Don Stephenson, my artist/carver friend who I call “Idea Monster” has come up with another unique carving idea in the form of Green Man Trees. Using his drawings as a guide the two Whittle Green Man Trees in the middle photographs were carved out of an inch square and an inch and half tall block of basswood. First the square block was whittle-carved into a cone shape and then random and stair stepped leaves or boughs were carved using only a knife. A nose was carved with deep recesses for the eye sockets were carved along with a mouth opening. Leaf boughs shaped the eye brows, mustache and the cheeks of a face peeking through the leaves.
A littler dab of Sap Green artist oil paint was mixed with a little dabble of Howard Feed N Wax to form a coloring for the trees that is thin enough to allow for the wood to show through the coloring.
These Whittle Green Man Trees can be carved to any size and can be embellished with different shaped boughs and have snow carved on top of some of the boughs. The Idea Monster teaches us to use our imagination by taking the inspiration from a drawing and creating a unique carving of its own personality.
Thanks to Don Stephenson for his gifts of drawing and friendship which are an art in themselves.
A Spud character is normally a short and squatty fellow who chomps down on a stub of a cigar while having a “don’t mess with me,” look on his face. Spud Billy is a variation of the original Spuds in that he is twice as tall and not quite as squatty. His attitude is the same as there is no “messing around” with Spud Billy. Read the rest of this entry »
Bookmarks carved using craft sticks or ice cream sticks are another example of the Old Carver’s Law: “Leave no wood un-carved.” As a boy whittling with a pocket knife, I often picked up discarded pop cycle sticks off the play ground to carve into toy rifles. In later years these same kind of sticks are carved into book marks as a souvenir novelty carving. Because of the direction of the grain of wood and its gnarly grain there is a limit of subjects that can be carved on the end of a craft stick. The photographs depict some designs such as ear of corn, acorn, pineapple, saw, flower, shoe and the latest edition of a chip carved quilt square. Read the rest of this entry »
Crusty Sam is carved from a two and half inch by and inch square block of basswood with a Murray 529 knife. Bud Murray (1490 Thunder Mountain Road, Camdenton, MO 65020 or wjmurray@dam.net or 573-346-7321) makes this style of knife for me. Bud has been custom making knives and carving tools for a good number of years of top quality. The blade shape is one that I have developed over the years for the most efficient slicing action. The handle is an extension of Bud’s palm handle design for his custom made carving tools which also fits my hand comfortably. Four views of Crusty Sam show off the results of Whittle-Carving using the Murray 529 knife.
Egg Noggins are carved out of basswood hen eggs to depict a caricature face. This photo journey are of recent “Noggins” carved for instructional purposes of the A-B-C’s of Face Carving. Each is finished with Howard Feed N Wax to bring the carved wood surface to life.
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Everybody loves a clown be it someone who is “in clown”, someone who is clowning around to bring a little humor to life, a circus clown, a picture or art work depicting a clown or simply the subject for a wood carving. The photographic essay of recent carvings of clowns is presented in this posting as a bit of humor as well as examples of “Clowning Around” with woodcarving. Read the rest of this entry »
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A carved knife blade cover is attractive and offers protection while at the same time is a curiosity piece for fellow carvers who would also like to make their own blade cover. Read the rest of this entry »
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Carving faces is one of the most important features of carving a likeness of a human. The face is the central focal point of any carving in the likeness of a human be it realistic or caricature. Carving a bust is ninety percent face and ten percent the chest area of a bust. It is the head covering and the clothing outfit that determines the character of the bust while almost any face could go with any of the outfits. Thus learning to carve faces is essential to carving a full figure as well as a bust, a bottle stopper or a shelf squatter. Read the rest of this entry »