Hillsboro Hobo was carved out of a two inch square by six inch tall block of basswood using a Bud Murray Knife # 529. Typical motifs characteristic of the mental picture of a hobo are depicted in this carving. “Clothes make the man” or in this case “make the hobo” with torn elbow of jacket, torn shoulder seams and torn knee of trousers. Patches at the elbow, knee and seat of the pants along with a disheveled shirttail plus the toes coming out of his shoes all add up to the appearance of a hobo. The traditional bindle bag tied around a walking staff complete the attire of a hobo.
The photographic journey that follows presents several views of the completed and painted hobo. The last four photographs show the beginning stages of carving a hobo with guidelines drawn to show where the hobo is inside the block of basswood along with the completed carved and painted hobo. Notice that the hat and head have been carved to basic form which allows for the remaining portion of the block to be divided by the Rule of Three of Body Proportions (shoulder to waist; waist to mid knees; mid knees to bottom of feet). Within these proportional divisions the arms, legs, coat tail and shoes can be drawn to coincide with the posture and stance of the hobo figure. Read the rest of this entry »
Hobo Chance is the latest version of a hobo who in this case is wearing suspenders, sometimes called “braces” but is still an interesting character to study. Next row of photographs will be Whittle Dwarfs who are carved out of inch square by an inch and half block of basswood and finished with Howard Feed N Wax. And finally there is a photograph of knife blade covers to round out this edition of “Bits and Pieces.” Read the rest of this entry »
Spocane Tommy follows the tradition of all hobos as being a traveling man. Hobos were originally itinerant farm laborers who traveled the country side carrying their hoe and their goods wrapped up in a bindle bag. These “hoe boys” became “hobos” who traveled to look for work wherever they could find a job. Read the rest of this entry »
The Helvie Hobo was carved for Rich and Holli Smithson who are owners and manufacturers of Helvie Knives. They are producing a “Signature Knife” of my design of blade and handle shape. The hobo was carved exclusively with the “Signature Knife” in the photo. Their daughter Skylar likes to be included in collecting wood carvings. Skylar is all smiles with the snowwoman gift by the WOOD BEE CARVER and the Santa by Will Hayden. Read the rest of this entry »
Gunny Sack Glenn is another example of a Hobo caricature carving that has all the characteristics of a hobo with well worn, torn and patched clothing that is mis-matched and toes coming out of a shoe.
The first series of photographs show two hobos carved to the basic form along with the finished hobo. The purpose of such a photographic study is to carve with imagination in the viewer’s mind that which is between the form and the completed carving.
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Hobos have a nostalgic appeal of an earlier time when itinerant labors traveled the country looking for work. Their clothes were torn, tattered and well worn while their faces were road mapped with heavy road weary lines of a hard way of life. The Four Hobos in the picture on the left are carved caricatures whose names are left to right: Suds Larry, Soup Bone, Gunny Sack and Sulky Sal.
In spite of it all there was something romantic about these knights of the road that gave a wanderlust appearance of an easy go lucky way of life while there was none in reality.
A Hobo would travel looking for work while a Tramp simply traveled not looking for work and a Bum would neither travel nor look for work possessing only a hard luck story to con easy money. The Hobo was the “common stiff” who was somebody’s friend, acquaintance or relative who showed up from time to time of itinerant travels following news of the next job. Read the rest of this entry »
The Classic Hobo is classic by his appearance of well worn face, tattered clothing and the far off and wondering look in his eye. Read the rest of this entry »
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” and sometimes looking at the pictures tells more than what can be read. Thus this HOBO FACES STUDY is just that, a study of pictures, so click on each one to enlarge to study the features and look for how the face was proportioned using the RULE OF THREE as discussed in the three previous posts. Keep in mind that each of these hobos were carved using only a knife in a style I call “Whittle-Carving.”
