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!