Owl Ornament

I've been working on a class for this summer. It is a simple owl that can be carved in a short time and has a lot of options. It starts out square and can be a little longer. This block is a little over 1 3/4 inch square by 2 inches long.  I use a washer to draw a circle on the top and bottom and draw center lines on all sides. I carve it round leaving one corner for the beak. I leave the center lines so it will be easier to draw in the ear tufts. 

 I carve the bottom round. I use a shallow gouge for the top and clean it up with a knife. It's a little harder to carve on the end grain. On the side I use a knife carving both directions. I leave plenty of wood around the eye. Draw in your eyes and then round and deepen the sides. Carve in the beak and eyes. Carve a few gouge marks on the front. I carve a relief line for the wings.

 I'm carving several for gifts so there is a lot of ways you can carve the eyes and painting with different colors. I used gel pens for the lines in the eyes. Have fun carving.

Indian in Bark

This Native Indian was carved from a 10 inch piece of Cottonwood bark.With the grain of the bark it has light and dark lines. When taking a picture of the piece it changes with light at different camera angles.

Betty

I started out with a Chris Hammack roughout. I broke off an arm while carving and glued it back on. I was putting on the finish coat of lacquer and dropped the carving on the cement floor and broke the arm again. Discussed with myself I carved off the body and now it is a bottle stopper. I think I will stop for a moment for a glass of wine.

 

Heart Ornament

I carved this ornament out of a 4 by 4 inch piece of basswood. It's 1/2 inch thick. It has the same design on both sides. You could write anything on the blank space and I chose to write a Finnish Christmas greeting because of my Finnish heritage.

  

Santa Has a Heart

I started carving this type of Santa ornament with the beard having cut outs about 12 years ago, trying to do different things to the carving, It is hard for me to believe I have been carving these that long.  Dave Stetson posted a pattern with hearts cut out in the beard and I thought it would look great in this type of ornament. The blank is a 2 inch square that is cut at a diagonal and is 6 inches long. The back is dished out and I carve something in the back. This one has a heart. There is a lot of room on the back to write something. They make wonderful gifts.

     

Little Guy

These little guy's were carved from 1 inch stock, about 2 1/2 inches tall. I like to encourage people to keep carving. My earliest remembrance is in my preteens going to the sauna for my dad's  hunting knife. And then we carved hunting knives and swords to play a sort of Robin Hood. Small figures like this can be carved with just a knife although I used a v-tool and small gouge. Keep carving.

Carved Cowboy

This carving is from a Myron Compton pattern. The cowboy is 6 1/2 inches tall. I like the big head with the small body. I had sawed out the blank over a year ago and decided to finally carve it. I need to work on some of these blanks sitting around my shop.