Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

and

Happy  Sparkly New Year

From the Laughing Cat

Look for more new projects in 2012 and I hope to post some how to video if I can get the camera to cooperate.


Don't forget to laugh today.  And Oh Yeah...Go carve something!


Bruce, Pam, Blaze and Smokey

2011 Carving Year in Review

Hard to believe that another year is working its way into the history books.  It has been an interesting year in many ways but my purpose today is to look back at my carvings for 2011.  This has been the year when I returned to carving and have begun to refine my skills.  I had tinkered with carving back in the early nineties but never had the time to devote to it.  The tools sat in a box and I pondered getting rid of them many times.  Mostly when it was time to move and we moved several times between 1996 and 2002.  For some reason I did not and it has turned out to be a happy turn of events.

Here is a generous cross section of my projects in 2011.

This Santa is made from a wooden spool and has had some jingle bells added.

Santa ornament carved from a wooden egg.

Santa carved from an antique loom spool.  These were used for weaving fabric.

Here is a whole group of Santa ornaments being finished.

Here is another group.

 How about a hillbilly Santa.

Everyone needs a Santa Spoon.

Yep, More Santas.

Cat Ornament.  (Blaze - Laughing Cat)

Santa Spoon with a twist.

Santa Spoon yet another version

Old world version (This is one the few of my carvings that is not my pattern).

Happy Santa

I do carve things other than Santas, here are a couple of angels.

Here is a cross I carved for a gift.

More to come look for part two of this post in the next few days.

Keep carving.

Bruce

Alpha and Omega Cross

Our Church is having an auction to raise money for one of the missions.  Pam wanted to donate something so I carved this cross.  It is pretty obvious why it is called the Alpha and Omega cross when you see the picture.  Reference is Revelations 22:13 NIV " I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End."

The base cross is walnut one of my favorite woods to carve but also very expensive and hard to find in suitable (knot free) pieces.  The middle cross is poplar and the top cross is again walnut with a brass accent.  The cross is 17" tall.  Look for a future post of how I proportion these crosses.

Alpha and Omega Cross

Hope all is well with you.

Go carve something!

Bruce

Wooden Crosses with Family Ties

Here are three crosses I recently carved.  The crosses are made from redwood and cedar.  The family ties come in from where I got the redwood and the cedar.  That is a bit of a story so here goes.

My father was an infinitely curious man.  He had quite a few hobby's over his lifetime (as have I which is why my mother was always proclaiming  "you are just like your father").  Very early in their marriage he turned to one of those hobby's to help make extra money.  He would work during the summer vacation (he was a teacher) as a carpenter.  For many years he pursued that at a lumberyard in Corpus called Priest Lumber.  They sold a lot of redwood patio furniture and my father was one of the carpenters they employed to make the furniture.  He at some point made a wooden file box from redwood 1/2 inch thick and 12 inches wide.  You would be hard pressed to find redwood of this size and type today.  Knot free and and after over 60 years still warp free.  However the box had seen its better days so I decided to cut it up and make a keep sake for family members from it.  So that is where the base crosses came from.

On one of the crosses I used cedar salvaged from a small cedar chest that had belonged to my mother as well as an old piece of costume jewelery that she had for as long as I can remember I believe she got it in 1965 when we visited my fathers mother in California.

One of the crosses was kept simple and I added a forged iron cross to it and finished it in a manner similar to the way my father finished untold thousands of plaster pieces over the years (but that is another hobby and another story).  High gloss lacquer.

The other has a middle cross made of poplar and a small top cross of turquoseite (commonly sold for affordable turquoise jewelry it however is not real turquoise).  Turquoise was a particular favorite of my mother.  The poplar was used because of the color variation from cream to green I found in that piece.

Cross 1

Cross 2

Cross 3

Hope all is well with you.

Go carve something!

Bruce

Thanksgiving Pilgrim Candle Holders

A friend asked me to come up with some thanksgiving candle holders made out of the antique spools I like to carve.  These make Ideal candle holders and for the most part they are made of maple and carve well.  There are some minor splintering problems on some due to age.

I merged a number of ideas into these pilgrims sticking to a pretty traditional theme and colors.  These were carved using a method called intaglio.  The figures are carved down but the background is left alone.

These old spools have a hole at the top that make them perfect candle holders.  Quite a nifty re-purposing if I do say so my self.

Hope all is well with you.

Go carve something!

Bruce

Snowman Preacher

Snowman I created for a commission.  This is my take on a snowman preacher.

Complete with collection plate and his favorite book.  The hands were carved separately then attached as was the hat.  The nose is bamboo.  He stands 7" tall and is carved from basswood.

I keep thinking that I will take pictures through out the process but then don't once I get started and get focused on completing the carving.  Oh well maybe someday.

Go carve something.

Bruce

One Cool Nurse

Here is a snowman I created for a commission.  She is sporting scrubs and get a load of that needle.

Carved out of basswood (needle and nose are bamboo) and finished in acrylics she is ready to cure what ails you.

Go carve something.

Bruce

Lack of Posts and ETSY Storefront

I haven't posted much lately as I have been busy finishing carvings and rounding up a few odds and ends projects.  One of which was to set up a store front on ETSY.  If you are not familiar with ETSY it is an online community of artists and crafters as well as a few antique fanatics where you can buy directly from the artisan.  Looks easy enough on the face of it but it took me a while to get everything together.

I am steadily posting items and will in the next few days have about 20 online.  The next question is will they sell.

Here is the link

http://www.etsy.com/shop/brucecurran

Hope all is well in your world.

Go create something

Bruce

Bet Your Dentist Isn't This Cool

Snowman Dentist

I carved this snowman for my longtime dentist and his wife.  I knew thew would get a kick out of it as they are also avid crafters and artists. 

The snow man is made in three pieces.  The body was carved from aspen.  The glove and tooth and glove and toothbrush were carved from basswood.  If I do something like this again I will paint it before I glue it together.  The painting turned out to be more of a challenge than carving.  Also a tip the nose and eyes for the snow man were carved from a bamboo chopstick.  I like to use bamboo for those as it is stronger for these small pieces than regular carving wood.

Go carve something.

Bruce

Currently on my Bench

Here are some of the items currently on my bench.

More to come.

Go Carve Something.

Bruce

Angel Cane

A friend is about to undergo foot surgery and will need the use of a cane for a number of months.  I promised her a cane that would be different.  She asked for an Angel on the cane.  Here is what I came up with.  The cane is carved from sugar pine.  I considered other materials but I wanted something that was light but would still be pretty strong.  I came across this at my local Rockler.  It was on a clearance table as scrap.  The piece I bought yielded this cane, a snowman, a Santa, four Santa ornaments, and tow snowman ornaments.  I paid two dollars for the piece of wood.

The cane is finished is Silver and gold wash as well as oak stain and walnut antiquing.  The finishing process was a bit fussy but yielded the result that I wanted.  The cane was then treated with spray lacquer.  It weighs roughly six ounces and I completed it with a rubber tip.

As always if you click the picture it will enlarge.  Hopefully the cane serves my friend well.  It has given me the idea for several more.  However I have to finish more of the items currently on the bench before I can start another cane.

Hope you have a great day.

Go carve something.

Bruce

Carved Santa Ornament

Here is a carved Santa Ornament that I have designed.  I have been playing with carved spirals and used one for his beard.  Santa is carved from basswood (linden) and is roughly 3"x 9".  I have not yet decided how he will hang but will most likely be an screw eye.

Hope your day is great.
Go carve something.

Bruce

Cute Cat Ornament

Pam and I have two spoiled cats.  My cat is Blaze.  I designed and painted this ornament to look like blaze.  This is a great quick project and takes about 30 minutes to carve.

And here is Blaze .

Carving is roughly 3"X3" is is carved from a scrap of aspen.  Finished with acrylic paints and acrylic antiquing.  Clear gloss acrylic was used as a top coat.

Happy Carving

Bruce

Carved Cross

Here is the latest carved cross to come off my bench.  This was made for my son in law's parents.

Base cross is Poplar, middle cross is Honduran mahogany top cross is cast iron.

Carving is a guardian Angel.  This is my wife's favorite angel so it will probably show up on a few more things.

Happy Carving

Bruce

Antique Spool Santa

This Santa is carved on an antique weaving spool.  Spool is most likely maple.  I found these at Canton.  Santa is an old world Santa and I carved I Love Santa on the back.  Hole in the top is perfectly sized for a candle.  The next one of these will be an angel.

Here he is

Happy Carving

Bruce

Tall Santa

I mostly cave what is known as Old World Santa or Folk Santa.  In the US we are used to seeing what is basically the Coca Cola Santa.  He is plumper and wears the two piece suit.  The Old World Santa is based on the Saint Nicolas or Kris Kringle legend and wears a long single piece robe with hood.

This is the largest Santa that I have carved to date standing just over 9 inches tall.  He is carved from basswood also known as Linden wood.  He took about four hours to carve and paint.  He will be one of my first carvings to be offered for sale on ETSY.  More about ETSY in a later post.

He is about 90% done in the picture above.

Here he is completed

I basically never carve the same Santa twice so all of the santas are one of a kind.  I find that most carvers become comfortable with a specific look to their carvings and that gives the carvings a sameness I am trying hard to avoid.

Go make some wood chips.

Bruce