Here's My Woodcarving!
by Lamar Holland
I started carving while in the Army at Ft Hood, TX in the early 70's using mostly X-acto tools. We moved to the Atlanta area and found the Atlanta Woodworking Club which helped me to evolve into using carving knives, chisels and gouges. Those early years were real growing experiences and the folks at the Club were most generous and helpful. It's pretty hard to have a job and do much with a hobby, so I really didn't accomplish much until I retired from the State of Georgia in 2002. Since then I've become more involved with the Club, serving one term as President in 2013. Over the years I've taken a few classes through the Club and at the John C. Campbell Folk School.
I have tried my hand at carving pretty much everything from balsa wood to Cottonwood bark, but I particularly enjoy both the bark and bass wood. I tend to gravitate toward smaller projects either in the round or relief. I've found that cigar boxes make great music boxes and that my granddaughters like Christmas ornaments and Pokemon character carvings.
I would really encourage anyone who carves or would like to learn to carve to find a woodcarving club near them and join. It's great to go somewhere like
Highland Woodworking
or The John C. Campbell Folk School and take a class or two and I highly recommend that, but there's just something about being around a bunch of other carvers on an informal basis that really gets the creative juices flowing.
For the last two years, I've entered some of my carvings into the Georgia National Fair in Perry, GA. I got a 1st Place ribbon on the dragon guitar pictured below. The tackle box got a 2nd Place ribbon. A few of my other carvings have also gotten 1st and 2nd place ribbons.
Below are several of my carvings and their descriptions.
The dragon guitar is a relief painted with acrylic paints. I bought the kit online and then did the carving on it:
The tackle box and the Belle music box are both cigar boxes. The tackle box is reverse relief and stained:
The Belle music box is an applique carved from basswood and painted with acrylics:
The Green man is basswood painted with acrylics:
The mulberry letter opener is a twisted thistle Celtic pattern that I gave to my sister-in-law. She thought it was a Celtic cross, so I also carved her a Celtic cross with a rose from aspen to show her what one was supposed to look like:
I carved the Despereaux figure for my daughter and daughter-in-law because they both love the story so much. It is made of bass wood and painted with acrylic:
Would you like to see your carvings in this column? We invite you to
SEND US PHOTOS
of your
favorite woodcarving projects along with captions and a brief history of your woodcarving. (Email
photos at 800x600 resolution.) Receive a $50 store gift card if we show your carving work in a
future issue!
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