For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given

Merry Christmas

and more ornaments part II

Well I got some painting done last night but as you may have noticed there was one that I focused on more then the other two and there was a third sitting on the desk that got forgot completely. So the main carving for me, my pilot Santa is done and awaiting the sealant. The other two I may work on tonight if I am not busy addressing envelopes to send out our annual Christmas letter.

It was funny last night as I am cleaning up my table and putting away my tools I glanced at my pilot and wasn't sure I liked the way he was coming along, part of this was I had another carving casting a shadow over this one. Yeah, this guy, I was so happy with this guy and the way I painted his eyes that it influenced the way I looked at the other carving. I don't know if other carvers do this but I am told that I compare carvings one to another, hey what can I say, this is how I am wired. I am still looking to earn my way into the carving community.

Now as Paul Harvey would say is "The Rest of the Story" I came out this morning sat in my chair and picked up my now painted carving and probably due to not being fully awake yet, looked at him all by himself without comparing him to any other carving and you know what, I like him, I like him a lot. I wonder how many other ares of my life I just need to step back and take a fresh look to see if I see it in a new perspective.

Merry Christmas to you and yours and as always,

Good night and may God bless

ornaments, ornaments and more ornaments

Well as you can see by this page and if you have visited my shop I am in ornament mode as we speak though Christmas is fast approaching. Last year around this time I stopped carving ornaments but this year I will maintain a certain stock of new ornaments in my shop as people have told me they shop all year round for items such as mine. We will put this theory to the test in the coming year.

In regard to the ornaments themselves, the size I carve has become an area of interest for me. The two single carvings are my standard size ornaments which are around 6" long and 2" wide. Lately I have begun to carve a smaller version as seen in the middle image, these guys range from 3 to 4 inches long and 1 1/4" wide. I haven't put any of these in my shop as of yet as they may just be ones I give to friends and family, we shall see. They seem to be garnishing positive response from everyone so I may end up putting some in the shop to see how they do. It takes close to the same amount of carving time dependent on the amount of detail so will have to keep this in mind while setting the price if I begin to sell these. I will look into the idea of carving a small pilot to see if I can pull this off.  

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

as always, 

Good night and may God bless  

I received  my newest ornament in the mail yesterday from Mark Akers. It looks to be a fairly thick ornament in the picture. Looks can be deceiving. as it turns out, this is a slim carving but no detail has been lost. This is a wonderful size for hanging on the tree or as I will do, place it on a ornament stand to have on display all year round. This is a wonderful carving, enjoy the video.

as always, 

Good night and may God bless

just keep carving

Well as it says I just keep carving and mostly all of my carvings right now are Christmas ornaments, after all "tis the season". You may have noticed that most of my ornaments are carved from butternut and that is due to my love affair with the wood. It is a wonderful wood for carving and it seems to match my carving style. By this I don't as much mean the style of my finished carvings but the way I approach and carve a piece of wood. I have recently come to the realization that a carver either matches his style to the wood he/she is carving or matches the wood to his/her style carving. Butternut seems to handle a heavy handed carver such as myself.

I also love the grain of this wood and how it looks with the finished carving once painted. So as you see three more ornaments have been carved and two still need to have a sealant applied before I can begin the painting process.

Many people wonder if I ever get tired of painting the same old thing all the time and the answer is no because I don't do that. Each face is different, yes they may have similar features but no two ornaments are ever the same exact carving. I tell folks I am sure of this because I am not to the level where I can duplicate a carving. I still have facial expressions I think would look great on an ornament that I just haven't carved yet. For me this is my time to sit back, unwind and just carve. It is very therapeutic, almost an equivalent to someone meditating.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is ready to be filled with the joyous spirit of Christmas.

as always, 

Good night and may God bless