Olde World Santa - 2nd Part

Here's the last part of this two-part video.

Olde World Santas - my version

I decided to give the "Olde World Santa" (from WCI-Holiday 2007 Issue 41) a try. I like the boldness of this character. The lacy, through-cut beard is a fun challenge and the seriously wrinkled face and hat gives him a wonderful quality not typical of the traditional Santa with his round, rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes. He could easily be a wizard or a mountain man with a few alterations. The eyes were a challenge, at least for me and I feel I will have to carve a pile of these before I master them.

I'll be honest, I dd not really try or even want to follow Mark Gargac's process to the letter and once I got started, I just kept referring to the photos of his finished work. That let me find my own way by exploring different tools and techniques. My video here is part 1 of 2 and only shows certain details of techniques I explored, but does not chronicle my efforts start to finish. My feeling is that this is Mr. Gargac's process and design so I didn't feel I should present it as my own. But I hope you'll get something from watching my videos that may be useful for this and other face carvings.

Site of the Week: Knife Sharpening Blog

I was searching around the internet looking for information on making gouges and I came across today's featured site. It's called Knife Sharpening Blog, but there is much more to this blog than just knife sharpening information. As and example, this essay on Whittling vs Wood Carving is interesting. Master knife sharpener, Len Q explores a variety of topics from gardening to fishing to rock climbing and even carving jack-o-lanterns, to name a few. I think there's a little something for everyone in this blog.

I'll Be Back...

I can see by my blog stats that folks have been visiting my blog but I have been somewhat distracted and have gotten behind in posting. That's not a good thing for a blogger to do because eventually I stand the risk of loosing the audience I worked so hard to build. The truth is, I have been carving a lot but not things that can go on the blog. One thing I have done is a number of walking sticks for my shop and they don't photograph very well. Second, I've been carving multiples of things I have already done videos for, so no point in repeating those. This year, I've decided to get a running head start on things for Christmas, so those are many multiples of the same. I do have a few fresh ideas to share and they'll be coming up soon, but with many outside activities scheduled for May and June, the time needed to make videos just hasn't been there. I will try to take better care of this blog and post some sketches and a video in thee next couple days. So thanks for coming back time and again and please tell your carving friends and clubs about me and hopefully we'll all be better carvers for it.

For those of you who have been affected by all the terrible forces of nature hitting our midwest so hard this year, I hope you and yours are safe and can be so rebuilding your lives. Carving seems trivial compared to some of the devastation I've seen happening this year. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Site of the Week: Snake Sticks

I've been carving some walking sticks and doing research for different ideas. This site is awesome and the snake-on-a-stick looks like a real challenge. Maybe one day...

Carving a Spiral Part 3: Extras

Some carvings I've made using the spiral layout technique and some ways to layout on a round piece.

Site of the Week - Mary May on The Woodwright's Shop

Here's a great video of Mary May, a traditional carver showing how to layout and carve an Acanthus form. enjoy!

Here's a link to her web site: Cornerstone Creations