Friday, December 30, 2011

Wood Spirit Tutorial

Happy Holidays to all! I have been busy re-organizing my shop to make room for new tools and hopefully be more effective in how I work (yeah, right!). I've did a little tutorial on carving wood spirits that can be found here. I have also started a FaceBook page! Search for Mike Pounders' Woodcarving or try this link https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Pounders-Woodcarving/261450667252958
. I am  currently working on a carving for a toy contest that needs to be completed by the end of January.


Friday, December 16, 2011

Small stuff for Christmas

Since I have completed all my major holiday committments, I have just been working on fun things! I am getting some parts for Christmas to re-model my power honer, so I have been cutting out some disks and doing some glue-ups to prepare for that. I plan to make the full 4 disk Burke style sharpener and I hope to use the existing motor I have, but it may not have enough power. I carved this small angel from a Shawn Cipa pattern for a lady at church and will do a larger version as a tree topper for my daughter. I like Shawn’s work and plan to do some other pieces based on his patterns.

I have a friend who is interested in carving, so I have been showing him a few things. I started with the Santa ornament tutorial I previously posted and then did this little woodspirit on a stick to show him how similar it is to a Santa. I may do a little tutorial on carving woodpirits if anyone might be interested?

I learned a few things carving so many Santas over the past month and I am hoping that more practice will help with some of my female and doll faces. I am trying this one as a cane topper, but still have a little bit more work to do.

I have also been working with Sculpey clay as a way to test ideas and refine models before carving. It has been a learning process for me, but I can mess with it in spare time at work without creating a huge mess!

Thanks for looking!

Friday, December 2, 2011

"Happiness is a Warm Puppy"

I did a snow man with a snow-dog last year that my daughter snagged before I could sell it, so I am hoping these guys will do well at a holiday bazaar this weekend. The guy in the green jacket is about 7 inches tall and the other is about three inches tall. The small one is similar to the one I did last year. Keeping my fingers crossed!