No, it’s not Christmas! And not that kind of goose! This is a flying Canada goose that I carved a couple of years ago as a Christmas gift for my wife. It was a whimsical project in a folk art kind of way that was fun to do.

It was based on an article in Issue #4 of the Carving magazine. I was intrigued by the way that the wings were done so I thought I’d give it a try. It was also my first time at painting a piece.

The project was quite simple. Basically cutting the pattern out for the body and a bit of carving around the head and beak. The wings were cut out and feathers carved using a V tool. It sits on a wooden shaft and base and stands approximately 22″ high.

Here is a close up of the wing. You can see where it was carved to give a layered look:

Continue reading 'A Carved Flying Canada Goose'

While my time spent on woodcarving has waned a bit lately my interest in this age old handcraft is still as strong as ever. I enjoy all facets of woodcarving, from simple whittlings to architectural masterpieces. One of my keen interests has always been in sculptural carvings.

Here are a couple of carvings of grape leaves that I did as an exercise in tool technique and working with grain direction. They are about 10″ in length and 7″ wide and carved from Basswood.

I did these through a weekly class held at a local Italian Cultural Center. The class goals were to learn and practise the skills and traditional techniques of sculpting in wood and to explore the still life, wildlife, Romanesque, Renaissance and Baroque styles.

Continue reading 'Sculptured Grape Leaf Woodcarvings'

I’m planning on visiting my carving buddy sometime this week for coffee and a chat. Knowing that he’s going to ask me how I’m coming along with my woodcarving I thought that I’d better get busy and do some, so I decided to carve a little Shelf Elf.

A Shelf Elf is a small carving of an elf-like figure that sits on the edge of a shelf and usually has a log beard that hangs over the edge:

This fellow is made from Pine and approximately 3″ from the top of his hat to the tip of his beard. These are a fun project to do. They don’t take too much time and can make great gifts.

Here are a couple of photos of other Shelf Elves that I did:

Continue reading 'A Shelf Elf Made By Myself'

I realized that there were no posts related to woodcarving so I thought I’d upload some photos of the few carvings that I have done. Although I enjoy carving it seems to always drop to the bottom of the list of things to do and be pre-empted for time. Perhaps seeing these will inspire me to pick up the chisels again in the near future.

Here is a photo of one the first carvings I did. This was around the latter part of 2003. It is a cowboy boot that’s made of pine and stands about 6″ tall. I finished it with a dark stain, trying to give it that ‘scuffed old boot’ look’:

Continue reading 'Sleeping Birds, Boots And Spirits'