Old Salt is a caricature study of the old man of the sea.  Three figures are used as a study in carving three different poses of a similar figure with slight variations.  One Old Salt has his hands behind him while the two others have a thumb on one hand in the waist band of trousers using different hands.  One is smoking a pipe. (click on photo to enlarge.) Read the rest of this entry »

Whittle Doodles are doodling with a knife while shaping a block of wood with a variety of carving designs.  The Mini Whittle Doodle is carved into an inch square by three quarters of inch block of basswood using a small bladed knife to carve four faces and embellish with freehand chip carved designs. The knife was made by the carver using the same blade material Bud Murray uses to make his knives (planer blade steel). (click on each photo to enlarge) Read the rest of this entry »

A recent commission to carve two figures representative of Phil Robertson dressed in camouflage resulted in these two carvings. The design of the camouflage fatigues was created by wood burning the darker designs on the bare basswood followed by the painting process of a tan color to simulate desert camouflage.

The caricature likeness of the Duck Dynasty character was made possible by incorporating certain characteristics identified with the character.  A duck call in one hand, a shot gun in the other hand, the camouflage head band and the signature beard and mustache outfits this carving into a reasonable likeness of the character.

A study of the photographs will reveal that each carving while similar yet each is unique in its own interpretation of the same subject.  Most carvings are interpretations rather than a mirror image of the original.  It is the interpretation mixed with imagination of the eye and mind that make each carving come alive. (click on each photo to enlarge) Read the rest of this entry »

Rich Smithson of HELVIE KNIVES pulled a fast one on two of his Signature Knife friends by asking each one to carve a block of basswood into a knife blade holder for the other friend without telling us that we were each doing it for one another.  Read the rest of this entry »

This Plumber’s Helper caricature of a plumber riding a Helper like it was a pogo stick is a humorous way of illustrating how that Helper could be used in the imagination of the absurd. A caricature is always an “exaggeration of realism,” both in the carved figure and in the story it is telling.

The child in each of us remembers the suction cup toy guns and bow and arrow toys that would shoot a suction cup missile.   Licking the inside of the suction cup with moisture would cause the suction cup to stick to the object it touched. The suction cup was very much like the “plumber’s helper” which was often used in childhood cartoons like the suction cup toys.

This caricature was carved out of a three inch tall by inch and half square block of basswood and painted with artist oil paints thinned with boiled linseed oil. Read the rest of this entry »

The iconic Mother and Child image was created a long time ago in antiquity using a simple design whose beauty is in its simplicity.

This woodcarving is an interpretation carved only with a knife in butternut wood.  The three inch by two and half inch carving is finished with an oil finish followed with a coat of Deft and then Howard Feed-N-Wax.

The various views from different angles give a panoramic view of the Mother and Child carving whose simple beauty is the story it tells ~ a Christmas Story of Love. 

UNCLE JIMMY is a caricature of someone everyone knows, either as a family member or a character of our acquaintance.  “Jimmy” is a nickname that is given to a short “crow bar”, to a “truck” or in some locales “Jimmy” refers to a “Stranger.”  Often used in the phrase “jimmy a lock” a Jimmy is ingenious for getting into and out of tight places.  A Jimmy may be short and stocky and is still as strong as a truck.  A Jimmy may be a stranger but not for long because most a-fella called “Jimmy” is a fun loving and lovable character.

 This carving of caricature Jimmy is carved out of a four and half inch tall by an inch and half square block of basswood.  This particular block of basswood is not the best quality due to its dark streaks and flaws and yet like people there are no worthless pieces of wood.  The key in both is to find their good qualities and make something of them.  A stranger is a friend who has not yet been discovered and a scrappy piece of wood is a work of art yet to be created.  So whether the “Jimmy” is a person or a wooden caricature discover the hidden treasure in each.

 Caricature Jimmy was carved using a HELVIE Signature Series # 3-1 and a # 6-2 Mini.  Jimmy was finished with the monochrome finish of artist oil paint Raw Sienna thinned with boiled linseed oil.  The monochrome finish was chosen to show off the flaws in the wood that gives character to the caricature. Read the rest of this entry »