Gnome Wizard is a subject that is often used as an instructional project with the first instructional description was done in a blog posting three years ago that can be visited again by clicking on the hot link entitled GNOME WIZARD.

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The WOOD BEE CARVER highly recommends the newly introduced HELVIE Signature Series Knife made by knife maker Rich Smithson.  Rich has made thousands of Helvie knives since he and his wife Holli became owners of HELVIE KNIVES many years ago.  After all these years and all the knives made for other people in the Signature Series of the Helvie line, Rich has come out with a knife of his own design.  This unique design has the straight cutting edge of a wharncliffe blade shape forming a reverse skew angle that enhances the slicing properties of the knife and the handle is aesthetically pleasing as well as being comfortable to hold for long periods of carving.  The blade design positions the cutting edge into a slicing mode as it approaches the wood as well as making very precise stop cuts.  While being primarily as general purpose carving knife it can also serve as a chip carving knife and is ideal for making precise detail cuts as the need arises. Read the rest of this entry »

The pirate was carved as a “trade piece” carving as part of the Annual Meeting of the Caricature Carvers of America.  This year’s Annual Meeting takes place as part of the Dayton Artistry in Wood Show on Labor Day weekend at the new location of Roberts Centre near Wilmington, Ohio. Read the rest of this entry »

The Buckeye Whittle Doodle is a friendship cane segment that will be combined with other carved segments to be auctioned at the Buckeye Woodcarving Round Up at Poor Farmers Campground east of Piqua, Ohio July 20 – 23, 2016. Read the rest of this entry »

Dave Stetson posted the photo above on Facebook saying:  …missing Steve Prescott, my best friend in woodcarving…when we first met in Monument, CO, National Carvers Museum, 1989, we carved these from one of my cutouts, dipped them in his sanding sealer, photographed them and traded…became the cover for an old issue of the Mallet magazine. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the exercises used in teaching the Rule of Three of Facial Proportions and how to open up a block of wood with the primary landmarks of a face uses the progressive steps face study depicted in the photo above.  Each step is demonstrated by the instructor while the students carve each demonstrated step.  The demonstrations cover the basic steps of 1 through 5 in the photo above with additional demonstrations by instructor of a variety of the mouth with or without teeth.  The finished detailing as depicted in step 6 is done by each student at a later time.  The instructor’s demo face studies accumulate following each class which are finished with detailed carving at a later time to complete each face.  The result is the variety of faces as depicted in the following photos. Read the rest of this entry »

The WOOD BEE CARVER often says “every carving project is a learning experience and journey.”  LADY KNITTING is a new carving project that began with a mental picture of a lady sitting in a chair while knitting. Research was made to search for photos of hands holding the knitting needles and a woman sitting in a chair while knitting.  Such research put the mental picture in clearer focus which would guide the shaping of the block of wood into the basic form of a lady knitting.  “Design by carving” is the process of allowing the design of the concept to develop during the modeling or roughing out stage of the carving process.  Such a design took into consideration the shape of the chair, how the female figure would be seated in the chair, the position of her arms and hands holding knitting needles in the act of knitting and the shawl being knitted in the front of the hands with a ball of yarn behind the hands. Read the rest of this entry »