NEW DVDS COMING #51 FOR THE MANGER SCENE

knowing when to quit and try another day?

hi folks , i see myself as able to fix things in a pinch when i have to ,, and sometimes really fixing it for good,, yesterday i walk into the barn, and notice a leak from a tank,, simple enough ...i just had  to plug that hole which i thought was  simple to do ,, i did it before, and thought i would  save ... hiring a plumber,,  lol,, well after two hours later and now its 4am in the morning,   i was frustrated by the fact that it was a simple task that should have worked the first time i attempt to fix it,,  but nope it continued to drip, knowing all to well that the fitting wasnt as tight as it should be, the next morning still thinking this is a still  simple task.....  so...  off to lowes i go,, coming back with a 2 dollar plug ,,  and again nope still leaking ,,  well i tried at least 6 different things to plug it,, short of taking a hammer to the whole thing, i walk away its still leaking,,  i cant figure it out, why this annoyed me so?,,  well i guess it more the fact that i have to pay a plumber to come out to fix it,, and we have a great plumber , i feel his prices are reasonable, but i just trying to save yet another bill,,  and its the fact that i dont know how to fix it  and do i wanted to be able to  ,, its time to call him in the morning which i will do,,,   so why the story ,, well if your carving something that may seem simple but its not working ,, there are times to walk away from it,, and try something different,,   its really ok when things dont work out,,  i gave it my best try today with repairing what i thought was sooo simple,, but maybe at another time i might be able to fix it ,, if i am willing to cut a few pipes and reattach them , but i am not willing to learn what it takes at this time ,, and sometimes with carving your learning level might not be ready for the larger project that might require you do first learn more steps before you attempt your project,,  but i am not saying you should not try,, yes try to carve it but if it becomes frustrating  then its time to step back,, stay with the things that you know and enjoy the level your comfortable with, and then later give it another try,,  keep carving folks, and i leave the plumbing for today for the plumber, maybe next time i will know what to do ,,  or not to do,, take care, arleen

SITTING ( CONE ) SHEEP #10 ( END)

manger scene now with the sheep added

hi folks,, i got the sheep done and this is what it looks like for the manger scene ,, it was fun,, thanks for stopping by,,, keep carving ,arleen

SITTING CONE SHEEP PHOTOS

this project is up on youtube ,, enjoy,, arleen

SITTING ( CONE ) SHEEP #1

next project is the sitting cone sheep to add to the manger scene

hi everyone well the sitting sheep cone is coming soon,, working on it hopefully will get a few videos up tonight,, i dont know how many yet,, i will load the first and last here on my blog  , the rest can been seen on my youtube channel as videos are loaded, this will be the last of the animals to the manger scene and all three , cow , donkey and sheep will be put on a dvd soon,, thanks and enjoy, arleen

carving creatures from kids designs

hi folks, i had their permission to post these for you ,, they made up these creatures and wanted to know if i could carve them,, so this is what they turn out to be,, it was fun,,

carverswoodshop answers your question live on youtube #1 july 23 2012

hi folks this was fun,, i will try to do this every week for about 15 min,  and the next one will be
monday july 30th 2012 at 845 pm    est,,, send your questions to , carverswoodshop@yahoo.com

live broadcasting on youtube,, ohhh my next monday july 23 2012 @845pm

hi folks,, i just tried the feature that allows me to broadcast live on my youtube channel ,, called carverswoodshop...     wow ,, i was a bit nervous,, and not sure what i was doing,, but a friend of mine was on facebook, and said she saw it and indeed it was live!!!,,  lol what is this world coming to and what can come next?   it is a wonder to me,, but it worked,, after i am done with the broadcast,, youtube will load it to my  channel for those that were not able to see it,,     its a little choppy but the audio is great,,  so i will let you know when i will do the next one in advance i will be using it to answer questions that i get on facebook about carving,, and in fact you can send me a question while i am on the air,,,  this will be fun,,  and others that might be watching might have the same questions,, so i plan to do this monday nights starting this coming monday, july 23, 2012  i will be on live at 830pm (est)  for about 15 mins,, hopefully this will work,,     i will give it a shot,, so gather round,, and send some questions you would like to see answered, to carverswoodshop@yahoo.com or you can do if on my facebook page,,  ok see you next monday,, take care and keep carving,,  arleen

pricing your carvings at a craft or woodcarving shows,, ?? ohhh the tough questions

 hi folks, as i was sitting here thinking about craft shows and woodcarving shows, well how do you price your piece,,  some will go by the hour,,,, which many of us do not,, cause no one would be able to afford it...  so how do you price a carving?...   i look at it from a different view point,, its not the amount of hours i put in a piece ,, but  here are questions only you can answer,,

what amount of money would i be willing to part with my carving?  

some folks never sell their carvings  cause they cant part with it,,

i have a few pieces that i feel that way about it,, but when you want to sell your carvings ,, then the next question is is it resonable?  is it affordable?

 i guess the next question would be that i often ask myself,, would i be willing to pay that amount for it?

   if you have a piece that you want to keep then kept it ,,, i never want to feel that i made a mistake selling a piece and if in doubt then dont...... ,, as long as your happy with the end result, these questions only you can answer,,,,, i cant carve  a bunch of stuff in a week, but  it takes months to build inventory for a show,

 i have no desire to do commission work,, i find it stressfull cause the other persons vision of a piece would be different then what the final piece will be, so i just carve what a want, and put it  up for sale, and if it goes great,, if not not a problem,  just take it to the next show,,,  so folks , dont  forget to enjoy carving if you get to sell some of them that is  great,, its the icing on the cake,,  i would have carved it anyway,,  cause i enjoy it,, keep carving , arleen 

some plans for the fall,, and why,,

hi folks,  hope you all are keeping cool and are carving some over the summer,,  as much as i wanted to get up to cherry ridge this past week it was not to be,,  i have  a mass of people ( family) coming from canada,, so far 18 people ,,  to help celebrate our mom's 80th birthday,,,  so as you can see its a milestone for her,, of course we will be eating at the famous shady maple  for her dinner,, everyone that comes from canada enjoys this place,,  so its a big event for us,, so i not use to so many folks coming but lots of cleaning and getting ready,,, so other things had to give a bit,, and one was carving for this week,, but my plans well here we go
in the next few weeks i will start posting my classes that i will hold here at the farm in honey brook,,  in the camper studio,,  some will be a repeat , for those that wanted to join in the past but could not , it will be offered again.
also on some saturdays i will have an open house,  from 12-4 if you like to drop by i will be at my studio,, and plan to have possible monday nights in the future as winter begins,,  so starting sat sept 15th 2012 i plan to be here, so bring a carving your working on,, sit a while and carve a bit,,
i know some of you may be traveling to lancaster and express that they would like to drop by  the camper studio,  which i am always honored and humbled by folks that have asked ,,  so saturdays will be the day,, and some wanted to know if i would have a class on sat ,, which might be possible mid oct,,  i have to work out the details of that yet,,  i will of course keep you posted
i do not plan on doing  as many of the events as i did last year,, and i will give you more details why in my next post,,  so as soon as i have things planed out for the fall you will be sure to see them posted here on the blog, facebook, and youtube,,  thanks folks for watching my videos,, i so enjoy doing them for you ,, take care and keep carving and stay cool,,,, arleen

ebay or esty,, which should you use? and other ways to sell your carvings

hi folks,  welcome back,, this topic is for those that want to sell your carvings,, well i have been selling mine the past year mostly at woodcarving and craft shows,, i plan not to do the shows but a few,, the lancaster woodcarvers show of course, but many i will not attend,,  carving shows are different, and craft shows ,,, well you must be able to get into a well known show for it to work,,   and plus the work to set up at a show,,, its a lot of work,, not only the day but the prep before hand, every show is different . so the way you set up at one show will be different then another,, one show might be outdoors,,  one might be indoors,, i will go more into what you will need for a later topic but for now i am going back to the ebay scene for a while,,  esty is good to but i feel you get more folks looking at your carving at ebay,,  the cost well ebay is higher,, they changed a few things which i think is for the better, they allow 50 free listings per month, and 9% fee after it sells,,  not bad,, but esty is cheaper,  3.5 for the fee, and 20 cents to list it for 4 months,, so thats a great deal,, and dont forget on ebay you must use paypal only,, esty i believe dont quote me i think cks, and money orders are ok,,   so if you sell on ebay,, i figure  at least 12.5 percent for ebay and paypal,,  and you also  have the cost of shipping it, another few bucks , and bringing it to the post office,, the gas,, so make sure your getting the amount you want from your carving,,   esty is cheaper, but will it sell,,  and are you willing to wait,,  some folks do great on esty,,  i will list them on both,,

also  i will list all the carvings  up for sale, on my facebook page called CARVERSWOODSHOP-CREATIONS,,  this is a page just for selling what i have,, , so give it a try ,, list a few things, and remember nothing ventured nothing gain.  keep carving,, arleen

ebay , it's been a while

finally got a few carving on ebay tonight, its been a while ,, i see they changed a few things , i think for the better,, so see how it goes,, i now have good lighting in the camper studio to take a few pictures tonight ,  so ebay will be the way i will sell a few things for a while,  see what happens,,  their new ways look good,, easier to set up a listing,, etc.. well keep carving folks, take care , arleen

THE NORTHEASTER ROUNDUP

hi folks, i have yet to go to this event but felt it was note worthy,,  i hope for those that are able to go that you enjoy your time there,, i hear there is a lot of classes to choose and lots of carvers,, wishing you all a great time together, and enjoy,, for those that would like more information about this event please go the link below,, take care , and keep carving,, maybe i get there next year,, arleen

http://newroundup.webs.com/

SOLAR TURN TABLE DISPLAY FOR THE WOODCARVER

just a correction , it turns 5-8 times per min,, not hour,, take care

A NEAT SOLAR TURN TABLE FOR YOUR CARVINGS

Howdy folks,,  how is everyone doing??  hope your able to get some carving in today,, i been busy getting ready for lots of family to arrive next week, but i ordered this neat little solar  turn table ,, and thought it would be great for a number of things,,  you could use it for displays of your carving at your home, or to display at a carving show or craft fairs,, now,,  it only will hold a small amout,, my 4 to 5 inch carvings work fine on it,,  so there is a limit, it also works in some indoor lighting,  i have got my first one today, thought it was going to be bigger but its fine small and compact,,  i hope you enjoy the photos, and i will post a video of this soon,, take care and keep carving and cool,, arleen

mowers and i dont agree ?

hi folks , frustration is a part of life , that most can to without, but every once in a while it will  happen,, well as most know i am not fond of mowing yards,,  with that said i do enjoy having a yard but mowing is somewhat of a time waster for me,,  more yard the more mowing your going to do,,  last week both my folks mower at the farm, and my mower at home didnt work,, now if i could combine them somehow, one motor is fine and the gears on the other is good,, i would have a perfect mower,, but needless to say it isnt going to happen,, so now its like looking for a car,,  i had both mowers for about 12 years,, so not to much repair on them but i was hoping to get a few more years out of it,,   when mine rider  went down,, well i could not get it here to the farm,, its was a mile away,, so off on the big john deer tractor thinking a chain and i will drag that sucker  back here to the farm,,  well as you know when you have something on a chain,, it does not stop when you do it keeps going,,  knowing this fact i decide to put it as close as possible to the back of the big tractor,, and lo and behold 30 mins later i had it home,, not wanting the experience again,, when i got it home lo and behold the gears worked again in the rider ,, i waited a week due to the heat wave, and the one mower was running,,  i drove it back to my home and about half way ,, well it needed  to rest again gears were out again ,, so i may have to go get it again with the big tractor,,  frustrated , knowing i have lots of family coming in about 12 days, wanting things to be cleaned up,, and now its time to price a new rider,,  well,,  i always had frustrations with mowers,,  now i know what i want in one,  just that it will cut  and work when i want it to,,  but i think today is a good day just to put the mowing aside, relax with that block of wood,, and a knife,, then i can handle the frustrations,,   yes its fixable,,  yes there are others things much worse, but i just wanted to get the yards done,, well not today,, there is always tomorrow,, now where is that block of wood i can hack at for a while:)

SITTING CONE COW #9 (END)

cone nativity scene

SITTING CONE COW, PHOTOS

the last video of this project will be up later tonight thanks for stopping by,  arleen

ok i going to try it ? google plus or facebook? just what we all need more time on the puter LOL

hi folks, i just joined the google plus yesterday,, of course i felt i had to look into it otherwise if this does take off i will be left in the dust,, but what is it you ask ??well,  its like facebook but its called google +   plus,,   google is the creator of it , i decided to use it cause most of what i do is on google, this blog is google,  youtube , and my browser is also google chrome ,,  which i enjoy all of it , the blog, youtube , browser etc, so i thought i give this a shot,,
now to answer some of the questions,, no i have not figure out all the stuff they offer on google plus yet,, i have  only been on it for a day or so,, but like all things it takes time,, a lot like carving  lol  not in one day but it will be days before i feel ok with knowing what i am doing,,    i have a feeling that its just going to take folks more time to learn something new again that we all ready have, but at the same time if it becomes big well you dont want to miss out either,,  so here i go,, more time on the puter less time carving , and hopefully if what ever that facebook is lacking and google is providing, i am sure facebook will try to fix it,, otherwise they will be left in the dust,,   so having to major companies is a good thing it forces the other to improve what they have, to get the business , so who knows, just like twitter, i have it but do not use it at all,,  so i will see about google plus at least i have to give it a shot,, and the coming days will let me know if its worth it or not,  i guess i will  just have  post on both, for those that leave facebook  and went to  google plus,,  ,  take care folks and keep carving

SITTING CONE COW #1

hi folks another project for our nativity scene,, a cow,, total videos will be 9  i have yet to paint her,,  i do that tomorrow sometime,, only two videos are up the first and last will be listed here  here

HOW TO USE A COLOR WHEEL FOR THE WOODCARVER

intense heat called for tomorrow , just stay inside

hi folks , as most of the usa is in this heat wave tomorrow they are calling for 101 degrees , and a heat index of 105-110   so i going to stay in ,, in fact i was going to mow the yard tonight but the heat was still nasty at 8pm,, so i will wait it will not grow anyway in this intense heat,,  well folks carve if you can ,, keep cool,  wow to think of the days past when we had farm chore in this weather, but we did...  i know the heat is something i never care for ever,,,   sorry i like to cooler to freezing weather over this,, lol well at least i know this will not last all year just for a few months, of the year,,  i believe this is our second heat wave of the season,,  and more to come i am sure,, take care and keep carving ,, arleen
ps ck on your pets and also your elderly :)

a tad hot today ,,,,,,

hi folks ,, hope most of you are in air conditioning today.. the heat in pa is no much different then the rest of the country,, its just hot,,, i was able to set up a table outside,  for selling my carving , well needless to say i only could stand the heat it 130 today,, it was 92 ,, i was mostly in the sun,, but i did get to chat with some folks,, and know better what i need the next time i go,,  got a couple of the branch santa ornaments done,, i had to battery operated fans on me,, which was good up to a point,, i knew that i would not be there the whole day , but it was a good venture to do all the same,,  yes i am exhausted, the heat is one thing i cant handle to well, the cold yes the heat no.....  also no one wanted to chat for any length of time due to the heat so sales were not to be today,, which is ok,, i sure understand folks wanting to go inside to get out of the heat,, so i have another day plan for this month in the same location, weather permitting,,    well keep cool folks and carve a bit ,, in the air condition area of course,, take care , arleen

how to get folks to your youtube channel ( for your hobby or business )#2

what more could i offer?

hi folks,, as i looked around my town,, the mall is still empty,, many small business around closing their doors,, and i wondered what would have help them to keep going,, well customers of course but what could they have done more to keep folks coming to their business,,
i have always enjoyed and found it interesting how businesses start and grow, and become successful..
i guess some of that was the fact that i had a few different businesses, and they all served a purpose at the time,, but i also understand that things change and some businesses are no longer needed, one example  is the video  movie rental stores,, many of us can go and get a movie right from the internet, or red box,  so those old video stores are no longer needed,, now i not taking about the stores that sell videos that you keep like fyi stores,  etc,  but the rental videos are not  needed as before,, there is nothing you can do other then to make your business fit the changing times,,, 
but if you do have a business, and you want to reach folks for free,   well then the youtube , facebook, blogs are a great place to do so,,   i  have youtube. for  my hobby of woodcarving,  but i learn a lot from my youtube channel ,,  so  i decided to put together a couple of videos to show you how to get folks to come to your channel,  and watch your videos,,  and why this one thing can make the difference from your business then another,,  i am not a market person, i am not into advertising, but i am a person that knows what it is like to have your own business, time it takes to build it,, and also i  knew when times have changed in a business ... it was time to do something else?  do you know when to quit or change your business when its time to do so?  well what i will show you in the videos is free information, as all my videos are,  and use them to help your business to let folks know who you are, and how you can help them,,  so the videos are not going to be about carving, but i will start another  carving project soon, take care folks and keep carving, arleen  

sitting donkey finish photos,,

SITTING CONE DONKEY #13 ( END)