Here is a video of me roughing out the hands on the Lia Relief. Thanks for checking out my site!

New Project...Lia

Last year I made a praying girl for my oldest daughter Angelina. I wanted to make one for my youngest daughter Lia. I started working on this. I decided to use an image of Lia rather then just a generic angel/girl. Here is what I have so far (I am only a few hours into it right now) I took a picture of Lia watching TV (It was the only way I could get her to sit still long enough for a profile picture) what I got was a 3/4 view instead of a profile so I went with it. I took a separate pic of her hands in a prying position as reference and added it the drawing. I took the picture of her hands from the wrong side but I just reversed them when I drew them out on the wood. Anyway, any critique is much appreciated. I stink at making eyes but I think these will work, I can't figure out how to do eyes the right way but oh well practice makes perfect, or as close to perfect as possible.
Thanks for looking!
Joe

Grapes part 2

The finished project. I will need to seal and wax it and figure something out for the background. I plan on making some doors that will go on either side of a wine rack that I will carve a similar pattern on. This project was just practice for the real thing. Here is the second part of my grape carving video. Thanks for checking it out.

Grapes Practice

Happy New Year! Here is a video I hope you will all enjoy. I had an old piece of white pine laying around (I don't like carving white pine at all) so i decided to try this pattern by Nora hall of grapes on it. I bought Nora Halls DVD European Woodcarving with Nora Hall Advanced and it came with the pattern she uses in the video. She makes it look like a piece of cake and finishes the whole piece in 1 hour. My video is about two and a half hours shrunk down to ten minutes and i'm not even finished. This is part 1 and I'll be recording the rest later. If you're interested in the DVD you can find it at www.norahall.com

Speaking of Nora Hall, I really hope when I'm her age I'll still be carving. Actually, i hope to reach her age. I decided to help reach my goal and I am proud to say that as of January 3rd I am a non-smoker! It has been an still is a struggle but it's something I need to do. I've been smoking for 20 years and have tried to stop many times. I really think I will succeed this time. Enjoy the video and thanks for checking out my blog!

Joe

Acanthus Clock Pics and Video

This is my version of Rolf Taraldset's Acanthus clock. I started working on it last year and posted some progress pics. In between moving to a new home and other things, I worked on this off and on over the year. This is also the first time I ever attempted to do any kind of lettering. I was nervous doing it as it was the last step and I could have really ruined the whole piece with one slip. I am happy to say that I am pleased with the results. I will try to incorporate lettering in future projects.

Below is a link for a Youtube video showng the stages. (I used some lighter music on this one based on some suggestions) As always thanks for stopping by!

Joe

My first youtube video!!!

Ladybugs on Foliage

Another one of my slow movers I'm working on. I haven't finished this one or the Acanthus clock yet as life gets in the way of my hobby. I really wanted to try a high relief/ pierced relief and play with foliage. This is about 2" high and the lowest spot (the flowers) are about 1/4" the ladybugs are about the size of a dime just to give you an idea.

Some detail on the face

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I started to add some detail on the face or rim of the clock. I will now start to focus more on cleaning up. It's taken me a lot longer than I thought just to get to this point. I did learn a good lesson out of it. Make sure to get all the levels correct when you rough out. I found myself trying to move on to shaping too soon. After I spent time shaping, I realized what I was working on was too high so I would bring it down some more then shape again...and again. I basically tripled the work. When I finish this one and start the next, I'll make sure I focus on levels first. It doesn’t look like I’m going to make my deadline. I’ll keep this one for my house and get a head start for next year and donate the new one.
Joe

Acanthus Clock Progress

So far so good. I started some cleaning up and will be ready to add some details soon. I’ll be working on the leaf cuts and some chip carving for the face of the clock. T minus 15 days…I hope?

 

 

Hand Carved Acanthus Clock (Work in Progess)

Hi Everyone! I started my Acanthus clock for the San Gabriele benefit. This design is based on clock by Rolf Taraldset. I saw his preview video on youtube and was blown away by this piece. If you purchase the video it comes with a pattern for the clock and in the video Rolf shows you how to carve it. I’m broke (and cheap) so I didn’t buy the video or the pattern. I made my own freehand. I would really like to buy the video in the future just so I can see “The right way” or the most efficient way to carve this piece. I’ll post a link to the preview below or you can check out www.norwegian-woodcarving.com to see it there and for info on purchasing the video and pattern.

I’m using basswood for my clock and my deadline is February 17-18^th because the event is on the 20^th. I began by cutting the blank out on the band saw after I transferred my design. Now I’m chipping away at it. I hope you enjoy!

Here is the preview for the Norwegian Wood Carving DVD

More WIP pictures

I love cherry!!!!!

I am getting ready to begin working on an Acanthus style wall clock I was commisioned to do for the annual San Gabriele benefit in february. I was going to go ahead and use basswood as usual but my father in law suggested Maple. He had a scrap piece in the workshop and although it is beautiful, it was harder than hell. Becuase of the deadline I decided working with the maple would take too long so back to basswood.
"how about cherry?" my father in law suggested.
Now, cherry is not only gorgeous but also very expensive. He happened to have a scrap piece in the shop. I started carving through it and although it's hard, the cherry wasnt as hard as the maple. I fell in love. It carves beautifully and despite the hardness of it, i found it easy to work with and very forgiving. The beautiful grain makes it easy to carve the right direction. I kept slicing away at it and after a couple of hours, i made a relief flower. Ill post the acanthus clock soon. Because time is of the essence I will use basswood for this project and then later I'll make another with cherry!

Nursing a fever

Due to a nasty cold i had some down time. I got real sick of being sick so I went out to the shop, sharpend my tools, and finally finished this piece for one of my girls. I used the SSW method to finish it (Sand Seal and Wax) I learned from Bill Judt. I was able to get it so smooth by starting with 100 grit and working down to 220 and finally hitting it with a piece of brown paper bag. You wont believe how polished the wood starts to look after you work it with the bag. I cleaned it up with a brush and then went over it with leather to get it even smoother. Two coats of wax finished it off.
I plan to make a matching one soon.

Sent from my HTC smartphone

Sent from my HTC smartphone

Happy Father's Day!

It's quarter til one on sunday morning, father's day weekend. I'm at St. Joseph's in the Hills on my annual retreat with the six-three group of Men of Malvern. If you've never visited here before I suggest you do. It doesn't matter what race or creed you are this is strictly about spirituality. The second you pull into the property you get this overwhelming feeling of peace. Any stress or frustration you carry is left outside. You can't help but be inspired by the surroundings here. The last time I had a free minute to carve was one year ago...when I was here. I brought my tools with me again this year and started carving. I was thinking about maybe doing an angel and veered off into a little girl praying. Eleven hours later with a few smoke breaks and some walking around, here's what I have so far. I'm pretty rusty but it's starting to come back to me. It's not finished and it doesn't look like it's destined for greatness but I am so excited to be able to carve again. Hopefully I can finish this carving soon and as soon as I do I will post more pics. Happy Father's Day!
Joe

Thank You! I'm still here

Just wanted to say thanks to all the comments and emails i've been getting. I do have some projects lined up and some I've started and will be back to posting soon so please stay tuned. We are in the process of moving and I will be setup in my new shop in August or September. Among some of the projects are St. Joseph the worker and an eastern dragon, two sides of the spectrum. I will take lots of in progress pictures and work on posting a more "how to" style. Keep checking back as I may be posting some smaller projects real soon.
Thanks Again!
Joe

What I did on my vacation

So it’s been so long since my last post. A five month old and an almost three year old keep my wife and I really busy. I have started some new carving projects and will soon be back to posting so stay tuned. Our cutting board at home started breaking down. The cutting board we have has always been too small for me and now that it’s falling apart I decided we really needed a new one and I really needed to work on a project and get some sawdust in my system. I picked up some hard maple, black walnut and my father-in-law had some wenge laying around at his shop. I ripped the walnut and maple into 2” ,1.25” and .75” strips and glued them together. I then ripped across the piece into 1.25” strips and glued them together in an alternating layout with the end grain up. Then I attached the wenge around the whole piece and here is what I came up with. My wife says she doesn’t want to actually use it because it’s too nice. I just need to convince her that this board will last forever with an occasional mineral oil wipe down.

A New Addition

It has been quite some time since I posted and I haven’t really worked on anything new lately. It’s not because I’m lazy or because I’m giving up carving or I just forgot. It’s because on August 19^th 2008 I became a new Papa…AGAIN! Lia Rose Muscella has been taking up all my time and I love it! She is such a good baby and our 2 year old, Angelina, is such a big helper. I now have two new carvers in the family! I will be getting back to work in the next couple of weeks. Talk to you then.

 

Madonna of the Streets

Well, I’m almost finished with my Madonna of the Streets relief. At this point I think I’m just going to clean up some spots mainly baby Jesus’ face. I just need to be careful as I’m running out of wood and am almost about to put a hole in it. I love using this basswood slice; the grain is all over the place but is teaching me so much about being aware of the direction. I hope you enjoy it!

Joe

 

 

She's all done

I finally finished my Virgin Mary woodcarving. I used sanding sealer and paste wax to finish the piece off. The five roses represent the five mysteries of the rosary. I'm getting ready to head out to my retreat...I hope everyone likes it! You can click the link to see the woodcarvingillustrated message board and check out some really beautiful works from great artists.

http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/forum/f61/carving-mary-progress-17715/