Bear Claw Necklace

I decided to give my new carving a bear claw necklace. Here are a few pics of how I roughed in the necklace, they are pretty self explanatory. I used a #5 to set in the top of the claw, use it upside down to round the claw. I used a v-tool to define the sides of each claw. Notice the center claw hangs straight and the others point toward the center. I used a tool called an eye punch to mark the beads. The tool is pretty much useless in carving an eye, but is good for marking circles for beads, buttons etc. It marks shallow, so I deepen the marked area with a #3. Carve up to the cut area and round over the top of each bead. And there you  have it, a bear claw necklace. Thanks for checking in and you're welcome to leave comments of questions.

Native American Bust Update

I was able to get about an hour of carving time in today. Refined the mouth and nose and roughed in the hair line, neck and brow. Not sure what I am going to do on the chest area yet. Stay tuned.

Native American Bust

Started a new carving from a chunk of basswood left over from a bigger project. First I remove some wood with a band saw creating a generic blank or cutout. Then I use mallet tools to rough out the facial features. At this point he has a pretty good profile. This is the first time I've used my new Poor Man's Vise and it's working great. Should have built one sooner.

Poor Man's Carving Vise

Poor Man's Vise is an inexpensive holding device. I didn't come up with this idea, I seen it in an issue of Woodcarving Illustrated. It's basically a few pieces of pipe. pipe flanges and an eye bolt. I bolted mine to a small board that I can clamp to a bench or table. That way it is portable and can be moved outside or taken to carving meetings easily. Simply screw the pipe flange to your carving, slide through the eye bolt and tighten. A great little vise that holds up to mallet carving.

Bench Hook

A great holding device, especially for relief carving is a bench hook. Simple to make, I put this one together with scrap wood I had laying around the shop. You can build this in whatever size works best for you. Mine is 14 1/2" x 19" because that's the size of 3/8" plywood I had. I added 3/4" x 1 1/2" cleats on the bottom and 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" on top. It's called a bench hook because it hooks on the edge of your table or bench. You can then carve on your piece as it butts up to the top edge board. You can add non slip padding to it for better control.

Remember the Fallen

Remembering those who have sacrificed for our freedom................

Intermediate Drawing Class

Finished up the intermediate drawing class last week. This was an eight week class focusing on value, composition, perspective and foreshortening. We brought our own subject matter and worked on the one drawing the entire class. I never realized how much there is to drawing. I'm glad I took both classes, but it's time to get back to carving.

Beginning Drawing Class

In an effort to better design my own carving patterns, I enrolled in a beginning drawing class last fall. It was one night a week for ten weeks and it went by really fast. I am currently in an intermediate drawing class with the same instructor, Bonnie Shelton. She is a great instructor and artist. These drawings are from the beginning class.

In

2014 Kansas City Woodcarvers Show

Had a great time at the Kansas City Show. I volunteered to help out in the judge's area and this year's judge was Pat Moore from North Dakota, owner of Moore's Roughouts. I learned alot from her as she would take time to explain to exhibitor's how she evaluated a carving and which deserved a ribbon. I did receive three ribbons, second in Realistic Human Roughout, third in Realistic Human Bust and third in Deep Relief. I sold Merlin, Lone Elk and also four carved pencils. I sold Merlin before I had a chance to enter him in the competition, but money is better than a ribbon. My wife showed several of her woodburnings, but did not enter any. All in all a great show!

Head of Christ 2nd

Death Song 3rd

Lincoln 3rd

Judging Area

View from stage (left)

View from stage (right)

                                                 

View from stage (center)

Death Song

This carving started from one of the worst pieces of basswood I have ever carved. A fellow carver had given up on it because it was so hard. So I traded a couple smaller pieces of basswood for it, thinking I could mount it on my carver's arm and use mallet tools. This chunk of wood would rip and tear out regardless of direction of the cut or tool used. I continually stroped my tools to keep a sharp edge, but almost gave up on this piece myself. Once the carving was completed I turned to applying the finish. I used a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits to add a little color. This usually works well and covers evenly. Not this piece, it was blotchy at best. I applied more coats than usual and eventually it evened out, but darker than I wanted. I applied several coats of lacquer and a matte finish to knock down some of the shine. All in all I like how he turned out, and just in time for the Kansas City show. Mounted on a walnut base, he measures 10" tall.