St. Ignatius of Loyola Carving Design

I am working on the design for a carving of St. Ignatius of Loyola that will be just under a foot tall. The inspiration for this carving comes from a statue that in turn draws its inspiration from a statue of St. Ignatius that is in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Some good friends have loaned me a copy of the smaller statue as well has some other reference material. Here are the initial sketches I did of the front and side views.

Merry Christmas 2009

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. In honor of the occasion, Ricky Smith offered this picture of a Christmas ornament he carved based on a pattern by Joel Hull that appeared in the Fall 2003 issue of Wood Carving Illustrated. The snowman was painted by Claire McGough.

Last week we had our annual Christmas party at class. Thanks to everyone that contributed to the great food and company. We even managed to get some work done.

I pray that you all have a blessed and happy new year!

Broken Pottery

Here is a good example of a simple idea that, when executed well, can be quite effective. Ricky came to me with this design and after a good deal of deliberation on everything from design details to finish to framing, here are the results. Well done Ricky.

Another Wood Spirit

Shortly after carving the stick for my son, I carved a wood spirit as a gift to his class. This was also carved with the Flexcut Carvin' Jack. I just had a chance to get a picture of it.

Carvin' Jack

I was recently in the woods with my son. He handed me a stick he had been carrying while he went to play a game with some other kids. I happened to have my Flexcut Carvin' Jack with me, so I decided to pass the time by carving a face in his stick. This was my first real opportunity to use the Carvin' Jack and I thought I would share some thoughts about it.

The Carvin' Jack turned out to be quite a nice little tool for this kind of ad-hoc carving. It is fairly light and easy to carry with the included leather carrying case. There are three blades with different profiles on each side. All of blades lock securely in place when opened. Because of the design of the blades, the Carvin' Jack is sold in either right or left handed models.

I did find it a little difficult to open the blades since they tend to drag other blades open with them. When opening the knife blade, the V-tool and chisel blades would start to come out as well and I would have to push them closed before cutting with the knife. But this seems a small price to pay for having all these blades in such a small tool.

Even though this particular carving could have been completed with a simple knife, it went much faster with the addition of some of the special blades. The hair went very quickly with the help of the V-tool. Overall, I enjoyed carving with this tool. It's a bit expensive, but I received this one as a gift from my lovely wife. If you do a lot of whittling, you could probably justify the price with the added speed some of these blades could provide.

If you have any questions about the Carvin' Jack, let me know. Below are a few pictures of the tool.

Doyle's Mirror Frame

Doyle sent me a few pictures of the mirror frame he recently completed. The pictures do not do justice to the depth and richness of the finish. It has layered colors with gilding and an antique finish.

Check out www.doyleterry.com to see some of the custom wall finishes that Doyle specializes in.

Ricky's Calla Lily Relief

Thought I would let you all see a Calla Lily relief carving that Ricky did. It is based on a design from "Floral Wood Carving" by Mack Sutter.

Carving a Bookmark

I recently carved a couple of bookmarks. I'd like to share some aspects of the process. These particular carvings were started away from my regular workbench. I used my small set of Flexcut tools in an old laptop bag. The carving surface is a clipboard with some grip pad on it. The bag does a fairly good job of holding the chips in.

Back at the regular workbench the carving is completed and the lettering is burned in.



The carving will be finished with a water based Minwax stain. First a pre-stain is applied.

After the pre-stain has dried for about 15 minutes, an "English Oak" colored stain is applied.

The stain is allowed to dry over night and then the piece is finished with a coat of Minwax Polycrylic. This will give it a nice hard finish with a nice sheen. I often like to finish with a coat of wax, but since this is intended to go between the pages of a book, I thought it best to forgo the wax.

And there you have it. The lighting in the photographs could be better, but I hope you get the idea.

Proud Grandfather

The bust Bill is working on of his grand daughter is coming along very well. The best complement he received so far is that her parents recognized her in the carving right away. Good work Bill.

Jenny Ellerbe Sign Completed

Here is a photo of Ricky's finished sign for Jenny Ellerbe Photography. Good work Ricky.

Student's Carved Scroll Sign

Here is a carving that a student of mine is working on. It will be a
sign for Jenny Ellerbe.