Capital City Carvers

Tips & Techniques
by Barbara Mann

Ever heard of the "10,000-Hour Rule"? I encountered it in a non-fiction book, Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell examines the factors that contribute to high levels of success across a spectrum of activities. He claims that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours. That notion really struck a chord with me as I considered its possible application to wood carving.

The more practice we get with wood carving the better we get. Our progress in the mastery of carving is gradual, but we sometimes take great leaps forward. For many of us those leaps can come during prolonged periods of carving such as our weekend workshop or attending other workshops or a wood carving roundup. I think the key is the concentrated time we spend carving without other distractions during these workshops. I have also seen great leaps forward in carving when people retire and devote a part of each day to carving. Each of these activities puts us closer to the 10,000 hours of practice.

So you know what I am going to say. Attend our upcoming weekend workshop (it's another good one) or go to the Florida Woodcarvers Roundup. Or even find 1, 2 or 3 other people and car pool to one of the Florida wood carving shows. Several can be reached in a matter of a few hours in a day trip. The 10,000 hours can be enhanced by exposure to new people and carvings.

Florida Wood Carving Shows

Jan. 11-12: Winter National Wood Art Expo & Competition, Punta Gorda.
Jan. 18-19: Sun Coast Show, Seminole.
Jan. 25: Space Coast Show, Melbourne.
Jan. 25: Gulf Coast Carvers Guild Show, Sarasota.
Feb. 1-2: Treasure Coast Show, Jensen Beach.
Feb. 22: Indian River Show, Vero Beach.
Feb. 23: Highlands Show, Sebring.
Mar. 1: Calusa Show, Hudson.
Mar. 15: Ridge Club Show, Lakeland.

Most have vendors as well as competition and exhibits. Some charge $3 to $7 admission.

And Great Big Thank You's To:

Any interest group such as our carving club works when lots of people jump in and help out with activities and behind-the-scenes work. So thanks to all these members:

The officers-Adelle, Wayne, Mike, Jim - for keeping us organized and moving for the last year. The club instructors-Robert, Adelle, Lance, Barbara-for teaching new carvings and being willing to help everyone with their carvings and tools.

Members who represented the club at public events with displays, demonstrations and talking about wood carving with all interested people: Matinee of the Arts-Barbara and Robert; WHO Festival-Art, Adelle, Robert, Barbara; Fall Farm Day at the Tallahassee Museum-Robert, Lance, Art.

Members who provide services to the club: Craig for developing and maintaining our website, and for taking pictures of our Show & Tell carvings and posting them; Irv and Mike for taking pictures for Craig when he can't be there; new T-shirts-Wayne and Mike; Adrianne for new club banners; Mike for getting our library of books and videos straightened out; Mike and Wayne for working on getting our VHS tapes transferred to DVDs; Robert for organizing the whimsical house workshop with Ginny Gray; Wayne for organizing the human and animal caricature workshop with Gary Falin; Harold for providing space for our weekend workshops; the 2013 Nominating Committee of Lynn, Lance and Bob; and Barbara for the three times a year newsletter; to all members who donate the great door prizes we have available each month; and to all those who help Barbara unload and then reload her car every week.

If anyone or anything has been forgotten, bring it to our attention and we'll thank you for that, too!

But don't eat your carvings...

Torula yeast, which grows on wood sugars left over from the pulp-making process, is a key ingredient in foods ranging from baby foods to cereal to imitation bacon.

From: A Splintered History of Wood.