These two Scottish Golfers wearing kilts were carved as commission pieces.  One was a gift to a friend and the other was for the commissioner.  Each was carved out of basswood six inches tall by one and three quarter of an inch square using traditional carving tools.  The pose of each one is a challenge to carve legs crossed while leaning on a golf club, head turned slightly and other hand holding a pipe. The stripes to form the plaid effect were drawn first with a pencil to follow the contour  and folds of the kilt and then wood burned. Read the rest of this entry »

“THOUGHT FOR FOOD” is a caricature carving of an unemployed professor using a play on words by reversing a familiar saying, “Food for Thought.” This carving depicts a “long in the face” professor who is out of work sitting on philosophy books and surrounded by philosophy books which contain the “Thought” that has shaped critical thinking through out the ages.  Read the rest of this entry »

“A BIRDIE” is a play on a golfing term for shooting one under par.  However, if one is unfamiliar with golf, the term “a birdie” is confusing in that there is no actual “bird” involved in golf unless the golfer accidentally hits a flying bird with a golf ball.  The humor depicted in this carving is the exaggeration of a birdie hatching out of a golf ball.  Read the rest of this entry »

“THE FUNDAMENTALIST” is a carving of a caricature interpretation of a strong minded person who is so sure that what that person believes is the only truth and he has the proof to prove it at the end of where his finger is pointing.  A fundamentalist could be a preacher, a politician, a lawyer or any opinionated person who sees things only one way, his way and wants to convince anyone who will argue with him the error of their way for not seeing things the way the fundamentalist sees things. Read the rest of this entry »

“The Inventor of the TOOTH BRUSH” was inspired by a humorous story that the “tooth brush” was invented in _________ (a state noted for hillbillies) and as everybody knows, hillbillies have very few teeth.  With this caricature carving, this hillbilly pointing to a tooth brush with a one tooth grin on his face indicating his pride in himself for inventing the “tooth brush.”   If it was invented anywhere else it would have been called a “Teeth  Brush.”   This story is an illustration of how funny common things are named which does not always fit the actual description as in, “Why do we drive on a parkway and park in the drive way?”  Such play on words often give inspiration to a carving idea.  This carving was whittle-carved with only a knife out of a one inch square by five inch tall basswood blank and was colored using the “painting softly” method described elsewhere in this blog.

Whittle Folk Shelf Squatters are various carved faces that sit upon a shelf with part of the carving hanging in front of the shelf.  They are carved out of a one inch square by two inch tall block of basswood.  A saw cut half way into the back side at a slight downward angle approximately one half of the length of the block of wood will establish where the Squatter will sit on the shelf. Read the rest of this entry »

Whittle Folk Relief carving has been done as the handle of letter openers and as jewelry pins.

The strip of wood used is bass wood a little thicker than the proverbial yard stick and about as wide.  Quarter inch thick basswood an inch and a quarter wide  and eight inches long is the actual size cut. A letter opener can be carved out of the eight inch long blank with the head carved on one end and the letter opener blade carved on the other end.  Read the rest of this entry »