Give me a hand for carving...

With the neckline that I carved this weekend, Cheryl then commissioned me to carve up a hand for her bracelets and rings that she will eventually make. This sounded good to me since I wanted some practice craving a human hand for my tree nymphs. And there was a wonderful article in the latest Carving Magazine that I just purchased! ( the pictures were rather lacking though.) Well, since this was an experimental exercise, I used pine again. It took a lot longer than I had thought, but I did not want to split, break, or carve off too much at a time. All in all, I think it looks pretty good, but I still have a few "touch ups" to do as far as sanding. The only criticism I have about it, is that I had to make it only 1and3/4 inches think so it looks rather flat from the top side. ( back of the hand) I also have to thin out the fingers a bit more so they will fit Cheryl's rings at their smallest setting. From the bottom though, I must say it almost looks life like. ( Pats self on back)

What have I been up to this weekend?

Carving! Of coarse! In addition to seats, I worked on the wood nymph and gave her a haircut and worked on her neck and wing a bit. I also finished sanding the jewelry stand for Cheryl's shop. On our beach walk tonight, we found a Brilliant Beetle on the shoreline. I believe it is a tiger beetle, and it was quite large! Unfortunately it was pretty beat up from the water but this was the only picture I could work with. I really don't know what kind of beetle it is, but I could not find a similar picture of it online. Sunset at the shore were very pretty. the warmer weather is bringing out more people to the lake so our visits may be shortened very soon. Hope everyone had a great weekend! Oh! Found the beetle! A fiery Searcher! Read more here!

Strawberries and carvings for Jewelry.

The Landlord left us some Strawberries today, so Cheryl decided that the best way to eat them is to dip them in chocolate. Perhaps tomorrow we'll have shortcake ( Not the Spongecake...Yech!) Tonight I worked on a simple carving for Cheryl's shop. She asked me to carve a neckline so she could photo her necklaces better. I must say, I'm pleased with the results, even though it is rather simple. I usually over think things, but luckily, she had a photo of something she wanted. It's not finished yet, I still have to sand it down and perhaps stain it. but she could not wait to take some pictures with her jewelry for her shop. Hope you're having a great weekend!

Origami jewelry?

So if you have been following the blog for more than a month, you might have realized that the sales have dwindled considerably. I don't know why, but when May began, someone turned off the sales. So I only had one seat to carve up tonight, the muskie, and it took very little time at all. I'm going to try to influence the universe with my mind and see if I can mentally start up the sales once more. In the mean time, I headed out to the tree to see if I could add some eyes to the carving and possibly some hair. Even the shop cat came out and kept me company. Unfortunately, it got dark before I could get a good picture of the progress. So while the sames have taken a dive, Cheryl has been brainstorming on some other product that we might be able to sell. ( happens every time our sales slump) So I'm going to attempt some origami jewelry. Some beetles and frogs encased in resin. I'm curious to see how they sell, or if they will sell. They had to be super small though and I might have to work on a beetle that will fit inside the mold. I'll turn them over now to Cheryl so she can set them. Will post on the progress....

A New Beginning

Hello everyone! I have heard that I should be blogging. Basically to get myself out there and say A little about what I do and who I am. Since Im not really much of a reader and would rather not bore people with my first weblog, I'll try to keep it brief. I'll try to post a little everyday and keep people up to speed on various projects that we start. Thanks for reading. Hope I can keep you interrested