Jim Hecker of Elk River, MN and I have been carving friends since 2009 when we met at the International Woodcarver Congress in Iowa and have shared a common bond of friendship through carving activities ever since. He has mastered his own style of Flat Plane carving into what I call the “Hecker Style.”
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The first Fundamentalist was carved in 2002 out of a three inch square by six inch tall basswood block. In an August, 2008 entry of this blog ~ (click on) Carving “The Fundamentalist” to read the carving journey at that occasion. The opening introduction gave the premise for this themed carving which stated: “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.
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Hobos are colorful characters who in earlier years were commonly seen traveling around the country in what appeared to be the “easy life.” Historically they were originally “itinerant labors” who traveled from job to job wherever the jobs would lead them. There is a difference in the meaning of terms applied to these “sojourners of the road.” Hobos were once called “Hoe boys” who were agriculture laborers cultivating the fields with their hoes, thus the nickname. So “Hobos” would travel to find work. The tern “Tramp” was ascribed to those itinerant laborers who would travel the rail by catching a ride on trains. Other travelers through the country side riding the coat tails of the hobo and tramp way of life were called “Bums” because they would rather con and cheat off the generosity of kind-hearted folk than do any work. Bums gave the hobo and tramp a bad name for their less than honest profession.
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Posted by: woodbeecarver in Knives
This is a story of creative play in the making of the toys for carving in the form of carving knives. Why does this carver continue to make knives for personal use that far exceeds the accumulation of carving knives? The answer is the same as to why carve more of the same design of a carving subject? Why does a carver feel compelled to continue to carve beyond the need for more? Why accumulate more carving wood when there will not be enough time to use what is already on hand? The answer is in the meaning of “creative play” for the child within each of us to fulfill our imagination.
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Whittle Doodles are the carving a variety of faces and objects into a block of basswood using only knives. This version began as a six-inch-tall by three-inch square block. It was also personalized for a carving friend who is a pastor in North Carolina as will be seen on one side of the block. As a doodle, what is carved comes about in random imagination making each Whittle Doodle unique and one of a kind.
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Posted by: woodbeecarver in Knives
“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get,” can be adapted to many activities of life. It applies to the carving process, in that the carver does not know how the carving will turn out until it is finished. It is this sense of surprise and serendipity that continues the joy of carving and imaginative creativity ~ we never know what we will get.
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The Wood Bee Carver is primarily a knife carver and the carving classes he taught over the years before he retired from teaching at the end of 2019 were “knife only” classes. With tongue in cheek I would warn students that if I caught them using a gouge or V tool on class projects or even heard of such tools other that a knife being used I would confiscate those tools. That branch of humor was revived in later years to refer to the use of any carving tool other that a knife would be “carving on the Dark Side.”
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The two-inch-tall miniature Whittle Folk Gnomes are the latest version of the original Whittle Folk Gnomes who came into being around 2008 or 2009 as a three-inch-tall figure. In the PHOTO TRAILS box under the MAIN MENU box, click on “Whittle Folk Gnomes” to see a photo display of the original Gnomes.
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