Durante Claus ribbon winner

What a difference a week makes. This was truly a good week for me. I got a new “old” roll top desk on Sunday. This has always been a dream of mine to own one, don’t know why just love them. This one was made by the T.G. Sellew Company in New York a few years ago.

If that wasn’t enough excitement for the week, I also entered in the Caricature Carvers Competition this past week. My first time entering a carving competition so was very happy with a ribbon. The interesting part of this was along the line of a conversation I had with another carver a few weeks ago. What would the classification of the carving be? Since this carving was not a “carving in the round” a carving done on all four sides, it was classified as a relief carving. A relief carving is usually done from a flat piece of wood, and the carving appears to rise out of the wood. Technically since Durante Claus was carved from a corner cut piece of wood it would be considered a high relief opposed to a medium relief. The back of the carving has been hollowed out to make it as light as possible since it is meant to be hung on a Christmas tree.

For those of you getting into carving for the first time learn the terms and styles of carving. This will help you understand what tools you will need to pursue your newly found interest. There are a number of sites that you can go to to learn the terminology, Wood Carver Online is a good one as well as Chip Away. As always  check out a magazine or two and see which one matches your interest in carving. Remember, the more you know the more you grow.