"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!