a bit more work on the tree bear ornament

hi folks sometimes i change my mind on how to finish a carving, today is one of those days, i decided i will wood burn the fur on the bear, you dont have to do this , its just something that i wanted to do to give it more detail, it should be done in a day or two, our company will be leaving in the morning, and then i will find the time to paint, well i best get going, take care and happy carving, arleen

TREE BEAR ORNAMENT #7

almost done with the carving of this project, its been fun

things aren't always what you think they are,,,,, i was fooled

hi folks, we each are fooled sometime in life, lol and my day was today,

i found some wood where i worked, and put it aside , and put a note on it if i could have it, about a week later i got the ok to go ahead and take it home, i thought it was butternut, it looked like it and so i drag it home, looking forward to carving maybe for some christmas ornaments, lol well to my surprise it was not butternut, it was a veneer butternut over the same butternut particle board, cause i looked at the end it , and it was the same color, until i had cut it on a bandsaw that i realized it was not what i thought it was..... so now what do i do with it , i cant carve it but it will be some nice shelving somewhere around my home, so live and learn , things arent always what you think they are, happy carving everyone, arleen

TREE BEAR ORNAMENT #1

what a difference one day makes,,,,,,, what do you do?

yesterday was a difficult day for me, in fact the week was not great, i had some news about someone that was not good, but the point being, today, that same news that i thought was so bad really wasnt as bad as i thought, the information given was not correct, but yet it made me very sad indeed.
what do i do when i get bad news, well one i pray, and then pray some more, once the shock of the news, then the questions, then i pray, i learn i cant change what happens in life, but i also know that i can call someone that cares, in my discussion with a friend, i said i really dont know how folks handle bad news, when they dont have faith, how much harder it must be for them, i can always count on a listening ear, and know the one that has everything in control, and all i have to do is accept that fact,
i do carve when i need my mind to be busy, its a wonderful way to past the time, and to create as well, i dont know many of you , but that you read this blog cause you like to carve, i hope that your as blessed as me that no matter what happens, i have faith, family and friends and a good piece of wood to whittle, makes it all seem a bit easier, take care folks, arleen

bandsaws and christmas ornaments,

hi folks , i going to do what is called a tree/bear ornament, this project will be interesting cause you can use the pattern for many things, you may want to create your own design, i will explain this once i start the project on youtube, the smaller bandsaw i have is to small to cut it out , so i will have to go to the farm and get the that bandsaw fixed, this is the first time i ever had a blade snap on me in 30 years of cutting stuff out, but i guess there is a first time for everything, i have to go down now and fix it so i can start this project , so i will have something going soon, mom has a huge picnic for her church this afternoon, which i help out very year so it maybe wont be till this weekend, ok folks keep carving, arleen

time for another project,?? christmas already???

hi everyone, the past couple of weeks have been very busy, with the farm and working and getting ready for another round of company from canada, as you can see summer is busy like it is for most folks. as i was finishing the last project of the ducky's first plunge, i thought that christmas will be here before you know it, lol , i know that sounds terrible to alot of you but i know that if i dont start carving the stuff now it will not get done, i used to carve my santa's all year long, but as i got busy with the youtube channel, well all i can say is that i didnt have the time, i will be doing another project soon of a christmas ornament, and maybe a couple of different ones plus i might have a new santa in mind, hmmmm i will have to go to the drawing board for that one, but the ornament i already have the pattern,, just a matter of cutting it out and having the time to do it, hope you all have a great week, it's going to be way to hot for me, near 95-98 thur, i dont like summer , the heat is not my friend, the hay was done last week, and the amish got about 400 bales, thought it be alot more, lol its never as you think it would be, well off to get some more things done around my home, take care and happy carving, and stay cool, arleen

DUCKYS FIRST PLUNGE #18 (END)

WINNER OF THE DVD GIVEAWAY JUNE 2OTH IS AMY, CONGRATS

thanks for entering the monthly dvd giveaway, and if you like to join please just email me and put on the subject line DVD GIVEAWAY and i will be happy to enter you for the year, open for those in the usa and canada only , sorry only region 1 thanks arleen

DUCKY'S FIRST PLUNGE #17

woodburning done on ducky's first plunge

howdy folks, i just wanted you to see how the woodburning looks on this duck, now you have a couple of choices how to finish him, you could just do the woodburning, and then seal it and paint the eyes brown, or seal it and paint the whole duck, with yellow , brown and white, it depends you what kind of finish you would like, i like it this way but i most likely will paint it, here are a few pics for you to see the detail, enjoy, plus i will have a video on this too on my youtube channel, www.youtube.com/carverswoodshop enjoy, arleen

woodburning done on ducky's first plunge

howdy folks, i just wanted you to see how the woodburning looks on this duck, now you have a couple of choices how to finish him, you could just do the woodburning, and then seal it and paint the eyes brown, or seal it and paint the whole duck, with yellow , brown and white, it depends you what kind of finish you would like, i like it this way but i most likely will paint it, here are a few pics for you to see the detail, enjoy, plus i will have a video on this too on my youtube channel, www.youtube.com/carverswoodshop enjoy, arleen

next dvd giveaway drawing will be SUNDAY JUNE 20TH

if your new , the next drawing will be june 20th, sunday,,, if you like to enter just email me at the carverswooshop@yahoo.com and put in the subject line DVD GIVEAWAY and you will be entered for the rest of this year 2010 , good luck, arleen

summer is a slower time, hopefully i will have the duck finished

hi folks, i know its been a bit slower with the videos coming to the youtube channel, i hope to get the duckys first plunge done this week, life is getting in the way, but no complaints, just very busy, with filling in at work for those that are on vacations, the show , and some other appointments. i hope your all having a good summer of carving, the amish guy has yet to bale the hay that he cut a couple of days ago, its been very damp out so drying it will take a bit longer, need to repair some things around the farm, and as always the lawns have to be cut again, so keep carving, enjoy the summer, and i get this little duck done soon, thanks so much for stopping by here on my blog, take care and happy carving, arleen

MAKING A STROP WITH CARDBOARD

this is a better post, of the video , this one is from youtube, i decided it was easier to see, thanks folks enjoy your weekend, arleen

well the first cutting of hay by the amish this year,

well some of you know that i am a farmer, and my dad was a farmer all his life, my dad and i worked side by side for over 27 years together, and i learn alot from him, we raised hundreds of calves, today there is a part of me that misses the daily feeding we use to do , it was very morning and every night , sad to say that part of farming came to an end.... and it took me about two years to get out of the feeling that i had to go the the do chores morning and night, there are some things i miss and some things i dont, i dont miss the stress farming was, and any of you that farmed understand this, you never knew what you were going to make in that year, some years was good and many more were not, i often shake my head today to think of the risk of farming in feed, cattle, etc we use to have, today i would not even think of going back to it, in the way it was back then,,,, but today we still have the farm, and sooo thankful we do, we still hay the fields and do some animals, but nothing like what we did in the past, farming is a business and family business, farming was not a stress free life, alot of worries that most folks will never know unless you farmed,
i will never regret that i did the farm, i loved the animals, and i knew that i was one of very special group of people that can claim that we are farmers, i was proud to be a farmer, and sad that now that i am older that we could not continue to farm as we did, just like many of you that understood what it was like to lose money in the stock market , we had that experience often , some years we did ok and others we did not, so now the amish folks are cutting our fields for hay, they came today, and its good to see good use of the field, we bale hay very year, and hopefully the first cut will give us 800 bales, we will see, but at least the farm is here and the hay will feed many animals, i was so thankful that we understood that farming of the past would not give us the living we had in the past and decided to slow it down, so that we could keep the farm, but many farmers continued to farm weather they lost money or not, always believing that the next year would be better, we did too, but sometimes it learning when to change directions, or to sell the farm all together, so we went into a different direction, slowing it down was not only the right thing to do it was the only thing to do, the lord blessed my family, and today we still have it, so no complaints, just thankful for all the grace that we had to work as we did, and i will be forever grateful not only for the chance to do what many never did, but also grateful that other doors open when one closed, little farming now, a couple of side businesses, and working off the farm, one thing i learned long ago, i am never in control and farming nothing was in my control,,,, but thankful i know the one that is , happy carving, arleen

MAKING A STROP WITH CARDBOARD

what one can learn at a carving show, making of a strop, with cardboard, ??? we will see

hi folks i didnt think going to the carving show that i would learn as much as i did, it doesn't matter how long you been carving you can always learn something, i learned how to make a strop out of card board, i haven't tried it but i will and give you the details and results later, now the cardboard is hard what you use from a tablet you know the cardboard on the back of the tablet, i will find one tomorrow and put some compound on it and i will let you know the results, it was interesting, i just have not had the time to get round to finding what i need, but it might be a way for some of you that dont have access to leather,,, i was told that it was glued to a wooden board , just like a regular strop, so i cant wait to put one together, nice thing about it , its a super cheap way to make one and you can make more than one with different compounds of your liking, but we will see how it work, i be back in a few days to let you know. happy carving, arleen

DUCKY'S FIRST PLUNGE #10

back carving the ducky's first plung, enjoy

why the chipmunk winner , was more meaning full to me than the eagle,

hi folks i like to explain what i mean with the title, first both winners meant a great deal to me, but the chipmunk had more meaning to me, and the reason is it was a piece i was ready to chuck out the window, when i saw all the ckecks in the wood, ( cracks ) plus painting it was more work then normal for me, i never woodburned a piece after painting it, so i had a lot of things that went wrong with it, and to my surprise it became a winner,

so what did i learn , a few things i think every woodcarver should keep in mind,

one dont quit on a piece that is not working out, just find a way to correct it,

two, and learn from your mistakes

i learned that i put way to much of the spray to soften the wood up, ( water and alcohol mix) i got carried away with it , and the cracks appear, .. decided i could use this as a learning tool on the video and how to patch it, and so i had to decide then should i let folks know of my mistake or start the carving over along with the video ???, i decided to continue to video tape it anyway, so the video dvd and on youtube of the chipmunk is the piece that won at the show, mistakes and all, nothing hidden, but for all carvers to understand mistakes happens to all of us...but how we chose to do to correct it ! and now i am very happy that i continue to work on it and finished it.

and maybe i learned something even more on a spiritual side that we arent perfect and he that created us is always correcting something, but in the end we will be his first prise,,, that he doesnt chuck us aside, no matter who we are or what we done, and that my friends is the peace i have, that he that started the good work in you will complete it,,,,, take care and happy carving , arleen

LANCASTER COUNTY WOODCARVING SHOW 2010 #5

lancaster show of 2010 is now history, it was a good show and some thoughts,

hi folks i got home a bit ago, and the show is now history, it was a good show and looking forward to it again next year, i have to be very honest with my readers and fellow carvers, it was a perfect show for me ,, it was close to home, i knew a lot of the carvers there, and i at home there, plus winning the two blue ribbons, was the icing on the cake for me, i first want to thank andy, pete, jacob, and the countless others that put this show together, so much work for a couple of days, but folks they did the hard work, THANK YOU ALL,

i will post a couple of pics yet and two more videos, first the video of tom which i interviewed last year, he was so kind to allow me to do so again, he talks about relief carving which i thought some of you might enjoy seeing,

the second video was the american cane club, and mike tells us about the club and what they working on, very interesting, since i do not to canes ( lol not yet lol watch out but it wont fit in my video len lol ) and those of you that do will be sure to enjoy it,

i did try to get different types of carving in the videos from the show, it was a great time for me to learn some things i didnt know, yes after 30 years of carving i am still learning, in the next few blogs i will share with you what i learned and you might find interesting, how to seal the canes when its green, what one carver use for a strop, and how a man fixed a long crack in a cane, i will do my best to remember, plus my thoughts on how you can help promote woodcarving, so check in i will have more to blog later, thanks for joining me , happy carving to ya god bless , arleen

LANCASTER COUNTY WOODCAVRING SHOW 2010 #1

two more on my youtube channel, one about a vendor and tools, the other about judging, enjoy arleen

first some photos, will get more hopefully tomorrow , enjoy

well its been a great day at the carving show, videos and photos, are coming soon

hi folks, i had amazing day today, i met some of my fellow youtube followers at the show, i was so honored when they made a point of coming to the show and to see me, i was truly humbled, it was wonderful to see faces that emailed me, there is something the is great to be able to met folks ,, hey they are REAL lol, there is alot of negative things on the net but some good things and people too, i want those who took their time to come the show, and to stop and chat with me, a big THANK YOU to you from me, it made all the work so much more worth it for me... i hope to see many of you again at either this show or other shows i am planning to go to this year and next,

another wonderful surprise was that i decided to enter a couple of my carvings i did on youtube, so i entered the american eagle and the chipmunk, and the both won the blue ( first ) it really was a wonderful day, later i will explain to you about the chipmunk, and what i meant to me to have it win a first place ribbon, and what we can learn from it,,,,,,, well i have one more day and i hoping it will be another great day, here is the photos of the two that won today, happy and safe carving to you all, God is truly good, take care arleen

will finish DUCKY'S FIRST PLUNGE after the show

hi folks , thanks again for stopping by, i will have updates of the show online on my facebook group carverswoodshop, or here, and hopefully a video or two, on youtube, take care and you all have a great , safe , happy carving weekend, arleen

more videos up today, ducky's first plunge , up to #6

howdy folks, as i get ready for the show, there always seems to be just one more thing i have to do or remember, i think i can relax when i have the table set up, on sat morning, i dont know how these folks that go from show to show, i guess they have a system which i beginning to have one myself, boxes that are marked etc, and i got use to making lists, it helped me a great deal when i traveled the past few years ... that way when you leave home , your not second guessing yourself did i do this or that, it really does give you that sense that everything is done, and you didnt miss anything, now every time i travel or have something important to do, a new list begins,, lol i dont know if that is part of getting older, or just being wise, maybe both older and wiser, lol

so now i even do it for everyday stuff, it just nice to see a list that everyting is checked off, lol

well folks enjoy your weekend coming, i plan to send some photos of the show both on fb and my blog and a video or two,,, so tune in sat and sunday, i will try to get some updates during the show, take care arleen

DUCKY'S FIRST PLUNGE #1

hi folks this is the first of two videos that are on youtube, enjoy, arleen

BABY IN A PEAPOD #9 ( END) and the next project coming up DUCKY'S FIRST PLUNGE , a shelf sitter

hi folks, i now have the BABY IN A PEA POD finished, now the next project , i have two videos to load today, so that will be up sometime today, i was ask if i could do a animal shelf sitter, which i came up with DUCKY'S FIRST PLUNGE, thought it might be fun to do, i made a pattern , and started last night, so some new things coming for sure, i already have another project that is in the works after this one is done, i will make a dvd of the BABY IN A PEA POD and DUCKY'S FIRST PLUNGE, once i complete the ducky's project, hope you are all enjoying some carving outside these days, i know its getting hot, i have to admit that i enjoy carving indoors when it gets to warm, but its nice to sit out on the deck in the evening, and carve, i try to enjoy those times the most cause most of the time i am with family or friends just chatting and carving away, happy carving , arleen