How I Got Started as a Woodcarver

78-year-old Craig Dudley sent us an email recently that led to him write an article about how he got started with his woodcarving. He started when he was 12 years old.

Here is what Craig wrote:

I did my first carving without assistance when I was twelve. My father did some, which I guess is where I got the idea. In the mid seventies I began to get busy with it. First it was small scraps of linden, the wood they once used for artificial limbs, into dogs and cats with a small carving knife, and X-actos.

Then I moved to southern West Virginia and got going into carving 'education', found out about mallet and gouge approach as well as knife in hand. I now also had a space and access to a chainsaw and a forest around me. I carved firewood. Oak, poplar, cherry, black walnut and more. Woodcraft Supply and other companies became my tool source as well as books and ideas. Also flea markets are a good source for tools.

Using firewood ensures you will be dealing with checks which I do my best to work around. I think of them as wrinkles on the face of an old man. At one time I finished my work with Watco Danish Oil but now I create a solution of mineral oil and bees wax. As what began life as green wood, it doesn't appreciate getting too warm as that can cause checks to grow.

My focus is virtually scattered. I do bowls, reliefs, figures and commissions. I also attempt geometric, Escher type of shapes that fold back on themselves. I have been in lots of juried shows, galleries, and the Tamarack Marketplace in West Virginia. I also have a piece in a coffee table book entitled "Oh Appalachia" compiled by Ramona Lampell. The results can be placed on table tops, walls, interior and exterior. An estimate for how many I've done would be hard to arrive at though I'm thinking I've done more than five hundred. In the process I've come to understand what was meant by Rembrandt's masterpieces. He painted and drew many but a few were above and beyond, i.e, masterpieces.

I've looked thru my wood carving history to see if anything would add to the info I already sent. It is mostly shows, galleries and the like, most of which is from pre-2000. I had a one man show here in Boone, NC, invited by a prof from Appalachian State. That was about 2003 or 04. I've been in Hands Gallery and a few others here but I'm virtually unknown here in Boone as I've been mostly hermit. Carving a lot. I've got somewhere around 150 to 200 pieces here and sell a few via word of mouth.

In West Virginia I knew everyone and rarely kept much of an inventory. This is about all I can think of, having not done such an 'art' resume since early 1991 in wva. That was interrupted by being a business owner, food and beverage for the rest of the nineties and I did virtually nothing in the art/carving world till I moved here to Boone in 1998.

I join in your goals and efforts. "You can't make a horse thirsty but you can provide water when asked". The articles encouraged me when I was really trying to create a direction, tool choice and outlets while figuring out holding, safety and all of the things I never imagined. I started with X-acto as that's what my father used. Then I went looking. Safety isn't explored enough as the thousand scars I have on both hands can testify to.

From what I see nowadays the www is a good place to start. Shows and other outlets all came to my attention due to others calling my attention to such in the days before www. Actually the www does a good job of providing information and ideas for wood that wasn't 'imagined' when I began this. Then magazines were a source for visual 'starters' of poses, characters, etc that again are www now.

Craig welcomes comments and questions, and can be reached via email at chd19471@gmail.com.com