Summary of 2012 Carvings

It's been a while since I posted to my blog. So, I thought I'd start with a summary of some of the carvings I did during 2012.

The shamrock pin is a 1/2" deep x 1 3/4" wide x 2 3/4"tall deep relief carved in basswood painted and highlights dry brushed with acrylic paints and sprayed with clear hi-gloss lacquer.

The St. Bridget's cross pin is 2 1/2" square carved in basswood, and brushed with clear Minwax Wipe-on Poly satin and Johnson's paste wax.

The American Spirit pin is about 3 3/4" tall and 1" wide carved in basswood painted with acrylic paints and sprayed with Krylon matte finish.

The Happy Spirit ornament is about 3 3/4" tall and 1 1/4" wide carved in cedar and brushed with clear Minwax Wipe-on Poly satin and Johnson's paste wax.

The Easter Egg pin is 3 1/2 inches tall and 2 1/4 inches wide carved in basswood and finished with 2 coats of satin finish polyurethane.

The Dala horses are 5 inches square carved in pine and painted by my wife, Michelle, with acrylic paints, and finished with satin finish polyurethane

Holiday Spirits!

Here is a photo of Holiday Spirits I carved for the WCI ornament exchange.

Patriotic Sunflower

A belated Happy 4th of July everyone!

Here's a pic of a Patriotic Sunflower pin I carved for my wife, Michelle. She loves sunflowers and celebrating holidays--especially Patriotic ones.

The sunflower is about 3 inches in diameter, carved in basswood and painted with red white and blue acrylic paints. The stars are handpainted with a 5/0 brush.

Just as an afterthought, I was browsing through photos, and I saw this one. It immediately reminded me of something you'd see leading up to the grand finale of fireworks. How cool would that be if Grucci or one of their competitors actually came up with an exploding Patriotic Sunflower--red, white and blue and stars and all!
 

Hope you enjoyed the pics and the holiday!

Chipped Carved Quilt Square for Charity

As a member of Fox Chapel Publishing's message board, Woodcarving Illustrated, I carved a 4" x 4" square chipped carved star. It will be joined into one of several Charity Quilts to be auctioned off to benefit Japan relief.

My quilt square is carved in basswood. It is a half inch thick with a 1/4" raised chip carved star containing stars. I left it natural and finished it with several coats of high gloss lacquer.

Here's a link to the Charity Quilt to Benefit Japan Relief web page:
http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/features/charity-quilt-to-benefit-japan-relief.html

A Chick's Easter egg

My wife, Michelle asked me to carve a pin of a chick hatching from an Easter egg.

 

The pin is relief carved from basswood. It's 3 1/2 inches tall, 2 1/2 inches wide and 3/8 inch thick. I painted it with acrylic paints and finished it with high gloss lacquer spray.

She thought it was cool. Me too.

Enjoy!

A Pink Alligator in NJ?!?!?

I was asked if I could carve a alligator caricature based on a "squeak toy" that's sitting on my bench. So I did! It's basswood, and painted with acrylics and finished with satin poly. It is 2 3/8 inches long, 1 1/8 inches high and 2 inches wide.

She received it last week and she loved it.

My Latest Singing Mouse...

I carved another Choral mouse for my wife Michelle. I called it a Spring Mouse. She calls it "AWWW MAAAHHH!!"--making reference to all of the other choral mice dismay with Mom singing, too. The mouse was carved from aspen, the umbrella from basswood and the handle is a 1/8" dowel. It's 2 3/4" high to the top of the umbrella, 1 1/2" wide, 2" deep from the edge of the umbrella to the back. She's painted with acrylics paints, and 2 coats of satin polyurethane. The tail is a piece of suede lace. The pocketbook handle is a piece of plastic chain.