Helvie Knives  is introducing Series # 3 Signature knife of the WOOD BEE CARVER series that can be considered a “detail carving knife.”  The knife is pictured in front of two characters called “Traveler” which were carved using the knife in the picture.  Each “Traveler” is carved out of a one inch square by three inch tall block of basswood.  The Series # 3 Signature knife blade is an inch and a quarter long with a curving up cutting edge to meet the twelve degree slope of the back edge.  This design of the blade allows for a slicing cut almost any way it is used in a push or pull slice as well as sideway, upside down and right side up direction of the slicing cut.  Go to “Cool Links”  and click on “Helvie Knives”  to find ordering information.

Two three day classes in Whittle-Carving were held at the Burchfield Nature and Art Center in West Seneca, NY April 20 through 25.  Twelve students made up the first three day class and thirteen students made up the second three day class. Read the rest of this entry »

This Whittle Doodle  was carved to be one segment in a Friendship Cane to be given as a surprise at a forthcoming woodcarving show to a person who has contributed much to the carving community.  A Whittle Doodle is doodling with a knife to carve faces in relief and embellish blank space with free hand chip carving.  Click on each photo to see a larger version.  The monochrome finish is artist oil paint Raw Sienna mixed with Boiled Linseed Oil followed by a protective finish of Deft and then Howard Feed and Wax. The block of basswood is three inches tall and approximately two inches square.

Bud Murray  makes two knives for me according to a design that was developed through trial and error of a blade shape that works best for the style of Whittle-Carving  done by the WOOD BEE CARVER.   He makes two sizes with the Murray 529  being two  inches long and the Murray 539  being an inch and half long.  Both have the same blade design of a scimitar blade shape with a notch in the extended tang.  The handle is four inches long with a pistol grip at one end and a side finger grove on the side near the blade.

The Murray knives are one of the three knife makers that are recommended by the WOOD BEE CARVER  as stated in an earlier post entitled “Three Knives Recommended.” Information for ordering either Murray 529 or Murray 539  can be found under Cool Links by clicking on “Bud Murray Knives.”

The River Valley Wood Carvers  hosted a three day carving seminar in Taylor Mill, KY on April 12, 13 and 14.  The eight Survivor Students pictured are (left to right) Gitta Wahrenburn, Rick Bissonnette, Bill Wright, Don Potter, David Chadwick, Dick Middleton, Bud Miller and Suzanne Millay. Read the rest of this entry »

Don Stephenson,  my artist friend who continues to come up with neat carving ideas has done it again with a “Hillbilly Drawing.”   This hillbilly captures the mental image of how most people picture a hillbilly.  All art is an interpretation of an idea, an image or a memory.  Art is also fluid as one interpretation flows into another interpretation so that one subject can have many interpretations without any duplication of theme, appearance or appeal.

A drawing of a hillbilly is a two dimensional interpretation while a carving of that same hillbilly becomes a three dimensional interpretation of the two dimensional drawing.  A drawing of a hillbilly is in one medium of art while a carving of that same hillbilly is in another medium.  Don Stephenson’s drawing of a hillbilly was used as inspiration for carving a hillbilly out of an inch and half square by six inch tall block of basswood using a Bud Murray 539 knife as depicted in the first photograph in the photo journey below which shows various views of the completed carving of a hillbilly.  The carving is finished with artist oil paint Raw Sienna mixed with Boiled Linseed Oil to produce on monochrome finish in order to emphasis that  “texture is color.” Read the rest of this entry »

Five students gathered at the Woodcraft Store in Centerville, OH on March 24, 2012 for a class on the subject of Egg Noggins.  Survivor students in the photograph are (left to right) Edgar Brumbaugh,  Andy Zinmeister, Leonard Ballard, Wendy Beck and Jeannette Hamilton.

Egg Noggins  are faces carved out of a basswood hen egg using only a knife to shape the wood.  Whittle-Carving exercises prepared the students to carve a face in the wooden egg using slicing cuts with the knife.  These exercises included shaping practice blocks of wood with a series of notch cuts to lay in the landmarks of the face using the Rule of Three of Facial Proportions  with a notch cut at the hairline, followed by a notch cut at the eye brow area, followed by a notch cut for bottom of nose nostrils and finally the bottom of the chin. Slicing angled cuts shaped the planes and angles of the face in order to provide a good foundation to receive the detail cuts for eyes, nose, mouth, smile line and ears. The Three Version Face Study Stick was used for the first exercise. Read the rest of this entry »