Ornaments carved at Christmas time are to bring Love, Joy, Peace, Hope with the celebration of Noel and of course Santa. The ornament gallery that follows are those carved for 2019.
The photographs in this gallery are of carvings on display and for sale at Peter Engler Designs, 201 S. Commercial St. Branson, MO. When Peter was alive, he purchased several of my carvings in 2005 and periodically my Hog Heaven Pig seeds. Recently owner Mary Bowman honored me again with the purchase of several carvings to have available at the new location of the store in old downtown Branson.
A carving of a Civil War artillery officer with a cannon mounted on a butternut base with four carved plaques on the side panels of the base depicting significant benchmarks of employment career became a retirement gift. The carved soldier holding binoculars standing beside a cannon were symbolic of retirement from the military with a carved plaque showing the Army logo as the recipient’s first career. The remaining bank logo plaques depict the three banks served during the second career of the retiree.
A Thin Wizard is a Whittle-Carved project that uses a scrap piece of wood that has been cut into a thin and tall triangle wedge shape. The larger portion of the triangle wedge become the bottom of the head of the Wizard and the thin top becomes the pointed hat of the Wizard. The two thin wizards in the photos above were carved from butternut cut off scraps approximately five inches tall.
Using the shape of a pumpkin to carve representative human facial features is a good way to practice carving a variety of faces in the fun novelty of a pumpkin head jewelry pin. The earlier pumpkin faces were introduced in a 2016 posting Pumpkin Faces Carved in Wood.
It was June 30, 1968 when Gary was walking to visit his girlfriend Deb that he found a turtle along the side of the road. He picked up the turtle as a playful story began to formulate in his youthful mind. Meeting Deb at her door he presented her with the turtle saying, “Today is National Turtle Day in which the custom is for the fellow to give a turtle to the girl he likes.”
The creative and imaginative mind of Don Stephenson makes him a “Wizard” as a versatile artist. His drawings with pencil/ink on paper, wood burning on wood, carving in wood and as comic book creator with art and written story telling are only surpassed by the generosity of his spirit. The publication of his first comic book “A Wizard’s Tale” with his self-portrait on the cover became the inspiration for a woodcarving of his likeness. In appreciation of the friendship and generosity of Don, the Wood Bee Carver did the wood carving and asked Don to do the wood burning art on the wizard’s staff and book as a collaborated partnership in art. Don has given the Wood Bee Carver many drawings of carving ideas over the years earning him the nickname “the Idea Monster.” So, it became a natural collaboration of friendship to create “Wizard Don Stephenson.”
The photo journey below around the two-inch square friendship cane carved segment is a Whittle Doodle carved for the Buckeye Round Up on July 24, 25, 26, and 27,2019.