"Studious Stitch"

Finally! I just finished my second "Stitch" for a friend. Actually, this guy is the "second" second stitch. You see I had to scrap the first piece because I cut too much wood too fast! Lesson learned!

"Studious Stitch" started out like all pieces, on the band saw. He's made of basswood, is 3" by 5" by 3" and is resting on a 5" by 7" base. I'm a "power carver" and use a Mastercarver flex-shaft tool for 99.9% of all my carvings. Once in a while I need to clean edges and use an Exacto knife.

 

 

 

"Stitch" will be on his stomach relaxing on the ground reading a book.

 

 

"Stitch's" big ears did me in on the first attempt. I made sure to leave plenty of wood this time around.

 

 

At last, I can refine his features.

 

 

 

Give him his book!

 

Add some color and put the pieces together....

 

 

 

 

It's always a great feeling when you finish a piece... especially after the second try!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Horse's ...."

A funny thing happened at the office. When talking about a new carving project the idea to carve a horse came up. The friend I was talking with laughingly suggested a "Horse's _ _ _!" The idea stuck and here's the results of that conversation.

A slender piece of Basswood will do the trick.

With a minimal amount of band saw work the piece was ready for carving.

I planned to carve the tail as well.

At this point I just happened to be talking to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Bill and Angela about using either doll hair or something similar. They suggested why not use real horse hair!

That was perfect! They contacted their longtime friend, Rachel in North Carolina and a couple days later I received an envelope with a hunk of horse hair in it.

I'd like to thank Bill and Angela for the idea and Rachel for "sacrificing" her horse's tail.

 

Now, the carving took on a whole new meaning.

I removed the wooden tail, whipped the end of a gathering of horse hair and glued them together.

The results made all the difference.

 

 

The "Horse's ..." recipient is a horse lover and rider and she loved the results.

 

And that's the end of this tale!

 

 

 

 

"Winnie the Pooh" (number 2)

Normally, I prefer not to carve a character twice. However, this "Winnie the Pooh" is going to be a gift from a friend of mine to a special person who just loves "Winnie the Pooh." The easiest way to avoid making the same character twice is to simply put it into another position. Seeing as how this person is very special to my friend I think I found a most appropriate position for "Winnie"

 

Let's start at the beginning...

 

First, the sketch and then we remove the bulk of the piece on the band saw.

 

Once the piece is "marked up" with the basic shape I can begin to "rough cut" the basic contours of the piece.

 

This is where you begin to "gamble" on just how much wood you think you should remove.

 

 

This "Winnie" left me with one very particularly perplexing problem; his muzzle!

I removed his muzzle to the eyes and cheeks. I glued a piece of wood to it and began remaking his muzzle.

 

Above, you can see the glue joint between his eyes and muzzle. However, I still had to reduce his nose and muzzle several more times before I was satisfied. (Of course, after he was painted I can see where I could have made it even better.)

 

 

Instead of mounting him on a cloud (as in the photo), he would be relaxing on a "grassy" surface.

After all, doesn't "Winnie" live in the woods!

 

Time for wood sealer and some color.

 

 

 

 

I'm sure "Winnie" will put a smile on his new owner's face!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The Doughboy Kids and the Corvette

The idea of sitting the two "Doughboy Kids" in a Corvette developed while trying to think up a clever woodcarving gift for two of our close friends, Pam and Lee. They offer us camping space in their back yard when we travel north. Camping in their yard is not what you think. Pam and Lee own a construction company and he's basically set us up with a pad and full hook-ups.

Pam and Lee love following just about all types of car racing. They're especially fond of Super Modified Sprint Car racing. In fact, they just bought their own car to race! They hope to run the car this coming racing season.

Just last year, Lee purchased a '79 Corvette for he and Pam to "cruise" in.

 In addition to the 'Vette, Pam collects and has an awesome collection of Pillsbury Doughboys.  Now that you know how I deceided to put "Poppin' Fresh" and "Poppy" into the seats of a Corvette... here's the rest of the story...

Starting with a 4"X4"X12" piece of tupelo wood, the piece is sketched out.

The finished piece is 8"L X 4"W X 3 3/4"H

Then, a little time on the band saw.

Now the fun begins!

When I carve a piece I try to make the best of all the wood surfaces of the piece. The bottom of each piece is typically where I engrave the information about the piece. However, this piece being an automobile, I thought I'd add a few more "details" to it.

Now its time to carve to the finish!

It's time to add some color!

Finally, we can

 send the "Doughboy Kids" on the road to their new home with Pam and Lee!