TREE NOGGINS are whimsical faces carved into basswood tree limbs to create a rustic look.  Carved using only a knife, these Tree Noggins have been a fun carving project over the years that when added up total over five hundred faces carved since 1985. Read the rest of this entry »

Jim Hecker  is a carving friend from Minnesota who carves in a very unique style that comes from his Scandinavian roots. Recently he finished two carvings of his Grandpa Peterson.  In his own words he talks about this unique carving style and the process he used during the carving process. Read the rest of this entry »

Don Stephenson,  my artist/carver friend who I call “Idea Monster” has come up with another unique carving idea in the form of Green Man Trees.   Using his drawings as a guide the two Whittle Green Man Trees in the middle  photographs were carved out of an inch square and an inch and half tall block of basswood.  First the square block was whittle-carved into a cone shape and then random and stair stepped leaves or boughs were carved using only a knife.  A nose was carved with deep recesses for the eye sockets were carved along with a mouth opening.  Leaf boughs shaped the eye brows, mustache and the cheeks of a face peeking through the leaves.

A littler dab of Sap Green artist oil paint was mixed with a little dabble of Howard Feed N Wax to form a coloring for the trees that is thin enough to allow for the wood to show through the coloring.

These Whittle Green Man Trees can be carved to any size and can be embellished with different shaped boughs and have snow carved on top of some of the boughs.  The Idea Monster teaches us to use our imagination by taking the inspiration from a drawing and creating a unique carving of its own personality.

Thanks to Don Stephenson for his gifts of drawing and friendship which are an art in themselves.

A Spud character is normally a short and squatty fellow who chomps down on a stub of a cigar while having a “don’t mess with me,” look on his face.  Spud Billy is a variation of the original Spuds in that he is twice as tall and not quite as squatty.  His attitude is the same as there is no “messing around” with Spud Billy. Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmarks carved using craft sticks or ice cream sticks are another example of the Old Carver’s Law: “Leave no wood un-carved.” As a boy whittling with a pocket knife, I often picked up discarded pop cycle sticks off the play  ground to carve into toy rifles.  In later years these same kind of sticks are carved into book marks as a souvenir novelty carving.  Because of the direction of the grain of wood and its gnarly grain there is a limit of subjects that can be carved on the end of a craft stick.  The photographs depict some designs such as ear of corn, acorn, pineapple, saw, flower, shoe and the latest edition of a chip carved quilt square. Read the rest of this entry »

Hobo Chance is the latest version of a hobo who in this case is wearing suspenders, sometimes called “braces” but is still an interesting character to study.  Next row of photographs will be Whittle Dwarfs who are carved out of inch square by an inch and half block of basswood and finished with Howard Feed N Wax. And finally there is a photograph of knife blade covers to round out this edition of “Bits and Pieces.” Read the rest of this entry »