A Shawn Cipa angel

Since we had no December meeting, and no one has emailed me any pictures, you are stuck with viewing my stuff!  I carved this small angel from a Shawn Cipa pattern for a lady at church and will do a larger version as a tree topper for my daughter. I like Shawn’s work and plan to do some other pieces based on his patterns. I have the stuff for his recent dancing Santa and I want to do the photo holder one from a few years back. Merry Christmas to all!

In memory of Junior Cobb

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. (AP) - Ozarks woodcarver Junior Cobb, whose talent for crafting human and wildlife figures took him to the White House, has died. He was 70.
Cobb, who lived in the Three Brothers community near the Missouri border, died Monday, according to Roller Funeral Homes of Mountain Home.
Cobb began carving at age 6 and sold his early works to travelers taking the small ferry that his father ran across the White River.
His brother, W.A. Cobb, told the Baxter Bulletin that Junior Cobb wouldn't carve until he needed money. Cobb lived in a home he built largely from scrap and spent as much time as he could in the outdoors.

Cobb visited the White House with then-Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller during the Johnson administration. His works have been displayed by the Smithsonian.

December Meeting Canceled

Unfortunately, the meeting and holiday pot-luck scheduled for this Saturday has had to be canceled, due to scheduling conflicts with the meeting area. We hope everyone has the happiest of holidays despite this! Please plan to attend the January meeting and remember that membership dues for 2012 will need to be paid (Only $15 per year...what a deal!)

"November Meeting"

We had a pretty good turnout for this meeting, despite it being opening day for deer season! Jim Baker was persuaded to continue as president for the next year and Mike Pounders presented the program on carving Santa ornaments.

Jay Weaver brought some of his carvings and scrollsaw work, including a bandsaw box with hidden drawer and some 3D cutouts that were pretty neat!

Fred Nahlen bought some stuff from a woodcarver'd estate in NW Arkansas, including this Christmas mouse  go-by. He is planning to get some roughouts made so that we can carve this over the next several months. Please contact Fred if you are interested in purchasing a rough-out.

Ken Glasscock brought some beautiful turnings that might be used as ornaments. Some really beautiful and interesting finishing techniques.



Fred has completed quite a few Santas, including the Noah's Ark Santa that I believe is destined for his sister?

There may be food and refreshments at our next meeting to celebrate the holidays, so be sure and try and make the next meeting. And be sure to invite or remind friends! Hope to see a big crowd!

CCA Contest results

Here is the link to all the winners and some pictures of Roger Stegall's entries. Congratulations again to Roger!

October's Meeting

We missed a few people at this meeting (possibly the lure of a Razorback's game), but had a good time and hope to see everyone next month! Here is a link to the CCA results where Roger Stegall did so well, but they still haven't posted any pictures. Fred brought some of his holiday carvings and had a small witch blank for us to work on. 

Fred is happy to be finishing his "Noah's Ark Santa" based on a Steve Brown pattern.

Lou is getting a head start on her Christmas presents and brought this beautiful chip carved egg and stand, along with a cedar wood-spirit that she bought at a garage sale for $1!

And, a familiar face brought by a couple of realistic carvings!

I was asked to do the demo/program next month and will probably be calling some of our members to see what you would be interested in seeing. Several have asked me before about doing something on eyes/faces, but I figured I'd call around and ask first!

October Meeting this Saturday!

September has flown by and it's already time for the October meeting. It will be 9 am at the First Electric building and Fred Nahlen will have some projects for us to work on. Hope to see everyone there!

Congratulations!

Roger Stegall, of Mayflower, placed second and fourth in the Santa category of the Caricature Carvers of America 2011 competition! And he also got second in single human figure over ten inches and third in roughout! Way to go Roger! Here is the link to announced winners and I will post pictures as soon as I find some! Or maybe someone could persuade Roger to bring them by to one of the meetings?

You missed a great meeting!

We missed a few of our members, but there was really a great turnout for the first meeting after the summer recess. Several members brought work for the show and tell and we gave away a couple of sample copies of a carving magazine from the UK. Another member sucessfully completed the "egg" challenge in beautiful fashion, Sally Butler brought some beautiful scroll saw work, and Lou and Samir showed their progress on some of their carvings. The surprise guest was Chuck Ferrell who brought some of his caricatures and introduced many of us to the art of carving erasers! Everybody seemed to enjoy the program, even if we couldn't quite duplicate Chuck's success. But as he said, it was easy to get rid of your mistakes! Hope to see some of the members that we have been missing next meeting! Stay sharp!

September Meeting!

September Meeting Saturday, Sept.10, 2011 9:00AM  First Electric Building, Jacksonville, AR

Welcome back! As the long hot summer winds down, it is time to turn our thoughts to football, cookouts, and, yes, woodcarving! We look forward to seeing everyone, hearing of their adventures (real and otherwise) during the recess, and admiring their works of art created in the meantime!
     Our proposed program is to be something a bit different, presented by a "Mystery Artist".... I have been sworn to secrecy, but am authorized to ask everyone to bring a sharp detail knife (or a regular X-Acto knife) for the project! I can say, with some confidence, that you will enjoy the exercise, which I believe is simple enough for even me!

Please plan to join us, and bring a friend interested in carving, if possible We'll see you on the 10th!


                                                                     Jim Butler, President
                                                                               Sept. 3, 2011

Almost Christmas?

I'm trying to replenish my stock of inexpensive carvings sold and used as gifts for Christmas, so I am trying to do one or more Santas per week. I usually spend 4-5 hours on each, but it really depends on what I am trying. There isn't a lot of money in it for me, but I enjoy doing them and people like getting them as gifts or as gifts for others. I get to practice and try out different things with these guys. Almost time for the club to start meeting again!

Carving on the Porch

Jason Pipe sent me a picture of his carving station he built from some recycled wood. It appears that his wife, like mine, is not enthusiastic about carving in the living room. At least he has a nice shady porch, and he has added some knives and a Drake gouge to his tool collection. I believe this carving is for visiting in-laws. Anyone who has any pictures they would like to post should contact me at m.pounders@comcast.net.

Stay sharp!

Woodcarving Magazine samples arrived

I received a package from Sweden with a couple of sample issues of this magazine, that will be passed out at our meeting in September. I found this to be an interesting magazine, with articles by carvers not known on this side of the Atlantic and a different perspective in many ways. Many European carvers don't paint their carvings, but I found several articles really fascinating......one on methods for sanding/finishing your carvings.....one on different types of vices and holding methods..... and several great patterns.The language differences were interesting, although currency conversion for tools and such was too much math for me! The advertisements for carving schools/vacations in Greece, England, Germany, and Austria might be tempting for those who like to travel. I haven't decided if I will subscribe, but I have read both samples cover-to-cover and found them both interesting and educational! Here is a pattern from one magazine that I relief carved and burned.

"Brown-Eyed Girl"

Here is a carving I finished a few weeks ago. I'm still practicing on female faces. This is not quite as good as the one I did last year, but hopefully practice makes perfect!

New Stuff

Jason Pipe, a new carver from Malvern, who visited with us at our last meeting, has been quite busy so far this summer. He has completed several relief carvings, inclusing a sign for a relative and this carving of a luna moth. He also did a few hair-sticks and  made a knfe as he anxiously awaits the arrival of some basswood and a Drake gouge. I think he is hooked on carving and that we will probably be seeing more of him and his work!

"Addicted to Wood"

There is an old song by Robert Palmer with these lyrics:
“Your lights are on, but you’re not home
Your mind is not your own
Your heart sweats, your body shakes
Another kiss is what it takes
You can’t sleep, you can’t eat
There’s no doubt, you’re in deep
Your throat is tight, you can’t breathe
Another kiss is all you need
Whoa, you like to think that you’re immune to the stuff, oh yeah
It’s closer to the truth to say you can’t get enough
You know you’re gonna have to face it, you’re addicted to wood!”









OK,OK, he actually said love…...but it is a little known fact that he may have considered “wood” but was forced to change the lyric to give it more commercial appeal! Maybe.

But the sentiment expressed in the song resonates with me in carving….at times, it seems like it is all I think about. I always have a pocketknife with me and will carve at any opportunity. It doesn’t matter if it is a pencil. a twig, or a toothpick, I have this urge to see what I can carve! I have even brought basswood scraps to work to carve on when things slow down. This piece is about 3 1/2” tall and was intended to be a female practice face, only it may be more boyish than female. It doesn’t matter that much to me…it’s all about the “doing”! It has kind of an Egyptian mummy look to it and you can see the knife and sandpaper that I used. I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel to post things since the club hasn't met for a while, but I'll try to keep posting something until I get pictures of everyone else's stuff. Thanks for looking!

"Woodcarving Magazine"

I recieved the following email and thought I would pass it on to everyone. I am responding to her and hopefully will have a few copies of their magazine at the September meeting. I have also recieved an email from Flexcut with an attached tool catalogue in PDF format. Send me an email and I will forward it to you. I hope everyone is keeping cool this summer!

MikeP

"My name is Anne Guillot and I work for the Marketing Department at GMC Publications in the UK. I am contacting you because we would like to offer you and your members a special subscription offer on one of our woodworking title, Woodcarving Magazine: instead of the normal price of £31.50 (US$51.00 based on May exchange rate) for 6 issues, you would only pay £18.90 (US$30.60) - a discount of 40% only available to clubs' and associations' members!

If you would like to enjoy this offer or believe some of your members would be interested, I would be happy to send you a few free copies of the magazine and special offer leaflets so you can distribute them around at your next meeting. If so, please reply to this email with a contact name and a postal address that I could send them to. Also, if you could let me know how many club members you have, that would be great.

Alternatively, please print copies of the leaflet attached or simply forward this email to your members. The leaflet explains how to subscribe and the order code to use in order to receive this exceptional discount.

You can also check the Woodworkers Institute website for more information about our magazine if you are not familiar with it yet: http://www.woodworkersinstitute.com/page.asp?p=5

Woodcarving is a truly international title that focuses on the art and techniques of carving as practised all over the world. The magazine is a blend of inspiration and instruction, with fascinating features about prized and historic examples of the craft.  Published six times a year, Woodcarving contains a diverse mix of illustrated step-by-step projects and techniques to help readers improve their skills. Readers’ work from the UK and abroad is included in every issue, helping to convey the magazine as an important home for the global carving community."

"It's hard to beat free!"

The best things in life are sometimes free ...... and sometimes you can find them at the monthly meetings. Lou brought her collection of carving magazines a few months back and distributed them to any who wanted them. There were early issues of WoodCarving Illustrated, Carving Magazine, ChipChats and others. They were much appreciated! Others have brought band-sawn blanks, plans, and projects. We had a sack full of cottonwood bark for anyone that wanted it at the last meeting. Then Fred Nahlen asked if anyone was interested in an old Foredom flex-shaft tool? I almost hurt myself raising my hand so fast! I have always wanted a Foredom but could never bring myself to spend that much money when there or so many other tools that need me. Fred got this from someone at The Arkansas Arts Center and it needed a little work, but it still ran, and he had checked and found that parts were still available. The brushes were still good and it looked like all it needed was the inner shaft and a nut for the toggle switch. I replaced the shaft and connected the footpedal and handpieces I used with my HF version and fired it up! I was concerned that it might not have the power that my newer HF tool had, but it is fine. It has less vibrattion and is much quieter than the HF tool. I smile every time I step on the gas! Everyone should drop in at the September meeting and see what's being given away then....you never know!

More Stuff!

Here is a cane carved by Mike Pounders with a hunting scene and some bark carvings by the Butlers. The cottonwood bark that was harvested was successfully given away and I believe everyone took a few pieces. We should see lots of bark carvings at the September meeting!

I am working on several different things as an effort to advertise our existence and possibly attract new carvers and members. I got the additional contact info and a link to this web page added to the Wood Carving Illustrated web site. Jason Pipe actually contacted us through WCI posts I had made. I am also working on some T-shirt designs, that might possibly give us some more local advertising. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.

May Meeting

There were about eight people in attendance this month. It was good to see Miss Lou back and Vernon Driscoll dropped in for a bit also. We have a potential new member, Jason Pipe, from Malvern. He has been carving for a few months and brought some Opinel knives in that he's has been carving on.

 

Here are some of the eggs from last months project that we worked at during the meeting. Sally and Jim Butler did the colorful ones and mine is the wood-burned one. Quite challenging to carve an egg shape!

We also had a small menagerie of animals with Lou's donkey and another of Fred's Razorbacks.

I'll post some additional pictures later.... trying to spread them out a bit, since we won't be meeting for a while! Please email me any pictures or links you might want posted!

Next Meeting May 14th

This will be the last meeting for about 3 months, so be sure and try and make it! If you have ever wanted to try bark carving, then try and make it. We will be giving away free cottonwood bark gathered from a storm-damaged tree in NLR. Free! I have different sizes and pieces, so come and get it!

April 9th Meeting

About eight members were present for our April meeting.Fred Nahlen and several others had projects for the show-and-tell .from the Mike Shipley class that was held last month.Dr. Sulieman had a nice witch carving from Roger Stegal's class back in the fall. Mike Pounders had a carved mechanical toy and another work in progress to show. Jay Weaver still has a few assorted full-size Pfeil tools he is willing to part with and Fred had some Razorback roughouts that looked like a lot of fun. A few people worked on items they had brought, but Sally Butler challenged us all with an Easter Egg project (I believe from WCI). She had the blanks, some instructions, and a go-by to help us out, but several accused her of treating the basswood with some chemical that made it especially hard! Or maybe we just had dull knives? We still made an impressive pile of chips even though no one had finished when we left (I'm still working on mine......it's me or the egg at this point!). The next meeting is planned for May 14th at 9am and then we will probably be vacationing until September. Hope to see you at the next meeting!