All of the above being said, I've discovered some of the later projects have been somewhat redeemable with some more carving. The following head - the Volga Boatman - demonstrates what I mean.
If you look at this dude from the side, you would see that I carved his ears way too low on his head, his mouth and jaw are protruding too far, he doesn't have much of a neck, and his forehead makes him look like a Cro-magnon. (Problems pointed out to me by my very talented and observant son, Jess.) So, after letting the boatman sit around for awhile, I decided to do some changes on the unfortunate caveman.
This is the result: A high school dropout who owns a service station somewhere in rural America, who also like's to chew on and smoke a General MacArthur pipe - and is obviously a 49er's fan.
I couldn't repair the Cro-magnon head without cutting it off and gluing in a piece of wood as a spacer -- too much work. I did, however, cut off the ears, glued two new pieces on and re-cut tht ears. As to assessing the value of this waste of time, one would have to say that at best, this is very whimsical. Eh, what the heck.
Here are a few more projects of the past couple of months.
I went nuts doing Santa Clauses (among other things) the last couple of months.
This one was both a bunch of fun and difficult because of the left arm and the bottle of fizzy water.
This Santa I gave to a neighbor who goes nuts with Christmas every year. That is to say, she leaves the Christmas tree up until February some years. When I asked her whether she preferred the European or American Santa, she said American. So I carved her a 1959's vintage Coca Cola Santa holding on to, what else, a bottle of Coke.
This guy was also fun and presented it's own problems (the fawn at his feet). The block of wood I was carving wasn't wide enough for the fawn, so I had to glue another piece of wood onto the block before I started.
This guy is a bit more European and obviously has a way with the animals. He's in Saint George at my brother's home now.
NEW DIRECTIONS
I finally took a chance on carving a Cypress Knee. Cypress trees put out horizontal roots from which new trees grow. They new growth looks like a stalagmite. Wood suppliers harvest the knees and sell them to wood supply stores after the wood is cured.
It is very light and soft wood. It is so soft that cuts across the grain just compress the wood fiber regardless of how sharp the blade is that one is using. (Power carving the wood with a nice burr is best.)
Anywhoooo..... Here are a couple of Cypress Knee carvings:
Number one:
This guy's name is OHM. He's the wizard of all things electrical. (Pun intended - You can read about the German physicist, Georg Simon Ohm.) This carving is living in my oldest son's home in Tucson, who just happens to be an electrical engineer. (Hence the wizard's name.) I know -- bad joke, but my son, Jake liked it.
The little girl in the picture is Megan,
my granddaughter. She likes Ohm's
eyes.
Number two:
This bloke was a white elephant gift at our annual Christmas party. He's living in a neighbor's home now. I told the new owner that I intended on naming him "Gregor Vox - Master Singer and bringer of music." (Gregor as in Gregorian chants and Vox, Latin for voice) Sort of appropriate since the new owner was our children's piano teacher and is a fine musician in her own right.
AND, FINALLY --
I'm not sure whether I posted this tree spirit in the past or not. He's more that an year old (carving age). He's make of cherry wood and I had to do him entirely with the power carving tools. (Cherry is a hard wood - too hard for my hand tools any way.) If he appeared previously, many pardons.
No name for this carving. Maybe "Ugly" would be most appropriate.
More slaughtered and mangled carvings to follow - but, next year.
