Chip Carving

This carving is meant to be used to hold a bottle of wine at the dinner table or a place to store little knickknacks. The sides have only two designs. I carved one of the same designs in the wrong spot so I ended up with two instead of four different designs.  It is 6 inches across and 1 3/4 inches tall. It was in a kit so all I had to do is draw in the design and carve.

Friendly Carving

Last weekend I was carving at a Rendezvous in West Glacier. I enjoy the time up there talking and carving with people of all skill levels. If you are a beginner it is a good place to go and pick up some skills. Most of the classes are 3 hours and a few are 6 hours. The Montana carvers do this every year in August. This is what I carved during the three days and I painted them when I got home. I came home with good memories and new friends. There was a group of young ladies from Mongolia who were working at the campground and one lady was interested in the carving. I gave her an owl ornament that I was teaching. The next day she said she was interested in carving something. So that afternoon she brought a friend and they carved a tree out of cotton wood bark. They did a great job on their first carving.

Go Zag's

This bulldog is carved from 3/8 inch thick basswood as refrigerator magnets. The bulldog is the mascot for Gonzaga. We follow their basketball team every year. I carved the bulldog for gifts for my wife and a couple of friends. I took the picture of the three bulldogs on the refrigerator. It showed my reflection in the picture, so I took it again on the side of the refrigerator. When I enhanced the picture it gave me these neat background colors.

Olde World Santa

I carved this Santa in Cottonwood bark. It is 10 inches tall and 3 inches wide. This is the first time I tried painting something in bark. I like to carve something in the back
of the piece.

Bird House Ornament

This is an idea from a Montana friend. The house is carved from cottonwood bark and the bird is from basswood. It is 2 1/4 inch square and 3/4 inch thick at the widest point. I was going to carve in the features of the house but I liked the look of the bark so I burned in boards. I like the contrast of the Goldfinch against the bark. It's a fun one to carve with some of those scrapes of wood lying around.

   

Rendezvous

I attended a Rendezvous in Kennewick,WA. It was a great time visiting with the people and carving. I always like carving characters so I had to try the small guy. He is a three inch tall cut out.  I carved the bird on both sides of the pine cone. She had a simple way of laying out the lines.  The flute was a kit where we had to round the flute and carve the block, which my choice was a fish. My wife made a bag to protect the flute. I am having fun learning to play music on it.

Mushroom

This was in a class where the bottom was turned on a lathe and the top was cut on a band saw. It is a 2 inch block, three inches tall. The bottom is slanted up and carved with a v gouge. The face is cut at a corner so it can have a large nose it you want. I added a tie just to put some color in it.