Bark Ornament

 A good way to use small pieces of cottonwood bark is to carve small houses. These are carved on both sides and I wood burned the wood boards. I found some small birds in a craft store and I pinned them unto the roof. Also the snow is Snow-tex from DecoArt.

Bear in a Canoe

 This carving is 5 inches long and 3 1/2 inches tall, from 1 inch stock. The canoe has a flat bottom so it can be put on a shelf. I super glued in a 8 inch twine so it could be hang on a Christmas tree. The painted lines are to add some color when on the tree. The bear is more of a caricature look that I like. The bears arms go over the side about a 1/16 of an inch. I didn't carve much depth in the canoe and didn't paint that area. I didn't find a color I like in that area. It's painted with watered down acrylic's.

 

 

Cowboy Refrigerator Magnets

 These were carved on 1 1/2 inch square wood cut diagonal and 3 1/2 inch long. The i-phone is to recognize and focus on a face. It is interesting that it did focus on the one without the mustache and didn't on the others. It has on other carvings I did with a mustache. I like them all but it wasn't my favorite or my wife's.

  

Santa Ornaments

I started painting the hair and beards of my Santa's like I seen another carver do so. I use watered down acrylic's mainly from Americana.  I start with yellow and paint all the hair. while it's still wet I paint burnt sienna, leaving some yellow. Then I paint light Butttermilk leaving some of the other colors show. I let the paint dry. Then I use straight white in a dry brush method, leaving little paint on the brush and just hit the high spots. I like how it looks and it will depend on how you applied the paint.

Walking Cane

One of my favorite pictures of my dad is of him sitting against a tree carving a walking stick. Carving is such a satisfying time. Diamond Willow is beautiful as a walking stick but I wanted to have a cane done before I needed to use one. For the hand grip I used a door knob I found at an Antique store.

 

Key Marco Cat

There is an interesting history of this carving, it had been carved with primitive tools such as sea shells, shark teeth, and bones. It is 6 inches tall. I carved it out of cottonwood bark. A pattern was in Woodcarving Illustrated. I found a rear view with a internet search. It was a challenge to carve with carving tools, some of the detail doesn't show in my pictures. 

Santa Key

This is from one of the classes at the Glacier Rendezvous in August. It is 5 1/2 inch tall and is about 5/8 inch thick. I used the wood I have on hand at home. It doesn't take long to carve. The back is flat so I like to carve, burn, paint something on the back. I do something different every year.