Free Hand Carving is carvings done with a knife in the style of “Whittle Doodle” carvings that simply carve various subjects and designs into a piece of wood.  The first example is a Denny V Gouge made especially with a basswood handle for the purpose of carving the handle.  This Free Hand Carving was done for Wayne Shinlever.  Once carved the handle was stained with artist oil raw sienna paint and boiled linseed oil followed with a coating of Deft. Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday, May 15, five students survived the rigors of learning to Whittle-Carve using only a knife.  Pictured in the photograph left to right are Curt McCarthy, Dean Jauss, Ron Jauss, Steve Cotton and Terry Bell.  During this one day class the students learned the merits of “slicing with the cutting edge,”using notch cuts and three cut triangle chip cuts to open up a block of wood and the agony and ecstasy of learning a new way of carving.  Using the simple definition of carving as using a cutting tool to shape a piece of wood by rounding square corners and flattening round surfaces, each student gained a greater appreciation for the art of whittling. Read the rest of this entry »

A Treble Clef proudly stands erect on a base in the form of a Grand Piano with the name of the recipient carved into the music rack.  This carving out of butternut wood was a commission piece for a birthday gift to the wife of a loving and appreciative husband.  As a commission piece the commissioner offered the general idea of a grand piano to be carved for his wife of fifty years who plays the piano.  The carver was instructed to come up with a design that would by symbolic of a musician who is a pianist. Read the rest of this entry »

WHITTLE FOLK MONKS are Whittle-Carved out of a one inch square by three inch tall block of basswood.  They are often used as a class project for the teaching of face carving only with a knife.  The face is the first thing seen on a carving and since the body of the monk is covered with a robe the face received the most attention of detail carving.  An earlier posting of Whittle Folk Monk Faces presented a photographic study of faces. Read the rest of this entry »

Pictured above are the seven students who survived the class taught by the WOOD BEE CARVER at the WAG School of Carving, Crossville, TN on April 30 and May 1 and 2.

.  Whittle-Carving which is  carving only with a knife is a challenging learning experience in which these seven students survived the two and half days of intense instruction.  Pictured above are Simon Graham, Tim Arnett, Russel Brannon, Bill Millard, Phil Babelay, Dave Maldon and Dale Anderson. Read the rest of this entry »

BITS AND PIECES describes recent carvings.  The first is a relief carving in a small format that was done as a demonstration of relief carving for a beginners carving class that was considering various kinds of carving projects.  The demonstration lesson was both for laying out a design, setting it in, carving in detail and applying a finish.  Basswood measuring a half inch thick by five inches and three and a half inches was used for this relief carving project.  The finish was raw sienna artist oil paint and boiled linseed oil.  Like every carving project it was a learning piece. Read the rest of this entry »

The Eastern Woodland Carving Club hosted a carving class in Converse, Indiana on April 23, 24 and 25.  Fifteen students learned the basics for carving only with a knife in the Whittle-Carving style.  With good humor, delicious lunch meals and eager enthusiasm each student enjoyed all the various exercises and lessons of learning to slice with the cutting edge and open up a block of wood with notch cuts and three cut triangle chips. Read the rest of this entry »