Hang Ten

This Orca or Killer Whale was carved and painted in the Northwest Native American style. My hands aren't as steady for the small lines as I wish. This carving is just 4 inches long. The Killer Whale belongs to the Dolphin's family. The males can grow as large as 32 feet and the females can reach 32 feet. The dorsal fin can reach 6 feet high in males. The Killer Whales live in and hunt in pods (groups). They work together to circle the herd prey area before attacking. They feed on salmon, herring, seals, sea lions, sharks, and smaller whales. Each tooth can be about 3 inches long and 2.5 inches in diameter. They communicate through a wide variety of sounds such as clicks, whistles and pulsed calls.

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• Killer whale (slideshare.net)

Santa Ornament

This santa ornament I've done several times in the past. I like to carve this  when we are out camping where I don't need to take a lot of tools. It is caved of a 2 inch by 5 inch block of basswood cut diagonally. Part of the fun for us at Christmas is to decorate the tree with handcrafted ornaments. It brings back memories from the past years of the joy with our family, the different menus we had, all the different cards received and of coarse the reason for Christmas.

Seahorse

I finally finished painting the seahorse I carved at the Spokane rendezvous. It's more of a cartoon style. I pulled some of the orange paint onto the piece of driftwood the seahorse is mounted on. You might not see the sand on the driftwood in the picture. While we were at the Denver Aquarium I was able to take a picture of a seahorse. They come in different colors and range from .6 to 8 inches in size. They use their dorsal fin in the back to propel themselves through the water in an upright position. The seahorses don't have teeth or a stomach, so they eat constantly on daphnia, cyclops, larvae, and brine shrimp. They have a single mate for life and every morning they come together , dance, change their color, twirl around with linked tails and separate for the rest of the day. We were able to see this happen at the aquarium. There eyes move independently, one may be looking to the left and the other straight up. The female deposits its eggs into the males pouch and the babies are born from the male. 

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• The Life Cycle of Seahorses and Other Interesting Facts (brighthub.com)

Kolrosing

Kolrosing is a very old method of giving fine line surface decoration to wood, simply using the tip of a belt knife to make cuts and then rubbing coal dust into it to bring out the Pattern. The Scandinavian tradition used it to decorate spoons, small bowls, boxes, cups, etc. The designs were more geometric or Celtic in origin, but anything which can be drawn with a pencil can be done. It is like in the early years where you are to follow the lines. "O Boy" that is tough when the knife wants to follow the grain of the wood. I used a Kolrosing knife and used espresso grounds to rub in the lines. Then I coated it with mineral oil and then a wax.