Get Ready for January!

Hopefully, Santa has rewarded everyone with lots of carving tools and wood, and everyone will be excited about the new year ahead. A special thanks to Jim Butler who has generously served as president for many years and to Roger Stegal who has agreed to serve as president for 2013! Our next meeting will be Jabuary 19th and you will have a choice of several projects for the meeting:

• Roger will show us how to carve faces and different expressions
• or you can carve a small Santa ornament as an alternative.

 We'll provide the wood, just bring yourself and a knife! Or bring your own project, we'll still be glad to see you!

The club hopes to decide on and order some roughouts that will be longer projects to be worked on for several meetings. We were thinking about possibly ordering some Mike Shipley roughouts , but we are still open to suggestions, so be sure and attend the January meeting, and help us decide. If you can't attend, please contact Fred if you would like to order one. Fred Nahlen has agreed to act as treasurer and would probably like everyone to remember that membership dues need to be paid ($15 for the year).

We are hoping some of Fred's students from his class at the Art Center will join us and we hope that you will invite a friend also. Hope to see yall on January 19th!

Congratulations to Roger Stegal!

The results for the 2012 National Caricature Carving Competition have been announced and Roger got a first in Bust, a second in Santa, and fourth in Group Mixed. Way to go! Roger has conducted several carving seminars for the club and hopefully he can bring some of these by one of our meetings for us to admire in person. Here is the link to the posted results and pictures of all the winners.

http://www.cca-carvers.org/results_2012.html and http://www.cca-carvers.org/2012-compwinners/12winners_thmbs.html

Great Seminar at the September Meeting!

We had a lot of members at the September meeting/seminar and a great time was had by all! Janet Cordell conducted a superb seminar, teaching us all the finer points of mountain lines, wolves, horses, and various features of the face both male and female. It was really great and several may try to get in some of Janet's classes up in the mountains, either this winter or next spring. I know we will have a meeting in October, I just don't kno exactly when! (I though it was the 15th, but that's on a Monday?) Someone will straighten me out and I will post the date as soon as I get it. Be sure to come and bring something for show and tell, or just come out and say howdy! Here's what you missed at the last meeting!

Welcome back from Summer Vacation!

Greetings to all and welcome to a new year of carving to all who survived the brutally hot summer. The September meeting  (September 29th at 9 am) will be combined with Janet Cordell's carving seminar which starts on the 28th. Even if you didn't sign up for the class, you are still welcome to meet with us on Saturday for fellowship and to observe the talented artistry of Janet.

If you are enrolled for the class, please note that the class begins on Friday the 28th at 9am and will continue on Saturday and Sunday also from 9-5 each day, for 3 full days. There may still be a space or two still available! The cost is $150 plus $20-$45 for a roughout. Please contact Fred asap at 501-606-2275 if you are interested in enrolling.

The War Eagle Seminars are in progress this week at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Rogers, Arkansas and will be followed by the NW Arkansas Carving Show next Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free to the show and I believe a wood vendor will be present at the show along with Dallas Deege's Old Texas Woodcarvers shop selling tools and supplies,etc. You could stock up, fellowship with some great carvers, and support the Razorbacks all in a single trip!

I was contacted a few weeks back by Sally Ellison, daughter-in-law of the late Charles Ellison who was a member of our club way back.  She has several boxes of books on carving (various subjects) that she would like to sell, if any are interested. She can be reached at 501-888-8115,


Hope to see all of you soon!

May Meeting......Summer break

This Saturday at 9am  is our final meeting before summer break, so please try and attend! Bring something for show or something to carve on or just come to visit! We will also be discussing the workshop with Janet Cordell around September 29-30 when we resume meeting in the fall. We anticipate the cost being approximately $180 plus the cost for a roughout or blank. This may turn out to be a 3 day class and Janet is a world-class carver and instructor. She is the daughter of Ivan Denton and her younger sister is Adina Huckins, all famous carvers. Here is a link to her website http://www.janetcordell.com/ . Be sure and let us know if you would like to attend. And let others know who might be interested.

April Meeting & Seminar

The April meeting was well attended and we had quite a few for the seminar with Roger Stegall. Lots of fun and no blood was spilled!But it did take quite a bit of vacuuming and sweeping to clean up all the chips that about 10 carvers could produce in 2 days! Hope to see everyone, and some completed carvings, at the next meeting!

Carving Seminar April 21-22 with Roger Stegal

Roger will be giving a caricature carving seminar for us the weekend of April 22-22 and it will run from 9am-5pm on both those days. I believe he has roughouts for a wizard/santa, a cowboy, and possibly a hillbilly. The cost is only $40 plus the cost of whatever roughouts you want. Contact Jim Baker or Fred Nahlen to sign up! This should be a lot of fun!


The club is also planning a three day seminar around September 28th with Janet Denton Cordell, famous for her realistic female, animal, and doll carvings. Take a look at some of her work here and plan to attend. The cost will be $185 plus the cost of a blank or roughout. A deposit may be required to reserve your spot. Contact Jim Baker or Fred Nahlen for details as soon as possible.

March Meeting

This Saturday, March 8th, is our next meeting, from 9am-11am at the electric building. We hope to have a good turn-out of members and lots of projects for show and tell. We hope to finalize possibly having Roger Stegal teach a class in April and possible Janet Denton Cordell in September. We had a great turn out last month with new members and visitors and hope to continue that trend!


I brought some knives last month, that I recieved as a gift from a carver in California. Jim Mayes is an accomplished carver and has been making and selling knives for some time. He saw some of my carvings that I had posted and decided my tool bag just wasn't complete without a couple of his knives. So he just sent me some! Carvers are really generous, sharing people. Here are some pictures of the knives. Jim does sell these (detail is $35 and roughout is $50) and hopes he can keep up with orders coming in! Here are a few pictures. His email is jimtcarver@yahoo.com .

Great Meeting!

We had a really great turnout at the February meeting! Lots of old members, new members, and visitors. It was really great! We're probably not going to get the minimum attendees required for Debbe Edwards, so Fred is trying to get Roger Stegal to come back in April. Roger does caricatures and won several prizes in the last CCA competition. And since he is local AND a member, we get a great instructor for a great price! It'll be a lot of fun for beginners and old timers! I'll post more details when I get them. Fred is also talking with Janet Cordell about doing a 3 day class toward the end of September. You don't want to miss an opportunity to learn from these world-class carvers!

Everyone is still finishing up the mice we were working on, so we'll probably see a few of them at the show and tell next month! Come join us!

February Meeting- possible Debbe Edwards seminar in March!

This month's meeting will be this Saturday, Feb 11th, at 9 a.m. located in the First Electric building in Jacksonville. In addition to the usual show and tell, we will be completing the mouse carving (some of us, we hope) that was started last time. Please come out and join the fun. We had two new members join us last meeting!

Fred Nahlen may have Debbe Edwards lined up for a carving seminar in March! Debbe is famous for her animal carvings and may be available the third weekend in March. A minimum of 10 carvers are needed, and the costs is $180 plus the cost of the blank/roughout. Please notify Fred (501-606-2275) as soon as possible if you are interested. This is a rare opportunity, as Debbe seldom has an open date. You can see her work and roughouts at this  website .

Fred may possibly be able to get Patty Rucker (carving, woodburning, scrimshaw, and painting) in September and says there is a remote possibility of getting Gerald Sears (but don't get your hopes up just yet!).

Be sure to invite a guest and we hope to see you on the 11th!

Mike P.

Stuff at the meeting

I had a previous engagement, so I just barely made it to the meeting last Saturday! I need to apologize to everyone for posting the wrong address for the First Electric building.... no wonder no one was showing up at the meetings! It has been corrected now, at least at this site. Here is the roughout and go-by for the Christmas mouse that we are working on.

And here is a soldier someone is working on.....

We think the next meeting will be February 11th, barring anything un-forseen. We had a couple new members that I missed meeting and I believe Lou and Samir were both absent, at least by the time I got there. We sure hope to see everyone at the next meeting, with lot's of show-and-tell items and make this a really good year for carving!

It's ............Aliveeee!!!!!!!

It works! That doesn’t always happen, for me! I still have a little tweaking to do on one cam, but this is pretty much how it will operate. I’ll be able to start on the painting and finishing next, which shouldn’t be too bad.
Of course, one of the things that slows me down, is all the “testing” I just have to do! So, as a thank you to those that have followed my blog, I decided to post a little preview of it in action. Thanks for everyone’s encouragement and comments!

January Meeting

is January 21st, 9 am, at the Electric building. Fred Nahlen has the "Santa Mouse" for the carving session (I was thinking he dad some roughouts for $20, but I may be thinking of something else?). Bring stuff for show and tell, and it's time to pay annual dues ($15). Cash or check (payable to Jim Butler) is preferred, as our treasurer Ken Glasscock has been laid up with a knee injury! Best wishes for a fast recuperation go out to Ken. Invite a friend and we hope to see you there!