The Woodcarving School Experience
The Southeastern Woodcarving School was a little farther down the road this year in Prattville, Alabama, about 10 miles northwest of Montgomery. We had a large space in a recreation center recycled from a National Guard Armory. Between 50 and 60 carvers and crafters participated in 10 different classes. There were only two vendors there but we still were able to "shop 'til we dropped." I got to touch base with many carving buddies and also made some new friends. Carving folks are among the friendliest people around!
The instructors offered classes in several styles of carving. Steve Brown's class was caricature carving. His faces are so expressive. He is also very laid back in his instruction style. Mac Proffitt carved houses and faces out of cottonwood bark. John Davis's class carved many different things, including shoes and Native American flutes. Other instructors included John Roth -- chip carving, Larry Nowell -- Indian Mask, Ken Carter -- realistic human face, Jim Wilsford -- realistic animal bust, Randy Walters -- pictorial deep relief carving and Larry Rogers -- human bust.
My class power-carved a meerkat. The instructor, Nancy Crippen, has been carving animals for many years. Her subjects vary from the common house cat to the exotic giraffe. The meerkat started out as a basswood rough out. After all, we only had 2 and a half days to carve and paint the critter! Nancy had many reference photos and two carvings that she had completed for the class. As we worked on our carvings, she would come around to each student pointing out the various anatomical structures that needed to be present to make our meerkats more realistic. Texture was accomplished by "stoning" much of the fur with a little woodburning of the darker elements, such as the ears and around the eyes. Oil paints made the carving come to life. All five students went home with a very cute meerkat to share with family and friends.
A few of us took a field trip to Carole Jean Boyd's studio in Old Town Montgomery. She has a great set up. She also has more cypress knees than I have ever seen! Talk about future projects! If you are ever in the area, stop by. It is worth the trip.
The only down sides to the workshops were the lack of good lighting (you really needed to have a portable light source to see what you were doing) and the food. The lunches were catered and were not that good.
I would recommend these carving classes to everyone. You get a different perspective from the various instructors and experience carving styles that will expand your abilities. Come join us next year!
Woodburning Table
The table for woodburners at the meetings has been a huge success. The table is here to stay! If you need to burn on a carving or just want a different activity on night, bring your woodburner and join the others at the table.
Tips and Techniques
Slicing the Knife Through the Wood
There are no great secrets to woodcarving, but there are two basic skills that make all the difference between a struggling carver and carver who finds cutting wood with a knife a relatively easy task. The first "secret" is to cut with the grain of the wood and not against the grain. It takes some of us a while to learn the difference. If you are struggling with carving and the cuts look ragged, this is the first thing to check. The second "secret" is slicing the knife through the wood. A chip that has been sliced away from the carving, generally curls, and the spot on the carving from which the chip was removed looks shiny. When one learns to really slice the knife through the wood, one reaches the woodcarving equivalent of a state of nirvana!
It does not take an expensive or special knife or great strength to slice through the wood, but simply good technique and keeping your knife honed. The most common mistake is to put the knife on the wood and pull the knife straight down using just that one spot on the knife to cut the wood. This motion does not expose the cut to much sharp blade edge and makes you feel like you are dragging or forcing the knife through the wood. It is not an efficient cutting motion.
Slicing the knife through the wood is an efficient cutting motion. Place the knife on the wood near the back edge of the blade near the handle. Then as you made the cut pull the knife through the wood at an angle going down, and expose the cut with most of the length of the blade. Stop short of running the tip of blade through the cut both for safety reasons and for protecting the tip of the knife.
Compare the motion to paring an apple and taking the skin off in one long, continuous strip. To do that you must slice the knife through the skin. Practice makes perfect. I'll be glad to sit next to you and chant the mantra of "slice through the wood" and you too can find woodcarving nirvana!