Whittle-Carving is carving using only knives to shape the wood. Whittle-Carving is also “free hand” style of carving in that the basic form of the carving appears as the wood is shaped with the slicing of the knife. “Free hand” is also an “imagination” guided process of shaping the wood to correspond with the image in the mind of the carver. Every carving project is a learning project that is also guided by imagination at work in the carving process as the carver learns through the challenge of bringing what is imagined into a recognizable reality.
Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota is an iconic and historic stone sculpture that captures the patriotic imagination of the United States. Four presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln, are immortalized on the side of a mountain as a symbol of nationalistic pride. Whether it is seen in person or as a photograph the Mt. Rushmore sculpture is a recognized mental image.
The Wood Bee Carver normally carves from a block of wood and seldom carves a rough out since there is a difference of creative approach in the carving process. With a rough out the basic shape has been determined and the carver carves in the details within the confines of the predetermined design, kind of like coloring within the lines in a coloring book. Some creative license can be applied in the detail portion of the carving process so that the finished rough out carving does not look like every other rough out carving of that subject. In the case of Jade only the head was textured with fur while the rest of the bear received a shirt and overalls. The heart motif was expanded to include a heart label on the back of the overalls and the nose of the bear was carved in the shape of a heart. Read the rest of this entry »
The Wood Bee Carver normally carves from a block of wood and seldom carves a rough out since there is a difference of creative approach in the carving process. With a rough out the basic shape has been determined and the carver carves in the details within the confines of the predetermined design, kind of like coloring within the lines in a coloring book. Some creative license can be applied in the detail portion of the carving process so that the finished rough out carving does not look like every other rough out carving of that subject. In the case of DaRokk, instead of inserting a spear in the left hand of the caveman, a rabbit was carved and inserted in the back of the left hand.
HELVIE KNIVES offers three rough outs on their web site http://www.helvieknives.com under RoughOutStore. Rich Smithson of Helvie Knives asked the Wood Bee Carver to carve two rough outs entitled “Jade” and “DaRokk” to show an example of a knife carver carving a rough out. Read the rest of this entry »
“Santa Warming Feet at Stove” is a Floyd Rhadigan rough out. Floyd comes up with some of the neatest carving ideas to be available in his rough out selections. Even though the WOOD BEE CARVER likes to carve from a square block of basswood, yet on occasion a rough out will become a challenging carving project. This Rhadigan project comes with four parts: stove top and bottom, Santa on rocker and a base basswood board. Read the rest of this entry »
These two Magi carvings were commissioned for two friends to be added to earlier commissioned carvings for a Nativity Scene. Each Magi carving is the same Magi even though each one has features that make each one unique and distinct in their own right. Thus, using visual comparisons, the viewer can detect the subtle differences in the photographs below. Read the rest of this entry »
Wood that has character are those serendipity discoveries that appear when cutting into a block of wood. These character blemishes occur as the result of a tree healing itself when is limb is cut or broken off during the growth of the tree. It could be a knot, ingrown bark, fungus or natural occurring dark streaks. Such blemishes may imply inferior wood that has little use and is often discarded in the trash barrel or burned. But then, when you have a carver who follows the Old Carver’s Law: “Leave no wood un-carved,” such character wood becomes a source for a unique carving with its own character.