The WOOD BEE CARVER has discovered over the years of carving a creative tension that is both “agony” and “ecstasy.” Experiencing this tension almost every time with any new carving project led me to come up with the following rule: “CARVING IS AGONY AND ECSTASY, BUT ECSTASY ALWAYS FOLLOWS THE AGONY .”
Because wood carving is a “learn by and while doing” and one’s subconscious is at work in the creative process, there is a certain amount of tension (as in the stretching of a rubber band and an inner power as the rubber band is released and returns to its former state) and in this tension there is a certain inner power at work. This creative tension can be called the “agony and ecstasy” of the carving process. Read the rest of this entry »
Once a woodcarving friend, Ron Turpin, upon referring to one of my carvings, said, “Don carved that right out of his own head and has enough wood left over to carve another one.”
So where do carving ideas come from? From the block of wood we call our head, from a rough out of another carver’s idea, from a pattern in a book or from the observation of life and objects around us? Carving ideas come from all of these and even from word association. Most carvers are on the look out for carving ideas, Sometime inspiration comes out of one’s creative soul and other times we carvers borrow someone else’s idea in hopes that the more we carve we will be able to develop more of our own ideas of creativity. Read the rest of this entry »
The WOOD BEE CARVER has been carving seriously since 1975 as a hobby carver who has dedicated himself to always be an amateur carver. “Amateur” means one who does what one does for the love of doing it while also learning by doing and improving one’s skills, abilities and interests while doing what one loves to do.
In the same frame of understanding, my philosophy developed to say, “Would be carvers would be carver if they would carve wood,” which implies the “amateur” ever learning and ever growing aspect of the carving experience. Wood carving is using the trial and error method of learning while doing with the assumption being that the more one carves, the better one becomes since so much of the carving experience is “practice, practice, practice.” Read the rest of this entry »
One of the side effects of wood carving is to be afflicted with an ailment of accumulating carving tools. With that ailment comes the need for a place for tool storage and a way to carry carving tools to club meetings, carving shows or to another location other than the home base used for carving. Every carver has their own system and is always on the look out for another idea. One advantage of taking carving classes is to see what tools other carvers are using and what kind of box, bag or storage unit they have. Read the rest of this entry »
Every carver has an inner anxiousness about making a mistake while carving but when you boil it down there really are no mistakes in carving, only learning experiences. A wit once said “Nothing in life is ever a complete failure because it can always serve as a negative example,” which is a lot more truth than humor. David Sabol of the Caricature Carvers of America often says in his carving instructions that carvers should treat each carving project as a “practice” piece by which he implies that each carving project is a learning experience, so relax and have fun and if you mess up the carving, you can learn how to make adjustments. Read the rest of this entry »
