HURRICANE SANDY,, hmmm

hi folks sorry its taking so long to get the reindeer finished, i started it before i left for michigan and now with the storm , was so super busy getting things put away here at the farm and at my home,, so much going on,,  i will try to get it done later this week,, lol i think i said that last week,,   well anyway,, the mich trip was super, the show was great, not a lot of folks but it was a nice crowd all the same,,,
the storm is getting stronger, here ,we have some hours to go before its over,,  lots of rain, and some winds so far about 40 mph,,   i been in the camper/studio ,,, but so far i dont even feel the wind shaking it,, which i thought it might,,   someone told me since i put it up on some blocks it will not rock so that is a good way to secure it i guess,,  i know alot of folks are having water issues,, so its going to be a long night,
keep well and safe to all you folks on the east coast,, this too shall pass,, take care, arleen

SANTAS REINDEER #1

hi folks, there are so far 12 video clips of this project, i will not be able to finish this till this weekend,, thanks and enjoy,, arleen

FRANKENMUTH WOODCARVING SHOW 2012 #3

this video was special to me,, thanks to all that took the time to help me make these videos,, total of three of the frankenmuth show,, enjoy,, arleen

an easy solution to finish the manger scene

today i went to the store tree and found this little manger , for a buck how can you go wrong, took it  and put one of my stars on the top,, i think it looks fine, and happy with it ,, its a nice finish ,  ok here is the photo of it

FRANKENMUTH WOODCARVING SHOW oct 22 2012 , i plan to be there

SORRY FOLKS THIS SHOW IS SUNDAY OCT 21  NOT THE 2OTH,, OK TAKE CARE , ARLEEN

lucy the little kitten at the farm

here is calvins new friend , sorta of lol, they get along ok,,  this is lucy,, sweet little cat at the farm

the apple fest show is behind me , and frankenmuth woodcarving show coming up next wee

hi folks, i had a great time at the apple fest , it was a last min decision to go.  the thought of setting up the big white tent , was a bit overwhelming to me with trying to get some work done here around my home and farm,,, but i went,, it was a very cold morning, i was out the door by 5am and setup by 630 and they open at 7am,,  the temps was 32 till about 10am this morning, the car was close enough to hop in the car to warm up a bit, and my normal big display was very small,,  i did not take all the videos with me, as you do shows , every show is different, and you can adjust what you bring along, , in the photo the other table that you do not see are some of the videos and carvings just let folks see what i do on youtube,,   there is a lot of interest in carving in general,, which always makes it worth to me to set up,, sold a lot of carvings, the christmas pickles were a hit again this year , about sold out of them lol   ,  so please if you get a chance to do a show do so,, yes its alot of work , some things you learn along the way , what to bring and what sells, at which shows,, the only thing i didnt think of was the smaller tent was 6x6 with no sides,  it was to short, when i stood to chat with people well could not see them,, lol so i sat down to carve and that brings folks around to see what your doing, esp kids,,  seem to enjoy it and asked many questions,  it was a good day, also i was able to meet a couple that followed me on youtube for some time, they came a long distance to a wedding and came up in this area for a few days, and came to see me at the apple fest, what a treat, to meet folks that i know only by name on facebook ,or by emails,, so overall the day was great,

now i am planning on the frankenmuth show in mich on oct 20th , i done this show before, and look forward to going, it will again not be the set up like i would have here in lancaster due to the lack of room in the car,, but i plan to have a great time all the same and hopefully meet some of you there ,, take care and keep carving

SITLL at it, one more to go

hi folks, i didnt realize how much work i had to do before i got to painting the house, alot of repair and some replacing patches of the cedar siding,, i always love cedar but to maintain it ,,,,, well its work,, the rain we had the past few weeks, has me a little behind where i thought i would be,, but that seems to be most things that we work on , it always takes longer than we think,   but at least i keep moving along,, i was not going to go tomorrow to the apple fest so that i could stay home to continue, but you know what time is to short , not to enjoy some things in  life,,   after this wall is done then one more to go,, another week or two it should be done,, like carving i just keep at it ,,  keep carving folks

apple fest tomorrow, and frankenmuth show in a week, no open house till oct27

hi folks today i sign up to be a vendor at the hay creek apple fest north of morgantown,, its outside and its to be super cold in the morning, i will be there about 530 to set up,, and see how it goes ,, last year it was a nice time,,  so my next open house will be oct 27th 12-5pm   ok folks time to pack the car,, take care and have a nice weekend , then next week oct 20th  i will be at the frankenmuth show in mick , keep carving ,

CONE MRS CLAUS #16 (END)

FINISHED CONE MRS CLAUS ,, PHOTOS

CONE MRS CLAUS #1

HI EVERYONE, HERE WE GO, the first and last videos will be on facebook the rest will be on my youtube channel,,  total videos i believe will be 16 video clips , i have the last one to tape after i am done painting it later today,, thanks and enjoy,,  arleen

new project coming cone mrs claus

ok folks what is coming up is a new project a request to make a mrs claus so i am done with carving it , now to clean it up for a day and paint it,, so i will post the new project called cone mrs claus 14 videos total for this project, coming up hopefully starting tomorrow

woodcarving lessons, private,,

hi folks some of you asked if i do private instruction of woodcarving, yes i do,, i have  email some of you about it but i think it is time to put it out there for those that would like to know the cost, etc so here i go,,
i know many of you are not able to attend a class when its posted ,  due to work and family commitments ,,  which i sure understand,  but also i find some folks prefer , esp beginners to have the one on one instruction  so i will begin to set time aside for this,, i will have normally afternoons and evenings open,, or sat mornings ok,,,,   sorry no sundays,,  i always reserve that day to the lord and my family.
min of 2 hours ,, i find by the time you sit down , and chat a bit, mins can go quickly,,  so the instructions are 2 hours long,, i find most folks that begin, two hours is enough  and  to stop to give them a break,,
cost is 35.00  for two hours,   when someone just needs a few things help with then that is when my open house sat afternoon comes in,,  its a time to catch up on a class your taking and were not  able to finish,, and also sometimes a classroom of 4-6 people some folks are going to be quicker to finish their projects,, also the open house is a chance for you to bring along questions that you may have about wood carving, or sharpening painting etc  .
i only sell some blanks for the cone projects when i have a class, or dvds,  sorry i do not sell any tools , but don does at his shop in lancaster, and he will be happy to help you and his prices are fair,,  so be sure to ck with him if you need wood or tools,, he is part of the lancaster county woodcarving club, here is information if you need to contact him,, he does not have a website but an email and the good old fashion thing called a telephone, to contact him,, lol   and i dont get a kickback from him,, just glad to have folks get the right stuff to carve,, so be sure to call him for any of your carving needs ,, here is my number 484-364-0471 or email me at carverswoodshop@yahoo.com


hillcrest carving
3540 Marietta Avenue Lancaster, PA 17601
(717) 285-7117
  carvingtherapy@gmail.com

thanks , and keep carving,, arleen

JUST HAVING FUN,, :) smaller projects

howdy folks,, i so enjoyed making the cone chef  last week,, i was so happy how he looked at the end, and   every so often,, i take delight in carving something new,,,  and this project was in my head that morning, and by evening i had most of it carved,  those are the projects that bring joy to carving,, its not a long project but a simple one,, not days of how am i going to do this but hours,,  sometimes for me , these out of the blue projects tend to be the most rewarding,..  you can take a simple project and it can bring a new added joy to your carvings,  
many of us plan ahead for project that are big, and very detailed,  i notice that when we had our bring and brag time at our lancaster woodcarving meeting,, my carving were small,, compared to the larger projects that it sat along on the table,,  we have some wonderful talented carvers in our group,,,   but mine were tiny.,   i had to think ,, i use to do bigger projects, but not so much since i video tape many of them for my youtube channel,,  smaller seems to be more to my liking then carving anything that is large,, not saying that i would not like to do a larger piece from time to time,,  i plan to ,, but for now i am happy with the smaller ones,,   for a number of reasons
i dont need any clamps and vises to hold my project,, its a good fit in my hand,,
i can take it anywhere to work on it,
faster to complete a few hours then days,
and easier to paint, ( most of the time)
i would like to do some larger cone projects,, i might just do that for fun,,  but i having fun just doing what i doing,, why change it at this point,, keep carving folks

CONE CHEF #13 end

ok folks here is the last video of 13 and the rest of them you can find on my youtube channel , thanks and enjoy, arleen

finished cone chef photos

 the 13 videos will be post by later this afternoon,, thanks for stopping by enjoy

unfinished cone chef

there will be 13 videos of this project coming soon,, two are up so far,, take care and enjoy, one more to go after he is painted

CONE CHEF #1.

hi folks another project, i hope you enjoy it , more videos will be loaded later today on my youtube channel,, keep carving

CONE CLOWN #15 (END)

cone clown finish photos,,

hi everyone, the last video is coming up soon,, enjoy,, arleen

CONE CLOWN UNPAINTED ,, it will be painted soon

CONE CLOWN #1

hi folks there are so far 10 videos of this project and more needed to finish and paint it,,  enjoy,, 5 videos will be posted on my youtube   enjoy, arleen

what more can i do , to get better at carving

hi folks,, i know many of you will say carve , carve and carve some more, is one way to get better,, its very true,  but i think there is another part of the puzzle to help us get better at carving,, to those of you that are able to go to a show,,  it does a couple of things,, great place to get new idea to carve, and another that is sometimes overlooked, is studying carvings,,  this past weekend , i was able sit back and read a carving book,, and study the photos, to see what is different  way of carving from the way i carve,,, to my surprise just studying the photos has made me want to try a few different cuts,  and that is where eddy the bottle stopper came from ,, so yes its carving , but its also looking at the detail of a carving that can help you maybe see what your missing in your carving,, of course you will have your own style , we will all have our own trademark on a piece,,  so dont pass up that carving book or watch videos of carving,, or carving magazines, you never know what you might learn or pick up along the way that will make your carving a better piece,, happy carving folks ,, keep at it,, arleen

learning from others,, good open house had fun

hi folks,, today as one of my students came over to paint i decided to take a book i had and try my hand at something a little different,, and enjoy making my own version of the project this is what i came up with,, he will be a bottle stopper,  i guess i name him eddy,,  LOL  i dont know why but he looks like an eddy to me,, it was a fun day,, and you can learn from other folks and use your own method as you go along,, enjoy, arleen

open house again this sat sept 22 12-4

ok back to working on the house, got more scaffolding,, now i can finish what i started,, lol and then  i wonder why i get up stiff.... lol... think its the climbing up and down,, but  will do some carving later this week,, and come up with another project soon
also this weekend sat also i will have another open house 12-4   take care everyone , and keep at it ,, arleen

woodcarving class ( sheep ) photo

hi folks, i had a great day today,  the folks in the class did a great job on their sheep,,  super job, here is a photo of it,,  now i have another one added to my nativity scene !!

NEW DVD #53 SCARCROW & CAT IN A PUMPKIN

hi folks , i just finished putting together dvd  #53  scarecrow & cat in a pumpkin  cost is 10.00 free shipping in the usa and canada  if your interested please email me ,, carverswoodshop@yahoo.com

learning that some things are not done in a day!!

hi folks,, i put carving aside for a bit,, i will have my classes and open house on sats,, but i been super busy, taking advantage of the great weather ( finally) not muggy here in pa.   i bought some scaffolding that i decided i was going to paint and fix up my home and the farm,, often in the past i if things were to high well i hire someone,, not often but from time to time,,   i had some rain gutters that needed to be reattached, and call a couple of people to get an estimate,, wow,,  i thought if i bought the scaffolding that could reach it,, 22 feet up,,  i could do it myself,, looking around the farm i also have a hayloft barn that needs to be painted, along with some roofing too,   in the past the one barn roof was not that high i always got up on that one with no problem but the other well to high,, i dont mind ladders but the older i get the less i like them,, and trying to carry stuff up to the roof while hanging on,,, well its getting tougher,, i did a lot of farm work in the past so i dont consider myself as weak,, but the 20 foot latter, heavy duty,, well i had a heck of a time to get it up,, i just dont have what i use to,, so i thought scaffolding would work out well, i stagger them so i can climb up to the top, and easy to bring stuff along with me,, a platform to work from,, feel much safer then any ladder, and those that know me , i will figure a way to do it myself,,  yes the cost of the scaffold will pay itself back without hiring a carpenter or painter,, took me a while to figure out how i was going to get stuff done, but now its coming together,,  i am working on my home ,, it needed to be painted long ago,, i pressure washed the cedar siding, and now its being painted,,  nothing is going to be done in a day,, just like carvings sometime,, it will take many days,,   but the end result is the joy of knowing i can still do it myself, and saving myself money in the long run,,  there will be a day that i will have to hire for help but until then i going to enjoy doing it myself,,  so keep carving,, arleen

CONE SCARECROW #13 (END)

SCARECROW PHOTOS, last video coming later tonight,

hi folks he is done, i have to be honest i had no idea how it would turn out, but i am very happy with it ,, hope you folks enjoyed the video and i will make a dvd of this project along with the cat in a pumpkin as our fall projects dvd,, #53   keep carving folks, take care......arleen

calvin the cat , and almost done with the scarecrow

hi folks, as i continue to work on the scarecrow project again today,, all that is needed is painting ,  then the video clip and pictures,, i will most likely put this project along with the cat in a pumpkin in to a dvd #53  that is the plan for now,,   but i thought this  might be nice for a few fall projects,,  as i begin to think yet of another project to do ,  i hope to have some new ideas for christmas,,   the projects are harder to come up with lately,, i dont know why that is ,, but i feel sometimes that i need something fresh and new to do,,  i  am thinking way ahead here but the big lancaster show we will have in march 2013 will be a big event,, and i going to try to come up with a project that i can enter the show,, so i need to put my thinking cap back on for a few days,, and there are times that its just better to just to relax and some how something will come along to spark my interest for a new carving idea , so today i will finish the scarecrow hopefully have it up by tomorrow,,  and see how things go,,  meanwhile i thought an updated picture of our farm cat calvin,,  some of you might like to see  him, he had been a good boy lately,, LOL we will see how long that lasts lol   take care and keep carving,, arleen

CONE SCARECROW #1

hi folks i am back with another new project, so far there are 4 up, not sure how many videos clips it will take but if i had to guess about 10-14   enjoy, only the first and last will be listed here how facebook, the others will be on my youtube channel,, thanks again for watching and enjoy,,

protecting the amish banana tree by carverswoodshop,, just having fun folks

folks just having some fun,, enjoy,,  i had fun creating it, :)

just some thoughts, :)

hi folks,, i been busy the past couple of weeks,,  my sister was here for a visit along with some other folks,, from canada,, and it was a busy time of chatting and shopping ( they shop) ,,  and also i been working on the trailer,,  caulking all the seams, and up on the roof too,,  not my favorite place to be but it was good that i got it done before  :)  winter,, caulked every window,, and did a little painting ,, spruce it up a bit,,  the rusty pipe and lamp got a coat of rustoluem,    so it looks nicer and just have to winterize it and another small heater , and i am set,,  having classes in here during the winter will be nice,,, i gearing up for sept,,  i also want to get a few things done at my home this fall, and paint it next spring,,,  i see how that goes,, looking for a safer system  then the ladder,,  to work from ,,  so i still trying to find the stuff i need to get the job done,,     there is always something that needs repair, replace , repainted around here,, if its not the building then its the yard, that needs trimming, tree trimming, mowing and just basic clean up,,,  so my projects are a bit slower coming on to youtube,, but there will be more,, sometimes the breaks are good,, and i sure more projects will be posted soon,, so gear up for fall and winter,, from the sounds of things they are calling for a bad winter,,  i like snow ,, not plowing it but i will deal with whatever comes my way,, one way or another,,, so keep carving folks,,  and enjoy,,, arleen

carverswoodshop answers your questions HOW TO PRICE YOUR CARVINGS?

electric fireplace for the camper studio :) sweet

hi folks,, i just got this as a gift from my family for my birthday that will be this week,, they often ask what do i want,, my normal response is nothing,,  this year i was thinking how to heat my camper studio,, and i know that this heater will only do so much i will have to get a mr buddy heater when the days get really cold, and i will winterize the camper yet  ,, dont know how to do it but i will learn, but this was a perfect fit , its has that fire going, and its sooo neat,,  so i told them that i wanted a small electric fireplace for the studio, ,, so its here,, i felt like a little kid could not wait to get it home to see if it would fit the spot in the corner, and bingo it does, perfect fit,, and everytime i look at it i know it came from my family,, its soo sweet,,    i been working on the roof, sealing all the seams, with caulk the bees are out in force so i will finish it later tonight,,  well folks keep carving, and keep well, arleee

CAT IN A PUMPKIN #11 ( end).

cat in a pumpkin

just having fun today,, i had no idea if this project would work out ,, it was ok,,  i have 11 videos of this project,, 6 are up on youtube,, thanks

CAT IN A PUMPKIN #1