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I started woodcarving about 4-5 years ago, mainly as a way to work on smaller projects rather than the large furniture pieces I had been making with traditional woodworking. I had reached the point where I really didn't need anything else for my house, and even my daughter had quit asking for pieces. So I took a class from the local woodcarving club, and eventually joined. I really don't have a particular kind of carving that I specialize in; I'm still trying a little bit of everything.
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A cardinal that I carved early last year, right before the shutdown.
Each year one of the senior members of the club who is an expert
in bird-carving leads a class for the club.
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A dragon spoon, carved in African Padauk. It is based on an image
I saw online and liked, so I tried to duplicate it.
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Another dragon, this time more of a Chinese style. It is carved on a
PVC board, meant to simulate an ivory carving. It came from
an article in Woodcarving Illustrated.
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An abstract spiral design that came from Woodcarving Illustrated.
It is carved from butternut.
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Another bird, which I did two years before the cardinal.
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My first and only attempt at cottonwood bark carving. I really enjoyed
this project because it was totally freeform. Since every piece of
bark is different, there are no plans to follow, which was very
challenging for me. But I was very happy with how it turned out.
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A chess set I did a couple years ago. It was the first big carving
project I did when I was still very new at it and I didn't realize it was
beyond my skill level.
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Celtic lovespoon, carved from cherry.
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Swedish love spoon, carved from walnut.
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Below are some of my pyrography projects, which is often viewed as an extension of woodcarving in the hierarchy of woodwork. I got started with woodburning in order to add some details to the bird carving projects. The first is a Phoenix, which I burned and then colored with oil-based colored pencils. The pattern came from an artist on the DeviantArt website. The second is a steam engine pattern that came from Pyrography magazine. The third was a special gift for a good friend of mine whose pet dog passed earlier this year. I used one of her photos to make a woodburned portrait.
Dick can be reached directly via email at
rawesling@aol.com
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