The Wood Bee Carver is primarily a “knife carver” who carves from a “Block” with corners and chooses to shape the wood with a “Slice into position and Design by carving.” Process.
22
Apr
FIRE HOUSE 3
“Firehouse 3” is a first attempt at carving a fireman figure. The beginning process is to imagine what a fireman looks like along with studying various images of carved firemen to come up with a preliminary design for a carving. The imaginary image includes the fireman’s helmet, bulky and heavy water-resistant coat and trousers along with heavy boots. Next would come equipment such as an axe, fire hose, megaphone, fire hydrant and ladder. Next comes the refining of all these elements into the simplest depiction that would say “this is a fireman.” The fireman’s helmet crowns the carved figure with the undeniable statement of identity while adding the fire axe and the heavy boots will add just enough to the overall outfit to distinguish the fireman effect. The red suspenders attached to the bulky trousers add to the effect of making the figure more interesting as it stands in a relaxed pose of either before and after suiting up for the fire run.
Introducing Goose who is the older and more mature Hobo when compared with his partner of the road Moose.
Moose and Goose represents the long and storied history of the travelers in the nostalgic memory of the time long gone by never forgotten.
4
Feb
PIRATE First Mate
The Pirate First Mate is carved in the Half Pint size of three inches tall with a one inch square base. The First Mate is wearing a bandana head wrap rather than the officer’s hat even though he is wearing an officer’s coat captured as a spoil of a sea battle.
30
Jan
HALF PINT PIRATE
HALF PINT carving figures refers to the use of a half inch equals a foot scale to keep a carving in perspective with the average heights of a male figure as being six feet.
19
Jan
PIRATE REDUX
Red Beard Pirate is the latest version of a carving project that I have carved several times. A pirate is a carver’s dream of a carving project because of the variety of anomalies of design compared with a regular figure.
18
Jan
A PHOTO MEMORY
A PHOTO MEMORY ~ Photographs capture a memory being made to become a memory remembered. A photo taken by Rick Bissonnette at the Miami Valley Woodcarving Show in 2019 is such a memory. At the end of 2019 I retired from teaching woodcarving and participating in woodcarving shows. The photo shows my wife Frances and me standing behind our display table with many of Wood Bee Carver style of carvings on display. I still carve for personal pleasure along with commissioned carvings as well as publishing in my carving journal blog www.woodbeecarver.com ~ Thanks to Rick for giving me this photo to be a benchmark memory representative of my woodcarving journey.
PROGRESSIVE STEPS of a carving subject are a visual aid to visualize the development from the opening cuts through steps towards a completed carving. The examples used in this tutorial also contain the proportional divisions as a guide for laying out the major landmarks of the subject. With each Progressive Step illustration, the viewer is to study the progression of development to imagine what cuts were necessary to accomplish each step. While being a helpful reference tool, the greater function of the Progressive Steps illustration is to help the carver to develop the ability to see a carving develop in one’s imagination. Studying a Progressive Steps illustrations, the viewer realizes that one has to read between the lines, so to speak, when following each step and allow imagination to fill in the blanks in between each step. While these illustrations are of three inch tall figures, the same concept would apply to any size coupled with imagination.
