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 »

The WOOD BEE CARVER often says “every carving project is a learning experience and journey,” and advises that the second and third time one carves the same themed carving, learning takes another path to discoveries. This approach allows the carver’s creative sub conscious to guide the carving process with fresh interpretations of a familiar subject. MOTHER AND CHILD II is the second version of a similar carving as described in the December 27, 2015 posting entitled MOTHER AND CHILD Study which can be reviewed as a frame of reference comparison.  In this latest version the pose is opposite from the first version as well as texturing of slicing cuts presents a fresh interpretation.  In other words, the second version is not an exact copy of the first making each one unique in appearance.  The photos below will show the carving from various angles. Read the rest of this entry »

The three SIDE KICK knives were put to the test in carving the basic form of a woman sitting in chair knitting.  Each knife used a variety of slicing cuts to shape a six inch by three inch square basswood block.  The result is a large basic form or rough shape of the knitting lady ready to be refined with detail carving. Read the rest of this entry »

The term “Side Kick” normally refers to a unique relationship between two people and means such things as a confident, a partner, a companion, one who helps, an assistant, a wing man, a go to guy, best friend, straight man in a comedy due, one who compliments the other by doing what the other cannot do, one who in content to give the other the limelight and a duo team. Famous Side Kicks were Tonto as Side Kick to Lone Ranger, Gabby Hayes as Side Kick to Roy Rogers, Ed McMann as Side Kick to Johnny Carson and Robin as Side Kick to Batman. Read the rest of this entry »