I have been carving for 14 years and am thoroughly enjoying the experience. I joined the
Outaouais Carving Club in 1992. I joined the executive of the club in 1997 and became the
President in 1998. I am now the Newsletter Editor. I have tried all the types of wood carving: whittling, carving in the round,
relief, woodburning, caricature, and chip carving. I find I do not have the patience for chip
carving, and am not especially fond of caricatures (although I do have fun with them sometimes; see below); but I really love the relief, carving in the round, and pyropgraphy. Please use text size 'smaller' on this page.
#12. I carved this Rainbow Trout of basswood from the book "Freshwater Fish Carving" by James Fliger. This is an excellent book. As you can see even the habitat and method of presentation is looked at. This carving won a third place at the 1997 Canada' Capital Carving Competition at the Intermediate level. The grass is made of balsa wood which was first cut into shapes and woodburned to simulate the veins and then placed in hot water and held in the required shape until dried again. The sand on the base was not made of wood - it was just sprinked on a glued surface and shaken off. The fish was painted by hand with acrylics. It is difficult to blend the colours and therefore air-brushing is the recommended choice of painting.
#23. This Blue Heron was carved in a course conducted by Bruce Stackhouse of Wood n' Feathers in Merrickville, Ontario, on the Rideau Canal. We see the Heron everyday at our cottage at Elbow Lake. They are a magnificant bird and are beautifully adapted to their environment. The carving is done from Basswood in two pieces. The head is carved separately and dowelled and glued to the body. The habitat consists of bullrushes and grasses. The bullrush is made from a mahogany dowel which is drilled through and inserted with a bamboo skewer which forms the stem and sticks out the top. The leaves of the bullrush and other grasses are made of copper which is cut and twisted into shape. The legs of the heron are metal. They are inserted into the body and painted with acrylics as are the rest of the bird, grasses and base.
#14. This polar bear was a "Wood Wizard" project at our Club. One carver will put out a challenge to carve a certain subject for the next meeting. A few instuctions on size and ideas that will give you bonus points are given. At the next meeting the carvings are judged and the winner is chosen. You get points for just carving the challenge though and the points are added up for approximately 10 projects over the year and the person with the most points is the Grand Wood Wizard for the year. It really helps you to get carvings done and it also gets you doing a subject you probably wouldn't have done. The bear is carved of basswood and finished with white shoepolish which was rubbed off to expose some of the wood to give it a less than white appearance. The snow was done with White Quartz Texture from Accent - sold at most art supply stores.
#27. This West Coast Haida Bowl was conceived from a project in Step by Step Woodcarving by Alan and Gill Bridgewater, published in 1985 by Bel & Hymen Ltd. It was carved from one piece of basswood. One view is of the bowl after one coat of Minwax Prestain and the other is after antiquing with black stain which was rubbed off. Red and blue oil pastels were painted into the heiroglyphics on the wings and head of the Eable. The bowl was given a glossy effect with a coat of black shoe polish. The bowl was then sealed with Deft spray, lightly sanded and again sprayed.
#47. This picture frame mouse is really quite a novel idea from Allan Murray. It is quite the project as you have to be very careful in carving the little front legs as they can break off so easily. The tail is a bamboo skewer which was put in water for an hour and they shaped into the tail shape and left to dry in that position. The whiskers are from an old paint brush. The eyes are glass (bought). The paint is acrylic (very thin). It is so realistic and scares everyone who comes into the room!
#101. This Golfer has just topped his ball which lies just in front of the Tee blocks. By his expression and twisted club we can see that he is just a tad upset! This caricature was fun to do in our weekly "Carving Clutch" get togethers at the Nepean Sportsplex every second Friday. Rick St. John had this project going and it was a lot of fun!
#112. I put these caricatures of a carver and a hound dog together whith the hound 'nosing out' a piece of basswood for the carver. The carver says 'Nice find Spot". These were also done at the Clutch under Rick St. John's tutelage
To view the reasonable prices you can buy any of the above "In The Round" Carvings click here
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Last Updated Jan 1, 2006 by E-mail Brian Graham