Shelf Squatters are faces carved out of a inch and half square by three inch tall block of basswood with an area cut out of the back to allow for the block to sit on a shelf. This little photo display of the most recent versions of Shelf Squatters is for viewing with out any descripive explanation.
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Jim Hecker of Elk River, MN is a retired Lutheran pastor who has been carving as a hobby for some time. The Scandinavian Flat Plane style of carving has been his primary exercise in carving pursuit. That is until recently when he carried carving to the next level. The Next Level is to carve an original idea into a personal design that goes beyond what one normally carves.
Jim wanted to carve a birthday gift for a retired United Church of Christ clergy friend that would bear some resemblance of the recipient. “The Right Reverend” was the result of his imaginative planning, modeling and carving the final design. The photographic journey that follows presents overall views of this outstanding carving. Read the rest of this entry »
The Mystic Carvers Club hosted a three day seminar with three Caricature Carvers of America members over the Memorial Day weekend. It is called a CCA Carve-A-Long East for carvers living in the Northeast. It was held at the beautiful W. Alton Jones environmental camp of the University of Rhode Island. Students rotate among the three instructor for a one day class with each instructor. This year the instructors were Mitch Cartledge of North Carolina, Bruce Henn of Ohio and Don Mertz of Ohio.
The class I taught was the A-B-C’s of Face carving with a choice of subjects between a shelf squatter, a bust or an egg noggin. As part of the instruction the “Three Version Face Stick” was central to learning about opening up a block of wood to carve a face. Using only a knife to make slicing cuts each student learned a new appreciation for the knife as a carving tool. A one day class is always intense with so much to learn in such a small amount of time that goes so fast and yet each student survived. Read the rest of this entry »
My good friend Don Stephenson is a remarkable artist whose creative mind keeps coming up with unique carving ideas. He is so prolific with his artistic creations that I have nick named him the “IDEA MONSTER.” Recently he drew a pirate in the shape of an egg as an idea for carving a wooden egg. There was nothing for me to do other than carve a pirate first in a goose egg and then in a hen egg. The photographs that follow in this pictorial essay are the results of this journey on the high seas of carving adventure.
The next four photographs use the original drawing by Don Stephenson as a backdrop for the front and back view of the goose egg pirate and then both the goose egg pirate and hen egg pirate.
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Cy Clone was carved a few weeks ago along with two partially carved examples for comparison purposes. Since that initial carving journey it became a challenge to “clone” Cy into additional figures of different sizes than the original six inch tall. In the photograph Cy is on the left while in the middle is Cy carved to basic form and the Cy on the right has been stained with one color of raw sienna artist oil paint and boiled linseed oil. The monochrome of one color is another way to present a carving with the understanding that “texture is color” as well. The colored Cy on the left and the monochromed Cy on the right each stand on their own while offering a different aesthetic approach to the same carving theme. The additional “clones” of Cy will all be monochromed in one color with their difference being their size. Read the rest of this entry »
What a fictional and mythical character like Gandalf of “Lord of the Rings” looks like can only be determined by the imagination of interpretation. There can be a verbal description that dresses up the readers imagination of an image. An artist can draw and paint an artistic interpretation as well as a cartoonist can give another visual description. An actor playing the part of a character certainly puts a flesh and blood interpretation with an audible and visual signature on the look and sound of the character. A wood carver can offer another creative interpretation as the action of the cutting tool sculpts another interpretation. Read the rest of this entry »
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The RULE OF THUMB has since ancient time been a common form of measurement as well as an expression of speech. It is defined as a general or approximate principle, procedure or rule based on experience or practice. Carpenters often use thumb width or length from first knuckle to thumb tip as a quick and easy “one inch” measurement. The length of the thumb is approximately “three inches” or equal to the width of four fingers.
Often an artist will sight past an upright thumb at arms length to gain approximate perspective of a distant object. No one knows for sure who originated the “Rule of Thumb” but it has been suggested that Leonardo DaVinci used its principle in his study of human anatamony and artistic proportions.
Carvers can use the “Rule of Thumb” for a quick and approximate measurement while carving to visualize proportions, sight comparison measurements or one inch incremental measurement. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by: woodbeecarver in Noggins
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More Tee Noggins carved in golf tees as a humorous way to fulfill the OLD CARVER’S LAW : “Leave no wood uncarved.”
