Welcome to some of the new Grapes and Leaves grads.
Lorraine finished this piece. The story behind this one is that the director of the hospital where the large "St. Clare Healing a Child" lives liked it so much he kept it in his office. When he retired Lorraine carve this for him as his own piece. Now the original piece can be in an area where everyone can enjoy it.
Then she starts another one. Lorraine got this piece of Elm that was from one of my teacher's students. It must be 35 years old and there was still a drawing that Ben Shaw had sketched out for his student John. It is hard, hard, hard and beautiful.
Doug made a trip to Japan and brought back this beautiful carving. It is so delicate and beautiful. A masterful combination of tool marks and detail.
Twiggy joined us from the Randall Museum class. She carved her Grapes and Leaves and then carved this beautiful mask. it was her very first Mask and she did a wonderful job of adding texture (gun checkering tools) and color.
Another Randall Museum class project. This is a lovely Alder bowl.
Elena finished her cat carving.
Joy finished her Mermaid mask carved in Basswood. She used some stone spheres for the eyes so when it is held up to the light they have a soft glow. She was inspired with the color and it is hard to even tell this is a wood piece. It has a look of ancient metal.
Radhika loved carving this plum abstract so much that when she finished she started a second one that is way bigger. Can't wait to see how it turns out.
Rise carved this staff from Birch. She left some of the bark on as random rings. The top and bottom were capped with copper and she added occasional "dots" of copper by drilling and inserting heavy copper wire.
Dave just finished his Spruce fish. Not too long ago this was a log he brought into the studio. It is a lovely piece.
Dave just finished his Spruce fish. Not too long ago this was a log he brought into the studio. It is a lovely piece.
Not all carving are big. Michael brought in this sweet foot that he is carving.
I did a little bit of playing around. I carved this light sconce from Jelutong and added the glass eyes that were left over from the Treeman project. This piece now lives in my bathroom and greets me every morning reminding me to carve for fun as much as possible.
With all of the going through "stuff" it brings up old memories. I have been remembering my teacher, Ben Shaw. He was a remarkable man.
Part of dealing with ending my cabinetmaking business is having to deal with things that I stored at the cabinet shop. One of them is a teak coffee table that I made 35 years ago when I worked at the Teak Hot Tub factory. It was well used with rings, stains and scratches but the wood underneath was beautiful.
After spending the weekend sanding and scraping the Teak coffee table now has a new life as a desk top.
Another end of an era project. This gorgeous 52" x 58" x 2.5" piece of old growth ripple grain Redwood used to be a dusty, scratched lunch room table at the cabinet shop. After lots of sanding and scraping it now has a new life as my headboard. Makes me smile.