Wood Carving and Other Fun Stuff
This is the first head I carved. At that time I had no carving gouges. Using a pocket knife and a wood chisel that belonged to my Grandfather, this is what appeared.
It is interesting how a piece of wood can dictate what it wants to become. 
When I was a kid, I loved to wander around in the woods. I was raised in a rural area and there were plenty of wooded areas for me to hike in. My Grandfather owned a farm and it was always fun to explore his wooded areas. When I was a bit older I found out about morel mushrooms from an uncle who loved to hunt for them in the spring of the year. He taught me what areas they grew in and where to look for them. When we found a batch of them we would share them and take them home and fry them, YUM! I never thought about the fact, that they were fungus. At one point I thought it would be fun to carve some, which I did. Here are a couple of the carved ones.
Morels
One of the things that I do, is repair sewing machines. Taking the old parts and making some art from them makes good sense to me. I have called it Machine Art and also Steam Punk. When I post some of the pieces here, you can call them what you want. I have sold a number of the pieces and am happy that people like them. I have also called it Green Art, because of using things that would be headed for the trash or the city land fill.
It is fun to make art from things that you have. I repair sewing machines and save the old parts to make art from. There will be more Green Art pictures coming at a later time.
The Green Art Tricycle is made from recycled parts from a couple of old sewing machine.
Jeffrey, Old Man Winter certainly exemplifies the meaning behind his name — divinely peaceful. Not only is he as calm and quiet as the new fallen snow, he also holds the secrets of the seasons with honor and reverence in the deepest part of his soul. If you look carefully, you’ll be able to peek into the winter window nestled in the folds of his regal blue robe. Jeffrey is hand carved from a Louisiana cypress knee and when the carving is completed, he is hand painted and completed with matte finish and felt on the bottom. He is approximately 14.5 inches tall, 3.75 inches wide at the widest point and 5.75 inches deep.
This mallard duck was carved from a piece of walnut wood. After sanding it, a number of coats of oil were applied. The oil finish allows the wood grain to stand out. Walnut is a hard wood so you have to keep your gouges very sharp.
As we go along I will be showing you some of things that I do, other than wood carving. This piece of Steam Punk was made of gears from an old clock and parts from the brake system on my truck. Actually, one of the gears is from an old sewing machine. The piece was put together with brass wire.
I understand that Athelstan, the santa loves living in the North West. This is very cool!
I hope everyone is having a great christmas.
I am sorry there can not be comments, but someone hacked my comments and there were 57,000 non related comments, so I had to close them.
Athelstan is a santa that was carved for a friend of mine. Recently I did some work in a home for some people who collected gem stones and rocks. The stones that that were incorporated in this carving were from their collection. He will be going far west of here to live in a new world with her.
Oh, so many gifts Athelstan has to deliver! His most prized stones are cradled in his green, mitten covered hands. As Athelstan trudges through the snow, an occasional stone slips from the basket. Don’t worry, he’ll be back to get them. Athelstan, whose name means Noble Stone, would never leave such precious cargo behind. Athelstan is hand carved from Basswood and when the carving is completed, he is hand painted and completed with matte finish and felt on the bottom. He is approximately 8.75 inches tall, 5 inches wide at the widest point and 3.75 inches deep.
I bet you can’t wait for Athelstan to leave a gem in your stocking.