He looks to me a little like a Fergus, but hey, he doesn't live with me anymore.
He is now living with Heather Hedger in her new pad.
Monday, 20 July 2015
Fergus
This little chap never did get a name so I guess it's up to Heather to name him.
He looks to me a little like a Fergus, but hey, he doesn't live with me anymore.
He is now living with Heather Hedger in her new pad.
He looks to me a little like a Fergus, but hey, he doesn't live with me anymore.
He is now living with Heather Hedger in her new pad.
Hector the House Mouse has a new home
Every home should have it's mouse and Hector has now gone to live with Ryan and Bryony Hedger. He's carved from apple and I loved carving him... now working on a couple of more house mice... watch this space..
Tuesday, 7 July 2015
Batch production or One-offs
It's funny, but with any type of carving, such as spoon carving, caracature carving etc.. It is really easy to get sucked into a habit of carving lots of very similar things.
For carvers who sell their work on craft stalls or in shops this is often not just a good thing but positively necessary. A spoon carver for example needs to be able to carve a high volume of stuff in order to sell at a reasonable price. This demands practise and the discipline to stick with many versions of largely the same design, batch production.
I have a massive amount of respect for those people who find it easy to do this. I don't have the necessary attention span to carve multiples of one design, I get bored. Some might say that is a good thing as it adds to the sense of uniqueness of each piece. I suppose I would generally agree with that sentiment. Anyway my way works for me but it does mean that all of my carvings are one offs. That means they tend to take a bit longer though since they also do not tend to start from a pre-designed template.
I suppose also it means that almost all of my carvings are done with somebody in mind, sort of like personal commissions. The wood-turner mouse in my earlier post that I carved for my dad is a classic example of that. Sometimes I carve, just to try out a new idea or to try out a new knife to see how it performs.
Many of my "try-outs" end up with "The Babe", my darling Tracey. They may not have originally been meant for her but she has this knack of appropriating any prototype or first try-out. I recently did a little elephant for our friend Sheila who has a real thing about them. Before carving Sheila's I did a couple of really small ones to get a feel for the shape I wanted, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where they ended up...
It's a really good job that Trace doesn't like knives or I'd never get to use any of my prototype blades.
For carvers who sell their work on craft stalls or in shops this is often not just a good thing but positively necessary. A spoon carver for example needs to be able to carve a high volume of stuff in order to sell at a reasonable price. This demands practise and the discipline to stick with many versions of largely the same design, batch production.
I have a massive amount of respect for those people who find it easy to do this. I don't have the necessary attention span to carve multiples of one design, I get bored. Some might say that is a good thing as it adds to the sense of uniqueness of each piece. I suppose I would generally agree with that sentiment. Anyway my way works for me but it does mean that all of my carvings are one offs. That means they tend to take a bit longer though since they also do not tend to start from a pre-designed template.
I suppose also it means that almost all of my carvings are done with somebody in mind, sort of like personal commissions. The wood-turner mouse in my earlier post that I carved for my dad is a classic example of that. Sometimes I carve, just to try out a new idea or to try out a new knife to see how it performs.
Many of my "try-outs" end up with "The Babe", my darling Tracey. They may not have originally been meant for her but she has this knack of appropriating any prototype or first try-out. I recently did a little elephant for our friend Sheila who has a real thing about them. Before carving Sheila's I did a couple of really small ones to get a feel for the shape I wanted, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where they ended up...
It's a really good job that Trace doesn't like knives or I'd never get to use any of my prototype blades.
Back in my comfort zone
I've recently gone back to carving the kind of things I love. Whimsical animals, well to be precise,
Mice.
Over the years I've done a lot of mice for various people. They are usually just whittles as I walk along, often out with friends or walking the dog. One mouse has sat on the mantle at my friends' Ron and Tina's for over ten years. I carved him whilst out cor a walk in their local woods near Barton Stacey where they live. He is a simple and rather rough little chap carved from sweet chestnut found in the woods.
Another is in boxwood and sits on Tom and Janet's kitchen window sill, again a walking the dog type whittle.
I did a much more involved mouse for my dad while he was still wood-turning and he used to display him on the "East Surrey Wood-turners" stall because a mouse was his trademark.
More recently I've tended to do mice when I'm really not in the mood to carve anything more demanding and just want some carving therapy.
Mice.
 |
| Dad's little wood-turner mouse |
Another is in boxwood and sits on Tom and Janet's kitchen window sill, again a walking the dog type whittle.
I did a much more involved mouse for my dad while he was still wood-turning and he used to display him on the "East Surrey Wood-turners" stall because a mouse was his trademark.
More recently I've tended to do mice when I'm really not in the mood to carve anything more demanding and just want some carving therapy.
Little "Valentine Mouse" (below) was a simple little Valentine's present for My Darling wife Trace.
 |
| Valentine Mouse |
During a recent visit Ron and Tina mentioned again my little mouse and their daughter Heather mentioned that she would like one, which kind of got me to thinking. It takes me about three hours to do a fairly reasonable mouse and It might be kind of nice to leave a mouse with people I visit. I left "Harry the House Mouse" with the couple I stayed with last week and I've got another couple on the way. One for Ryan, (Ron's son) whose wedding I'm going to in a couple of weeks and another for Heather...
I'm beginning to think that every house should have it's mouse....
This is "Felix, the fast mouse" who will be going to live with Heather in her new home soon..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)