Springhouse

This relief carving was mostly done last year but was put aside for other projects. It took me longer than I thought it would. I cleaned a few areas and painted it last week with acrylics. It's done in basswood, 9 1/2 by 12 inches and 1 1/4 inches thick. 

Chief Kamiakin

At our North Idaho Woodcarvers club get together we had a visit from a scoutmaster. The Boy Scouts are having a national jamboree in July and asked if we could carve some relief carvings of something that represents their troop. There are four troops in eastern Washington and four troops in northern Idaho in the Inland Northwest Council. Our club is doing the Idaho side and the carved plaques will be mounted on a nine foot pole. I will be working with a friend, Girard on the profile of Chief Kamiakin, which was chosen by one of the troops. This picture is a likeness of the Chief given to us to use as a guide.

Cottonwood Bark

This last week I carved the same monk from 2002, only using cottonwood bark. The bark for carving comes only from dead trees. It's in layers, so every cut reveals a different look. I added a little more detail on the eyes and nose. It is five inches tall and it's grain runs front to back. The arm side you see in the picture would be towards the wood of the tree. Several coats of satin Deft bring out the rich colors of the bark.

Monks

The monk on the right I carved back in 2002. It's not quite 5 inches tall and 2 inches wide. It seemed to take forever to carve this simple design. The monk on thee left I carved last December. It is 7 inches tall from an inch and one half square piece of basswood. His hands are brought together in the back. A friend had carved one several years ago and brought it in for a pattern. Every christmas I look back at the ornaments I've carved and can see progress in carving skills. I ask myself if I shouldn't carve some of the earlier pieces again.

Parkway

I recieved my relief carving from a project our club did last year. Members picked a photo of a scene around the Coeur d'Alene area to carve. They are approximately 8 by 11 by 3/4 inches, and were all sprayed with a lacquer. Some were vertical and some horizontal, then mounted in a framework like a quilt. We recieved a lot of comments and people did recognize the different area's when they were displayed.

Caricature

The Quigley challenge from Lynn's Outwest blog has started. I look forward in coming up with a carving of Quigley and seeing the other carvings. It should be fun. This caricature head was one from a video from Lynn's blog. I got the eyes a little off kilter, other than that it came out pretty good. I haven't put a hat on him. I'm going to leave him as is and use this carving as a guide. We have 30 day's to carve a Quigley bust so I better get cracking.

Whittle Tee Noggins

It is a new year and I have all kind of projects in mind. I saw these whittle tee noggins on WoodBeeCarvers blog and I had to try carving one. I didn't use a golf tee as I had lots of scraps from other carvings. They are about 1/2 inch diameter and just short of 3 inches tall. It is surprising how much face detail you can carve in a small space. They are quick and fun to carve and will be interesting gifts to my golfer friends.