Commission Carvings can now be shown on this blog in that many of them were to be Christmas gifts. The photographic journey of each carving is presented with multiple views for careful and carveful study. Each one is an example of Whittle-Carving that uses only knives in the carving process. The finish is a combination of boiled linseed oil and artist oil paint with the monochrome color being raw sienna and boiled linseed oil. The polychrome coloration is various colors of artist oil paints and boiled linseed oil followed by an application of Deft, a brushing lacquer.
The “Inventor of the Tooth Brush” is the first of a series of Commission Carvings. In the first photo the carving in the middle was carved in 2003 as the first of this theme. The two on either side are the latest version of the humorous story of the tooth brush invention. Read the rest of this entry »
October Whittlings are a variety of carving projects that were done to get ready for upcoming shows, to replace popular subjects or just for the fun of it. All were carved using only a knife in the Whittle-Carving style of the WOOD BEE CARVER. Read the rest of this entry »
Once again my good friend “Idea Monster” Don Stephenson has drawn a very unique carving idea of a Civil War Soldier who is sitting on a keg of gun powder, smoking a pipe and is striking a match. This gives a whole new meaning to “Discharged.”
Caricature carving is to exaggerate realism both in the carving and in the scene that is being depicted of a match being struck on the top of a keg of gun powder. Read the rest of this entry »
Helvie Knives markets a ready to carve basswood handled knife for any carver who would like to carve a unique handle.
A carving friend wanted a Pirate knife handle carved for another friend and a Wizard knife handle carved for himself. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
