BEE ALL YOU CAN BEE ~ The Bumble Bee can not fly, at least that was the determination of aerodynamic engineers who concluded that the Bumble Bee’s wings are too small and weak and its body too large and heavy to be able to fly.
BUT no one told the Bumble Bee and it flies.
Be all you can be by always thinking, ” I can if I try for I am to be all I can be.”
The WOOD BEE CARVER sez, “Would be carvers would be carvers it they would carve wood.”
~~~~~BEE ALL YOU CAN BEE!~~~~~
THINK INSIDE THE BLOCK can be taken one of two ways. One is to “think inside the block HEAD,” as in using one’s head in the carving process. One can not carve what one does not see inside their head, inside imagination and inside creative dreaming. The other “think inside the block,” is to look deep into a block of wood with imagination to see the carving to be set free during the carving process.
That which is in one’s “Block Head” is all of one’s carving experiences and desire to carve an idea that awaits to be set free. Each carver builds upon what one has already experienced while at the same time allowing the carving process to lead into new experiences of creativity. But that will never happen unless the carver puts the carving tool into the block of wood to begin the process of removing excess wood to set free the carving inside the block. Read the rest of this entry »
These three photographs of two views of a Civil War Soldier bust and a Sea Captain bust show the beginning of busts carved to their basic form. They are ready to receive detail carving to bring life to their face and outfits. Read the rest of this entry »
The WOOD BEE CARVER likes to tinker and doodle with ideas and innovations that spring from childhood memories. Perhaps that is one of the motivations for carving one’s creative ideas that come on the journey of carving wood. As a boy growing up on a little farm “three miles South of Poneto, Indiana,” I made many of my toys many of which were whittled using a pocket knife. That same childlike thrill of discovery and home made creativity spills over into an “old man’s toy” as is evidenced by the PONETO TOOL CADDY just created. Read the rest of this entry »
A very inexpensive, in fact a free tool to aid in the carving process is the very common business card. Every carver has one that bears the carver’s name, address and phone number or has another carver’s business card. In fact any business card will do as a measuring and straight edge tool. The standard business card measures two inches wide by three and a half inches long. These known measurement quantities can give approximate measurements when laid against a carving project. Let’s say for example the carver wants to measure a piece of wood and does not have a tape rule but does have a business card. Laying the card against the project and marking off in the increments of the known measurements of the business card, the carver can come to an approximate measurement. Three widths of the card would equal six inches; two lengths would make seven inches; and one width and one length would make five and a half inches; and so forth and so forth. Read the rest of this entry »
“Woodcarving is more the journey than the destination,” is a saying I often use in reference to the actual carving process as being the joy of carving. The finished carving is nice to view on display, give as a gift, deliver as the completion of a commission or enter in competition. Outside of that, the real joy is doing another carving, the journey of carving.
Having said all that, yet there is value in making a “Sentimental Journey” by looking and studying one’s earlier carvings, kind of like a “benchmark” to see where we have been on the carving journey. This post will show some photographs of such “benchmark” carvings. Read the rest of this entry »
Scott King, publisher of the CutleryNewsJournal, recently interviewed me on the subject of WHITTLING. The interview may be viewed by visiting http://cutlerynewsjournal.com/2009/05/02/meet-a-master-whittler/ . I am very honored to be able to share my ideas about Whittling with those interested in collecting antique pocket knives.
Ten or twelve years ago our local carving group asked the organizer of a knife show that was meeting in our area if we could come for one day and demonstrate whittling and carving. He was thrilled that we would want to do so and even asked if we would organize and conduct a “whittling contest” for the show and he would donate two pocket knives to the winners. Our carving group decided to have a letter opener as the subject for the whittling contest since letter openers have a blade. We carved up some examples of letter openers, wrote guidelines for how to whittle a letter opener along with photographs and supplied basswood sticks for the contest. Read the rest of this entry »
