Carving without a plan

Sometimes it's good to grab some scrap wood and just whittle away. Here I took an irregular chunk of scrap, and wound up with five faces (two on one side, three on the other.)

Hand-carved Coffee Scoop

Here's a quick and fun carving. I needed a coffee scoop, so I made one from some scrap basswood. No finish was called for, so the scoop is ready to go!

Whittlin' on Instagram!

Wonderful Whittlin' is now on Instagram. Check out @wonderfulwhittlin for more photos of carvings big and small, with lots of "work in progress" shots, woodcarving knives, and more!

Here's a sample of some of my recent posts:

 

Hand Cramps from Carving? Here's some stretches:

Steve Tomlin of Steve Tomlin Crafts posted some great and helpful advice on stretching your hand muscles. Avoid injury, extend your carving time, and be safe!

A Carved Toy Horse for a Baby Girl

My friends just had a baby girl named Freya! On her birthday I got right to work on her first toy horse.

To honor Freya's mom and her vegan lifestyle, I finished this horse in a few light coats of Danish oil, let it dry thoroughly, then buffed it with a cotton cloth. I decided to forgo the usual coating of shellac, since shellac is an animal product. Still, a little elbow grease gave the horse a nicely buffed finish and a natural look.

Finally, I burned a simple Nordic rune onto the hip area, representing Freya's name.

Hand-carved Wedding Favors

In an effort to give our wedding and reception a personal touch, I decided, with my bride-to-be, to carve wooden hearts for all of our guests.  Even a smaller-sized wedding can have quite a few guests. Our count was around 70, or just under, which still calls for a lot of whittling.

I used all kinds of wood, from cedar to pine, basswood and poplar, and even mahogany. Some I finished with oils and shellac, some I left natural. All the hearts were marked with our wedding date using a wood burner.

Wedding Lovespoon!

We got married!

For our recent wedding, I made my bride a hand-carved lovespoon. Using poplar, I made a heart-shaped bowl, and several symbols of our love and commitment to each other. I used a woodburner to apply the date of the wedding to the reverse side.