The Art of Wood Carving

"It's gratifying to take a piece of wood and create your own piece of art, and because wood comes from a once-living tree, not two pieces will ever be the same" (Ellenwood, viii).

This is an example of a birthday present I
 made for my friend. I used a scroll saw to cut
out the name and glued zebra-print paper to
 the letters to make it a bit more personal for her.

Wood carving is a unique art. My fascination with wood carving started at a fairly young age, probably around when I was 9, when my father gave me a pocket knife for my birthday. I started simple by caring spears out of branches from trees in our backyard and have slowly learned more and more from my father about using power tools to carve out designs in wood. I realized that, even though my father had extensive knowledge about wood and power tools, he wouldn't be able to teach me the complete art of carving wood.

I hope to learn the basics of wood carving and be able to successfully complete one or many projects during these next weeks. I will be starting by making one of the several projects this book, The Complete Book of Wood Carving by Everett Ellenwood, titled "Chip Carved Star."

This is a picture of "Chip Carved Star."
 My end product should look fairly close
 to this picture.

Before starting this project, I must learn to use wood carving tools correctly and efficiently, "Get to know your tools, and they'll be you best friends" (Ellenwood 141). Some tools that I will be using are gouges, carving knives, the v-tool, chisels, and veiners.

From top to bottom, the
 tools are: chisel, gouge,
veiner, and v-tool.

"Wood carving is a common thread that has flowed through every nation and culture since the beginning of mankind. No country in the world is without a history of carving in one form or another; it is one of the oldest developed skills" (Ellenwood 1).  I encourage you to think of carvings you've seen while on vacation or in books and think about how much work went into making that piece of art. They can be simple or intricate.

Also, feel free to comment a specific design or thing you would like to see carved out of/into a piece of wood. I am open to any suggestions and will give them a shot!