"Jiminy Cricket and the Candy Drawer"

A co-worker where I work, recently received a Disney 30th year Anniversary Award. The award happens to be Jiminy Cricket. Therefore, Jiminy became the "caricature of choice" for Glorimar's carving. You may be curious as to just how does Jiminy Cricket relate to a candy drawer. Glorimar provides our group with a "Candy Drawer" and yours truly likes to take advantage of having such a treat close by. Glorimar knows I like to "help-out" and donate to replenish the drawer's contents. She also knows I "dig" for dark chocolate candies. She's been extremely kind to maintain a dark chocolate "secret stash" and seems to only add the dark chocolate when I'm working. Hence, the connection between Jiminy Cricket and Glorimar's candy drawer... and now... you know the rest of the story! (As the late, great Paul Harvey always said.)

So, how do I mate Jiminy with dark chocolate? Answering that question was the fun part of this carving. Those of you who have a creative hobby understand all the thought that goes into creating a specific piece for a specific person. When all your thoughts and ideas reach that focal point you begin to "put it on paper" so too speak. In Jiminy's case, he'll be standing on and "melting" into a Ghirardelli dark chocolate square.

Many of you know all my carvings include a PowerPoint Presentation set to music that fits the subject matter and progress of the piece. Sometimes I hear a song and log it in the back of my mind to accompany a later carving. Many times, while carving, I'm listening to various songs/music to find just the right music for the piece at hand.

I began including the PowerPoint Program as part of my gift to my carving recipients when the first person I handed an original piece to asked where I purchased it. I quickly realized that unless you're around someone who makes handcrafted pieces, many people may not realize the process, time and workmanship that goes into a hand carved gift. They only see the finished product.

On with "Jiminy Cricket and the Candy Drawer."

A 4" X 4" X 12" block of tupelo wood is where I begin.

 I try to get at least two pieces out of one block of the above size.

 

The band saw is a huge time-saver when it comes to coping the template.

(Note the tiny acid brush and bristles to the left of the photo below?

Sometimes we artists make an "oops" now and then. Well, while trying to brush off the sawdust so I can see the lines I kinda caught the blade!)

 

 Jiminy coped out and almost ready for carving.

 

Looking at Jiminy from the side I judged that if I made reference marks on his sides I would be able to cope both the front and back of him as well.

 

I could cut over a 1/2" off on the front and back. But, that meant I really needed to refer to my original drawing a great deal.

 

After lots of "roughing out" a piece, every now and then I like to carve a "helper" line or curve to keep me on track. Remember, always leave enough wood for the details as you go. Yes, I've had to "add" some wood when I got a bit to aggressive!

 

A good example of what I mean above, is how I planned to "stand" Jiminy "melting" into a dark chocolate square.

As you can see, I would have preferred carving (melting) him deeper into the chocolate square.

 

At first, I planned to carve him and his chocolate square in one piece. I gave up on that idea and cut the square off to inlay him onto a smaller chocolate square.

There's actually another reason for the chocolate square change. With Ghirardelli being a major Disney Participating Vendor I thought it best not to carve a competitor's chocolate bar!



 

 Below Jiminy will be inlayed into the "chocolate" and the "melted" chocolate will displace the Ghirardelli logo that is to be glued to the surface.

 

Finally, the piece is sealed with clear stain and ready for paint.

 

"Jiminy Cricket and the Candy Drawer" stands 7 3/4" on a 5" square base.

As Jiminy says, "Always let your conscience be your guide..."

 

...unless you're digging into Glorimar's Candy Drawer!