Say Goodbye to the Big Maple!

You know you are in Iowa when you consider it an "event" when they take a large tree down in your yard. ( That is a fancy way of saying that there is usually nothing going on here!) It is still fascinating whenever a crew of five guys tackle a job like this with all those cool toys! It took them all day yesterday to bring that monster down, with only a little damage to a fence and the roof of the building. Impressive when you consider the placement of the tree. And it's size! Now I know you are looking at that HUGE trunk and thinking," What is the Midnightcarver going to carve out of that?" Sadly, I waved goodbye as they carted it off. I realized that I was not really in that position anymore where I could just dust off the tools and start working on any stray log that drops in my area. Not that I have given up carving, just put it on hold for the moment. Besides I have been busy with Christmas Stockings as of late, and they have proven to be more profitable than the carvings ever where. SO who knows? I may dust off the chisels some day in the future when I have nothing going on and an opportunity presents itself. Don't think of the Midnightcarver as retired, just taking a leave of absents for the moment.

Finding a home for my Wood Elf...

I found a good home for her! The owners at Culver's have agreed to take her and show her off at their store! They have quite a few carvings inside and when I offered this one, I thought that something like this would be pushing it. You see...most of their carvings are of tropical birds or fish. But after seeing it, She said that they might be able to find a place for it outside in their courtyard. Now all that remains is for them to come and get it with their truck. So if you are in Grand Haven, Michigan in the near future and wonder who carved that Wood elf in the corner...well, now you know!

Anyone Interrested in some carvings?

Quite a bit happened over this weekend but I doubt I will be able to fit it all in this one post. But here it goes.... After another sale on Saturday, I met with a fellow wood worker who processes his own wood. I mentioned a really nice Cherry tree in the back where I have been getting my little carving stash from and he was interested. Well, he came yesterday with two friends, a chainsaw, and a large log mover. He managed to get 5 nice 8ft logs out of the remaining trunk. It's cool to find someone as devoted to wood as that. ( and me! I used to comb the neighborhood for small bits of trees) While taking down one of the trunks, we disrupted a small family of grey squirrels and these really HUGE beetle larvae. I put the larvae out for the pilliated woodpecker. I thought that he would probably be the only one that would appreciate the snack! So at the sale, I got lots of compliments but no takers on the log/tree carvings I have had in the front yard for the past 8 months ( or longer!) So if anyone is interested in a couple of tree carvings that you can toss in the back of a pickup, leave a comment. We live in Grand Haven, Michigan.

Stag Beetles Battle!

Last night I was privileged to witness something you usually only see on the nature Channel. Three stag beetles were in our front yard and two of them ( I'm assuming the odd one was a female and the two that were fighting were male) were duking it out in the classic beetle wrestle mania! I snapped a couple of pics after the battle was over and they just would not fight again after the winner clearly won. However, someone on the Internet at least has a similar pic of larger beetles to give you an idea of what was going on. It was cool seeing the winner pick up the loser in the show of strength. You never know what you will see in the late hours after dark. In other news...Looks like some ants have found one of my carvings and have started to work their way into it. I'm assuming its to get the fungus that is growing inside the heartwood. It's no biggy because I knew the heartwood was rotting anyway and the ants are just making the process move more quickly. I'm sure within a year the log will be little more than sawdust and firewood.

Quick carving post..

I know I have just not been posting everyday like my normal self. There is a good reason for that, but for today, I want to post a little bit of the carving I have been chipping at for the last month. I basically just worked on the last fish tonight and didn't do much with him. But I thought I would at least try to break up the blog boycott. Not many pics to show, then again, there was not much done tonight. Enjoy...

One More Fish Down!

I finished one more fish tonight. I'm not sure what is taking me so long, other than the fact that I may just be savoring the carving experience. Cheryl was nice enough to snap a few pics so I could use both hands to hold on to the tools. That leaves only one fish left. then I will have to work on background and maybe cleaning up a few of the areas that need attention. Hope everyone is having a great Friday so far and look forward to a great weekend!

Back to the Koi carving.

I worked on the koi a little more yesterday. I was able to get two of the fish carved. The last three might be a little more of a challenge, but with the help of the "Shop Cat", I should be able to meet any challenge! Red helps me stay in the lines and keep all my tools finely tuned! He alps lets me know if I have made any mistakes or alerts me if any areas still need attention. Other than that, I have found that putting the scales on is another fun and challenging part since i have only one chisel that matches the sweep of the scales. And that chisel is difficult to get into certain places. We'll see how far I get tomorrow. Have a great Week!

Obsessed with fish heads!

What a odd title! Eh? But it is true! I have been obsessing over these fish and the shape of not only their heads, but their bodies as well! It's not as easy as I first thought since this is not really a relief carving like I used to do all the time. The fish have to be more rounded. Their mouths and barbels are also a bit of a challenge. Well after a couple of days of laboring over them, I decided to call the first one good enough for the moment and set out on the next one. With two down, I can not set out on the remaining five! I'm sure that I will come back to each of them over time and tidy them up..but for now this is as far as I got this weekend. IT is rather fun though, tinkering until it gets to where it Begin to look like it should. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Mushrooms at Harbor Island!

That is right! the morals are out and Cheryl and I found a couple on out evening walk today. Granted that they are rather small and this is rather early for them. So, if you look closely, you will see some frost bite on the tips. As for me, it was a little cold to carve outside today, so I dragged the log inside to work on it in the nicely lit shop. I was feeling rather 'stuck' with its current configuration, so I decided that I would now work on each fish one at a time until they were done. Instead of trying to complete it as a whole. The first fish is almost done. I'll see if there are any details to add after the rest of them are finished, but this is about how far I want to take the carving for each fish. I'll admit, I'm not as good as the Thai carvers. Those guys are awesome! Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Treasure finding at Hoffmaster!

It started out as another great day at the state park. We ate our Subway and set off exploring another trail. Little did we know that on this particular trail, we would stumble upon a secret cashe of goodies! While walking down the path, I noticed what looked like a rock way up in the dunes. Rocks of this size do not normally belong up here in the sand, so I took a little closer look. At first, Cheryl and I thought it was a first aid stash for the park people in the event someone got hurt on the trail. But then our investigation revealed that it was part of a global scavenger hunt! Apparently, people with GPS's are all looking for things to do with their new toys. So the website started putting these little secret stashes with locations on their website for people to find and log their findings. The3 plastic container was loaded with goodies that you could take one if you left something else in return. Cheryl wanted to take the toy truck, but later settled with the Jacks in exchange for one of her Key Fobs. We then logged our findings in the little notebook and replaced all the goodies for the next lucky person to find. It was pretty fun! Then we walked down to the beach and left the park. After that, there was not much else to mention as that was the highlight of the hike. As for the rest of the evening..I continued carving. I have not been able to get very far on my project as I keep getting interrupted by the neighbors! Not that I mind much. I love talking about carving to anyone who will listen. I may chip away at it a little more tonight. the weather has been pretty nice and it seems to be getting warmer. It will be a good night for having a nice soothing fire! Hope everyone is having a great week so far.