Bob's Weather Wizard

I'm starting with a story, The Lore of the Cottonwood Tree. There is a quiet small valley with a small river winding though. The 100 plus year old Cottonwood tree had it's top broken off and all the branches were gone. The bark was falling on the grass covered ground. The tree was bleached out by the sun. The Cottonwood tree spoke, "I see all the young tree's around me from my seed, but I feel something is missing." A warm breeze came from the south and whispered to the tree, "from your bark it you will be remembered with joy and comfort. Be at peace."  For me it is a joy to find and carve Cottonwood bark. As we grow older we may have some of the same thoughts.

My friend Bob has a weather station, so I wanted to carve him a weather wizard. I don't know if it looks like a wizard, but the face looks like a Norseman to me. I'm attaching a card to it so he has another source for his forecast. It's 8 inches long and 1 1/2 inch diameter. The eye pupils were cut in with a gouge and then burnt in to darken them. Bob said he had the wizard to point to when somebody complained about the weather. He liked it very much.

Santa is coming

This is my view of Cottonwood City, named after the famed cottonwood tree. The doors are a little ajar, waiting for that most important visitor this time of the year. Santa is lurking around the corner looking to see who has been naughty or nice. This has been a busy time of the year carving ornaments. These bark houses can be hung or set on the self. They are about 4 inches tall and all have a tree and a post. I carved 20 of these and they are all different with a simple design.

 

Baseball Pitcher

I was given a Dave Stetson roughout last spring to carve for a Christmas gift. Of course apple pie and baseball are Americans favorites. I like both especially the little leagues, but it is second to apple pie. 

 

Fin

I was looking at a blog from Finland and seen this character with the ribbon look on the bottom. This one is carved with cottonwood bark. It is a good choice because of the layers it shows on the rounded surfaces. This is 6 inches tall by 1 1/4 inches round. I like to see more blog's from different countries around the world to see what they are carving. Today I did a craft show in my home town. It's a small town where you know a lot of people and of coarse you do barter some. It was fun to visit those who come around my booth.