted in this carving is the exaggeration of a birdie hatching out of a golf ball. Read the rest of this entry »
The cartoon character Papa Smurf was carved for Wayne Shinlever, a good wood carving friend from Knoxville, Tennessee. Before he retired as Deputy Sheriff his nickname “PAPA SMURF” was given to him. This particular carving is wearing a star to indicate the Deputy Sheriff motif. Papa Smurf stands four inches tall and is two inches wide. The coloring is done with artist oil paint thinned with boiled linseed oil.
Survivor Students of WHITTLE FOLK ART class in Whittle-Carving a Whittle Folk Monk met on Saturday August 23, 2008 at the carving studio of Sam Slagle. In addition to Sam the other students were Karen Christian, Nancy Stevens, Brian Hasinger, Greg Thurston, Alan L. Wurstner, Mary Rose McCrate, Terry Borger, Ed Johnson, Jerry Kalifoot and Joe Lehman. The class began with Whittling Exercise ABC’s of carving a ball on the end of a square stick to learn the basic “slicing cuts” and “knoch cuts” by carving a ball which became a means of learning how to design and carve a human head that can be turned to be looking right or left, be looking up or down or having the head tilted slightly. The rest of the one day class was carving a three inch by one inch square block of basswood into a Whittle Folk Monk. With good humor and intense work each student learned the fine art of “Whittling away time,” while having fun learning together.
Whittle Folk Monks were subject of the one day class.
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“THE FUNDAMENTALIST” is a carving of a caricature interpretation of a strong minded person who is so sure that what that person believes is the only truth and he has the proof to prove it at the end of where his finger is pointing. A fundamentalist could be a preacher, a politician, a lawyer or any opinionated person who sees things only one way, his way and wants to convince anyone who will argue with him the error of their way for not seeing things the way the fundamentalist sees things. Read the rest of this entry »
“Santa carving a Santa” has been a subject carved several times and is being carved again as indicated by the two in the beginning stages of being carved to the basic form. Serving as a back drop are photographs of earlier editions of the same subject and the one in the middle was carved in 1999. The very first one was carved in the mid 90’s as a commission but sad to say there is no photograph of the very first one. Read the rest of this entry »
“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.
