A basswood ostrich egg was used to carve this Santa using traditional carving tools.  Even though the WOOD BEE CARVER is primarily a knife carver, yet on occasions traditional carving tools will be used to carve larger projects.  Basswood hen eggs have been used for whittle-carving projects using only a knife using the Santa theme.  Under “NAVIGATION” on the left column of this web log there is a page entitled “WHITTLE FOLK EGGS – Carving a Wooden Egg” that shows the smaller version of egg carving.  Also in the posting for November 22, 2008 there are two styles of Santa eggs used for a class project.

These two photographs show the front and back views of the basswood ostrich egg beginning to take on the form of Santa.  The egg is approximately five inches tall and three and a half inches wide.  The carving tools in the photos are Drake gouges www.drakeknives.com custom made by Gil Drake of Arlington, WA.

Here are the front and back views of the Santa carving completed and waiting to receive its coloring through the Painting Softly process that is described in another posting in this web log.  Notice that a Drake Knife has joined the other Drake carving tools because there are some cuts that only a knife can make.

These three views give an almost all around view of a Santa carved out of an ostrich size basswood egg.  The completed carving was donated to the silent auction at the Artistry in Wood Show in Dayton, Ohio in 2008.  Like all carving projects, “woodcarving is the journey rather than the destination,” in that the real fun is in the carving process using beautiful and sharp tools to shape the wood and an imagination to guide the tools.  The Santa Egg has a new home but the carver has the memory and inspiration of the “journey” and awaits a new project to inspire another “journey.”