I am heading off to Bali to be a carving student with Mask carver IDA BAGUS ANOM SURYAWAN. Upper left mask is a traditional Balinese mask by Anom. Below that is my first Bali Style mask that I did with some assistance from Anom. The other two are Bali style masks that I did on my own. I have no idea what I will be carving while I am in Bali. Maybe it will be more of the traditional style and maybe more Sheri style.
One of my favorite teaching assignments is to teach multi generations. In January Dave's wife, daughter and several female family members made the trip to DC to join the Women's march after the inauguration. While the Women folk were off marching Dave and his son Chris and Grandson Zachary joined him for the day carving. I loved having the family carving together.
Welcome to new Grapes and Leaves graduate, Owen.
Lee's look of surprise is perhaps because she thought she would never finish the Grapes and Leaves. She did and it looks good.
Sasha finished his grapes and leaves in two weeks. He is a natural at carving.
Devon made this case in a local makers' workshop but did a massive amount of wood-burning in the carving studio. He also made a beautiful ribbon maple handle.
The kids class at the Randall After school class are an amazing bunch this time. They all finished their flower carving and are carving bowls, spoons, sporks and fish.
Tim is carving fish for a fish rattle. Knife work is a more advanced skill and he is handling it like a pro.
Ronan is a returning student at the Randall Kids carving class and has been working really hard on his totem/Tiki pole. I am so proud of how his skill level has just continued to increase. Good Job! It is a really challenging project.
More wood-burning by Echo.
I was asked to carve letters to go above the plaque I carved last year. It was fun to revisit an old piece and see that it was doing okay.
I have been doing several rush jobs for some fraternity groups. It is always challenging and fun. You should have seen me flipping the 4'x8' sheets of plywood around on my bench and I only cut into the bench once.
Now picture me doing this in a lovely tropical setting. I'm off to carve in Bali for 2 weeks.