church bazaar, not really

Well the bazaar is over and it wasn't bizarre at all. Actually it was an enjoyable time. The folks who run the bazaar were wonderful and the young men and woman who were there to help were very polite and worked very hard. Good job to all of them. During the event I met some nice people, had a chance to get to know some friendly vendors and sold an ornament or two. This was also a great chance for me to get feedback on my carvings from strangers who had no investment with me or my work. I have posted pictures of a few of the carvings that sold, three Santa pilots which sold to three different individuals, and also a bottle topper that I carved. It was nice to sell the pilots, these were my designs and not a pattern from another carver. I thought this was a win for the home team, unlike my Cornhuskers but that is another topic for another day. All in all this was wonderful experience for my first church bazaar. With the holidays quickly approaching I don't know if I will try and do any other shows but have already placed this one on my calendar for next year.

The number for today is 2

Two more carvings completed and two days left till the church bazaar. Yes, I have finished carving two more larger ornaments for the church bazaar this Saturday. I am extremely happy with both of these for different reasons but come Saturday it won't matter what I think it will now be in the hands of the people at the bazaar. I haven't gone over board with my decorations for my table but I think it will look nice. I don't want people to be so focused on the decorations that they miss the fact that there are carvings on the table. I think it will be a simple but pleasing display.

Yes your prayers are welcome and appreciated, if you pray, please pray that the carvings are well received and that my carvings and my actions at the bazaar are pleasing to God, no matter what the outcome. I believe it is by His hand that I have any abilities to carve in the first place. You don't have to wait till Saturday His office is open today.

On the illustration side, I may have some small cards for sell but not sure on that yet. I may but the main focus is on my carvings. This is just one more step in chasing the dream..........

Carpe diem carving

wood spirit style ornament

The other day I carved an ornament that has a wood spirit look about him. I had gotten this idea that the hat could resemble a tree, Christmas that is and it just kind of blossomed from there. Now I am thinking that if the painting portion of this comes out o.k. that this may be the ornament given at the show. Take a look and see what you think, I will paint the beard like a snow flake and will paint the tree with snow on it and after that will consider whether it would look good with ornaments or not. If I thought I could pull it off I would consider painting an elf ornament on the tree but not sure that is a realistic idea so will put that on the back burner for now.

Carpe diem carving

larger ornaments ready for show

Well here they are, this is what I have for the church bazaar on the 16th, that is this is what I have so far in large ornaments. These vary in length any where from 5 1/2" to 8" in length. I do have one other that I am in the middle of carving and want to carve one more like the one with the candle but as of now these are the ones for sale come the 16th of November. I have one other but it will be donated for the raffle. It's the elf with a more realistic face, my younger boy picked this as the one we should donate. I don't know how others have done it in the past but I think I should pick one of my better carvings not one that is just o.k., and picking of one was a hard choice for me so I let my family make the final choice. You hate to think that you will pay the fee for the show donate one of the nicer ornaments and then sale nothing but we will let the chips fall where they may. Luckily I am a fan of my work so there aren't many that I would be unwilling to bring home if that be the case.

Carpe diem carving

carving doodle redone pt 2

Well I have now applied paint and finish to the carving doodle design and am fairly happy with him, mostly the candle portion. One thing I have played with lately is the way I am handling the painting process. Some of my carvings will only have color on the caps and beards others will get some color added to the face and a few will even get some color added to the eyes. The eyes are a focus for me lately in the way that I carve and paint them.In the past I would simply paint white and then paint some black for the outline some blue for the middle and a touch of white for the sparkle effect. I have been experimenting with cutting out a circle and have also begun cutting an outline around the circle. When I have done this and painted a watered down blue it gives a nice effect that I will continue to experiment with. I think next I will paint the eyes a watered down brown and see how this plays out. Bottom line, try everything once and then maybe once more to see if it works for your particular style. This is my goal, to learn from skilled craftsmen and then begin to go outside the box and create my own characters and my own style.

Carpe diem carving 

carving doodle redone

Well yesterday I decided to carve from one of my carving doodles. I liked the concept enough to carve him into a large more detailed piece and really like the results.

The one thing I did with this one that I hardly ever do is use sand paper on my carving. Normally I won't use sandpaper because it leaves debris behind that can damage the blade of my carving tools. If I am sanding I will usually go to mesh sandpaper, this leaves no debris behind and doesn't make half the mess, it really works great. The whole reason for sanding was to give soft edges to the wax that is flowing down the cap. I have the wire mesh but there was a piece of sandpaper left over from one of my boys projects from earlier in the week so I  got lazy and just used it. Maybe I was just being frugal, that sounds better doesn't it. All kidding aside if you do use sandpaper make sure if you have more carving to do you brush off the whole carving so as to not damage your tools from the left over debris.

So here are the two carvings  together, the carving doodle painted and the newly larger carving before color is applied. I liked this one enough that I will carve another changing a few minor things, I don't like having any two carvings looking the same, of course I have never tried to carve a replica and not sure I could pull it off but that is a discussion for another day.

Carpe diem carving