Thirteen carvers gathered for a three day carving seminar (September 13, 14 and 15) at Tannerhill State Park, near Birmingham, AL to learn to Whittle-Carve using only a knife.

Carl Wiggins organized the class that included Mike Davis, Bob Trussell, Phil Pugh, Dean Irving, Howard Weaver, Frank Connery, Roy Melton, Bib Moore, Wayne Thaggard, Phil Crider, David Courington, and Donald Maddox.  The photographs show students busy at their carving projects and having a good time.

Lessons learned included three exercises using notch cuts, three cut triangular cuts and slice and roll cuts under the tutorage of the Wood BEE Carver.  Using the Rule of Three for facial proportions the first exercise shaped a square block of wood into the basic shape of a proportional face with angles and planes in order to understand how the foundation for a face should be laid out and shaped before any details were added. A second exercise practiced using notch cuts to open up the major landmarks of the face at the eye brow bone structure and the nose nostrils.  This was followed by further shaping the eye mound and the nostril, smile line and mouth mound area of the face using three cut triangular cuts to open up the areas to allow for further cuts to finish forming the basic foundation of a face learning that one cut is not a cut to end all cuts, but does open up for further cuts in the shaping process.

The photographs below are of some of the exercises’ visual aids and go-bys for some of the projects which all built upon the basic cuts learned for carving the basics of a face in wood.

Students then applied what was learned in those beginning exercise by carving a project of choice from the variety of examples in the various go-bys of a Santa ornament, Santa shelf squatter, cowboy busts, magnetic face, pirate figure, hobo figures, Hobbit, Pumpkin Egg face, Gnome Wizard and Whittle Dwarfs.

With good humor and attentive interest each student survived the three days with a greater appreciation for carving as often as possible because the more one carves the better one carves and with a greater appreciation of carving with a knife using slice and roll cuts.