The HALF PINT BAND is an interpretation of an earlier Hillbilly Band carved in the style of WHITTLE FOLK carved in the mid 80’s. Both were carved out of basswood block three inches tall and an inch square. The Half Pint interpretation however was carved in the proportional scale of a half inch equals a foot. In comparing a Whittle Folk photo from the mid 1980’s with the Half Pint Band of 2024 the differences are evident while still being similar.
The Mountain Man holding a walking staff is a repeat of a carving project done in 2015 which can be viewed by clicking on “Mountain Man Twice” While there are similarities to the original carving project, yet it is not an exact copy since it is an interpretation of the original. Every carving project is always an “interpretation of imagination” as each new carving takes on a personality of its own as its design develops in the carving process.
“The hardest part of any project is getting started,” is one of the Wood Bee Carver’s Rules used in his wood carving classes that originated in 1996 as part of a certificate presented to every class participant in subsequent carving classes until retirement from teaching at the end of 2019. Besides being a souvenir for each student, it served as an introductory educational tool at the beginning of the class to review the philosophy of the Wood Bee Carver. The full statement is: The hardest part of any project is getting started, but once begun the creative juices flow,” which is discovered over and over again.
Wood carving is always a partnership of imagination, skilled experience, challenge and whimsey to create an interpretation of a chosen subject. It is the combined work of the head, heart and hands of the artist to create a fresh, contemporary and alive inanimate subject of art.
The WOODBEECARVER blog has been under construction for a few days and it is now all fixed up with the generous help of my webmaster friend ED BLACK. Ed encouraged me to launch this blog in 2008 and ever since has been the guiding force to keep it running with his technical genius and moving it to its next stage of existence. The Half Pint Hobo carving in the photo is a most recent carving making this public debut announcement that this blog is up and running again with a shout saying, “I’M BACK.”
HALF PINTS are three inch tall figures carved with the half inch scale equals one foot. A six inch tall carving of a hobo would be to the scale of an inch equals a foot. These five Half Pint Hobos in this posting followed the basic design of previous hobos carved in the one inch scale. Half Pints are also characterized with having one monochrome coloring to emphasis that texture is color as seen in the facet surface texture of the carving process. Miniature carvings are typically categorized as no larger than fitting in a two inch cube. Half Pints are slightly larger at three inch tall on a one inch square base making them just a little above being a true miniature.
It has been said that “clothes make the man” and in the case of carving a western figure it is the outfit that immediately identifies the carving as that of a cowboy, cowpoke or buckaroo. In this case where two cowpokes are being presented they are called “Bunkhouse Buckaroos” to add a little flare to their presentation. Each were Whittle-Carved using only knives to shape a six-inch-tall by an inch and half square block of basswood.