ACORN ORNAMENT #1

A NEW PROJECT, FOR THE BEGINNER, A ACORN ORNAMENT,

hi folks i am loading the videos how to carve a acorn, ornament,, so it will be fun will post it here in a few hours thanks

working to get ready,, all new to me

hi folks, i know the youtube channel has been slow to get some new things up,, i will try to find the time to get a couple of videos up for a new idea, a simple one for a beginner,, i am in the process of looking for a canopy for the hay creek festival ,, knowing really nothing about what is better than another, sides or no sides,, so i am a looking,,,,,, this outside craft show is a new area and how to maybe reach some that might be interested in woodcarving,, one thing i do know if you do any shows its a lot of work,, and planning,, my first show at lancaster woodcarvers show, was a great indoor show,, not sure how that show will all go but it was fine, i have everything in boxes ( kinda) and ( kinda ) ready to go to the next (indoor) show,, lol what was i thinking , outdoors your taking a chance with the weather, and wind and heat, etc, so it will be interesting, and i can see it can be exhausting , not only to set up, be there all day but all the talking one may have to do,, mind you i enjoy chatting with folks, so i dont think that will be a problem, but three days of it might tax my energy level, but looking forward to it all,, like they say nothing ventured nothing gained, and its all new to me,,, happy carving everyone,

HAY CREEK FESTIVAL i will be there

http://www.haycreek.org/festivals.htm
hi folks, i am going to venture into a new area,, i am going to the hay creek festival in sept,, i will have some of my carving for sale and also my dvds,, i have no idea how it will go,, but i been there many years ago and its a big event , i was told about 10,000 folks come over the three day event, i plan to be there for all three days, if your interested please ck out the photos of the event,, this is not a woodcarving show, but many different crafts,,,, i have much to do ,, wow and its about two weeks away,, looking forward to it,, ok take care i off to do some carving, lol time is short,,

back to the real world and to the future

hi folks i did have a very special weekend.... i guess the older ya get the more simple things have that special meaning for me, the people around me made it very special indeed. my sister bought some of the ornaments for christmas,,, and so i am back to carving a bit more cause time goes quickly , and before you know it we will be looking at the holidays at the end of the year,,, so back to the real world of carving and working, and looking forward the future, fall is a coming lol my favorite time of the year,,, happy carving , arleen

a special day,,,,,chatting ,carving , gift enough for me

hi folks i guess today is a special day, today i am 50,, wow its really hard to believe, i dont feel like it.... i am not one to make a big deal about my birthday, parties are not my thing, and i told my sister and mom that i prefer to have a quite day,, well so far so good, my sister came down for the weekend, and came here this morning for coffee, ( my sister is from canada) and today we will be going to a favorite spot to eat with my family, at shady maple, some of you might know of it,, everyone loves shady,, all you can eat, and believe me there is plenty to choose from,, its been a good day so far, and low key,,, i hope you all have a great day what is left of it,, i will be taking my carving box along to my folks, and will enjoy some carving time along with chatting with my family out on the deck,, thats a gift enough for me, spending some time together,, happy carving everyone
oh the flowers is from my aunt arlene from canada, very nice , thanks

decisions ,, , just not today

hi folks we all have them,, deciding what to do next,, it what we will have to eat to where we will go, and my goodness what to carve next,,, some carvers have a list of things they would like to do, and some of us don't. i sometimes have a few things in mind what to carve next,,, sometimes it comes to me out of the blue, and other times i struggle what to do next,, i hope that you have list of things you would like to carve, i have my big wish list of what i like to carve, that is waiting for me in the future,,, and someday it will come to pass ,, just not today,, its good to have a dream of what you like to do,,, that is what keeps me going,,, happy carving, arleen

lancaster county woodcarvers club meets tonight , and busy making a new dvd

hi folks, i will be going to the lancaster woodcarvers club meeting tonight, and i am looking forward to it,,, along with going to the meeting, today i put another dvd together, the tree bear ornament and the eagle flag branch ornament . the master is made, and will have to put together the cover and patterns,, so it will be a couple of days yet,, and deciding what shows to go to this fall, the william rush is for sure, frankenmuth in mich and ont canada show both of these i am considering to attend ,,,, and there is a large fall festival here in morgantown pa,, called haycreek and after calling them i might be going to set up there,, so it would be next month sept if i go,, will have to research i a bit more,, well folks hope your all enjoying the ending of summer,, it feels that way to me when sept is in sight,,, happy carving, arleen

updating the dvds that are available on www.arleenscarverswoodhop.blogspot.com

hi folks, if you visit my other blog that has the dvds and patterns for sale you will see something new, i am slowly adding the projects that are only available on dvd and putting a buy it now button from paypal to make it easier to order,,, someone suggested that i put a photo for each of the dvd of what the project would look like, so this is the cover of the dvd that you will see, of the finished piece,,, the standing branch will be the next dvd with another christmas standing branch, i will start that soon

here is the link http://www.arleenscarverswoodshop.blogspot.com

there are also patterns available thank you , arleen

what is next,,, well it has to do with christmas,, lol coming soon i promise

STANDING BRANCH SANTA #10 end

hi folks this is the end video all videos 1-10 are on youtube, for you to watch,, it will be up for a short time and then i will put it on dvd,, thanks for watching enjoy, arleen

STANDING BRANCH SANTA #5

STANDING BRANCH SANTA #4

STANDING BRANCH SANTA #3

STANDING BRANCH SANTA #2

STANDING BRANCH SANTA #2

new carving classes to start soon, mid to late sept

hi folks, i will be putting together a couple of carving classed together,, for fall, if your interested please email me, carverswoodshop@yahoo.com
i will have one day class and one evening class that will be about 4-5 weeks, hobo santa will be featured, thanks , arleen

STANDING BRANCH SANTA #1

are you good enough?? a loaded question keep at it

are you good enough to carve? well some are better then others, some have been in it longer then others, does that make one better, and good enough to carve? what if everyone stop that thought they could never carve as well as someone else,,, what a shame , no one would be carving , they would never develop their skills, never advance ahead,, so keep at it,, i have to say something kinda important,, i know that i am not a writer, i never claim to be, i know i dont write things like others, and i thought of that the other day,, but it didnt stop me from writing a blog, or doing the many other things i do,, i dont really worry about what others thing about it,, i just put down my thoughts on a subject to this blog and if helps a few folks then its worth it,, if some folks enjoy it with all of its mistakes then it was worth it,, if i was so concern of folks i wouldnt do anything,, so dont let folks discourge you,, its hard to hear anything negative when you finish a piece, just keep at it ,, so what your not the best,, if your enjoying your carving, and you find peace and happiness in it then keep at it ,, enjoy it , happy carving , arleen

what do you think?? when your carving,,,,??

lot of us find alot of enjoyment from woodcarving,, i have to ask what do i think about when i carve,, now thats an interesting topic,, well i for one find that i think about the carving mostly,, and assessing it all the time,, carve and look at it,, but for the most part, it takes my mind off of whatever is troubling me,, its a great escape,, isnt that why we have hobbies? its a life saver to many,, when everything around you is going down hill, you can retreat to your corner of woodcarving and get lost in it,, i have many times,,, but its also a time to think , about what a neat hobby it really is ,, how far you have come over the years, and just the greatest way to relax,,, sometimes it can be frustrating as it was when i work on that chipmunk, but the rewards were wonderful to see after a difficult piece, but most of the time its pure fun,, a time to get away from it,,, and folks, i can carve in a car, outside, inside, anywhere and i will be getting away from it,, if only for a few mins with my knife and block of wood, nothing better really, happy carving , arleen

HOW TO DRY GREEN WOOD AND MY NEXT COUPLE OF PROJECTS

drying green wood and my next video coming up

hi folks , as i am learning how is the best way to dry green wood i been carving lately, here is a few things i have learned,,
first i have been carving my branch guys and have a couple of new ideas which i will explain in a bit,,, i love carving them green but they can split on you and crack as they dry,, i had someone cut alot of a tulip poplar tree this past couple of weeks, and now i just love to carve green,, its easier, and so much faster then the hickory and black walnut i was using,,, but a concern was how do i keep it from cracking or checking, well in my research i found a couple of things,,, and cane maker told me to glue the ends, and it was rare that he had a piece the checked on him,, so as i got my pieces cut to the length and i glued the ends of the piece,, so i dont know if this will work but i know that its worth a try but i wanted it to dry faster,, so here is what i am doing,, and i will make a video for youtube,
after some research i been doing the following,,,,,, first put it in a micowave for a min to kill any bugs,,
glue the ends,,,, then for the next couple of days put it in the micowave on defrost for 30-35 seconds,,, and let it cool 7-8 times
now i do this in a plastic bag only,, cause the smell, and take it outside take it out of the bag and let it cool,
i have a scale as i watched it go from 130 grams of weight to 83grams, i will now stop, i have most of the water out of it,, or the bulk of it,,, not sure if it will work but it looks promising, and i have re-glued the ends more a total of about three times,, you want to be careful not to leave it watch it every time you use the micowave, and one person said it caught on fire , but i think they had it on high and wayyyy to long in the micowave,, i put a paper towel in the bag in case there is water in the bag,,, but it should not be hot that you can't hold it after it comes out,, plus the ones that are not dry it will have a cool feel to it when you hold it , branchs that are dry have a warm feel to it,, so just some tips if you like to experiment with this ,, and i will have the next santa piece that i am working on soon along with these details how to dry them if your carving green,, happy carving , arleen

one of my finished relief carvings in 1986 jesus and the lamb

i did this relief many years ago, found it , and thought you folks might enjoy seeing it, i am guessing it was 1986 or earlier, i used just hand gouges and no power tool,, its about 1 3/4 thick basswood and about 14 x12 , happy carving , arleen link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhCLQ--sgJE

butterflies lol look up

hi folks, i dont know about you but its been a hot summer in pa,,,, i have to tell ya, sometimes we can miss things if we are to busy with life,,,, i was mowing the yard at the farm, and around the barn,, i noticed something wonderful,,, as i looked up at the field that the amish just mowed for hay a few weeks ago,,, hundereds of butterflies,,, monarch , black, red, and yellow,,, and small white and yellow and black,, it was an amazing sight,, there is clover in that field so i shut off the mower and sat and watched them,, amazing,, just a flying around each other from flower to flower,, sometimes life doesnt let us enjoy the simple things,,, and it was simple , just turn off the mower and watch for a while,, i did carve a butterfly many years ago that i might just have to do it on youtube,,, so now i look for them,, everytime i mow,,, and wow they were there again today, busy as ever,,,, and to think of it i almost missed it if i didnt look up,,

for folks that ordered the video it will be shipped soon

hi folks, to those of you that ordered the video i will be shipping them out soon, i have yet to make a cover and i ran out of ink and cant refill the one i have, so a slight delay,,, but it will be soon thanks for understanding,,arleen

DVD IS COMPLETED,, AND WHAT IS NEXT?

hi folks today i just completed the dvd,, and ready to go,, its 2 hours and 40 mins long,, and what is next on youtube, i have a couple of ideas,, lol i will be back later with more infromation,, take care arleen

MORNING SANTA #22 (end)

hi folks, well i am done making the videos clips, , so that i can make a few dvds,,, to order please email me, and you can pay by paypal or by ck ( in usa funds only) email me for details, if you want to order it on youtube, they are loaded on youtube, in the private mode,,, if you have paypal, you will be able to view this project,, email for more details carverswoodshop@yahoo.com 20.00 free shiping in the usa and canada only,, please if your not in the usa or canada you can order it on youtube its 10.00 for a month of access, thanks happy carving , arleen

ready to paint morning santa,

hi folks, now that i have some time i will be finishing up the lastest carving of the morning santa, then comes the task to put it on dvd ,,, its been a fun project and i will post the last video clip soon, thanks for stopping by,, its been a busy summer,, take care, arleen

nothing more fun,, then creating something new.. and a lesson of the solar heater

hi folks, if you have followed my blog for a while you will see some things are important to me,,, family and friends, having good health,,, all those things are great and so important,,, sometimes i find myself in a carving slump ,,,, nothing new in mind, nothing that catches my attention ,, that i want to carve,, as i was making the video clips for my new dvd morning santa, i also was carving more of the same in different sizes,,, which can make it an interesting project to make the same pattern but smaller or larger,,, i did a tiny little one, and then a larger one then i have on the video, the concept is the same, it will not matter if you have a 5 inch or 3 inch as long as it is square,, the results should be the same,,,,
but as our visitors from canada were here for a few days,, i took along the carving box and a project to work on when we would sit around and chat,,, people find it amazing what you can do with a piece of wood and a knife, the fun part for me along with the carving was the fun stories being told and shared, about old times and our life living and working with the amish around us,,, as farmers we had some business dealings with the amish. but the most fun i had was just taking another block of wood and carving to my hearts content,,,, nothing better in the world, and seeing a new creation being formed,,

sometimes we need a break from carving, not often but it helps us enjoy it more when new creations and ideas come along,,,, i had in mind to created my solar heater in the back yard, as some of you may have watched watch it on youtube , it was an idea, for a few years before i attempted this big huge 24 x 8 feet high project,,,it didnt work the first time as i had expected and had to redo a few things that prolonged the project ,,, i invested so much time totaling three months and money into it that i wasnt going to give up the idea,,, and lo and behold it worked, it heats my home nicely in the fall before i have to kick on the furance, along in the winter as it help supplement my heat..... and yes it will save me money, now three years later it will be cost effective, it has paid for itself and now all the heat it will dispense will be free, so if you have an idea , carving idea or a project, keep at it ,, the feeling of completing a project is wonderful,,, have a goal,, keep at it ,, and you will see that there is nothing is more fun then creating something new, sometimes i even have to remind myself of that fact,,, that full size eagle is the new big project ahead for me,, someday, it will come to pass ,,,, happy and safe carving to ya, arleen

MORNING SANTA VIDEO coming along, will be done soon

hi folks its another day here in pa,,, lots going on,,, first some surprise visit from my sister from canada,, for our moms birthday,, she came walking into the house at our parents around 3pm,, so she been here for a few days,,, which is good,,, we seem to be getting a lot of company from canada these days,,, but anyway, its summer and you will have this,, and fall we also have many that come to visit,, and this coming sunday another cousin is coming for dinner from canada,,,, something about the amish country that folks love,,, i know many folks that come 1-2 times a year hear to lancaster county,,, i have to say there is plenty to see and do here, and eating is one of them, lol

well the morning santa video is about done, its about half way,,, i still loading some of the videos clips up to the computer and loading them on youtube in the private mode,, i looking forward to a couple of shows ,, i will be at the one in lima pa,,, near media pa,, coming nov 6 and 7th,, and also looking into going the pickering show in canada, come this oct,,, and also maybe the frankenmuth in mich,,, so i will keep you posted on these shows ,,, as i get closer to the dates,,, for sure is the one in pa,,,, hope all are doing well, keep carving, and enjoy,,, arleen

HOW TO CARVE GREEN BRANCHES

just some tips how to deal with green wood vs dried wood, enjoy , arleen

MORNING SANTA #1.

MORNING SANTA #1.

i will be making a dvd video of this santa, some new ways to view this on youtube

hi folks, i will be posting the first and last video on youtube,, i plan to start it today,, and hope to get it done by the end of the week, this video will also have how to carve this morning santa,,, this santa will be in his long sleeve tee, with suspenders, about three inch tall and its made from a block there is no pattern needed for this project , i did a couple of these this past week, that will be up for sale soon,, i have yet to paint the last two,,, lol my favorite job ( not) lol this is different then my other santas,, i tried something new,,, its always fun to do,, your welcome to order your dvd ahead of time i should have everything ready in three weeks, cost will be 20.00 free shipping in the usa and canada only,, international, you can order to see it on youtube i will add you to my private list and you will have access to it for a month, the only thing about youtube only 25 folks can be on the list at a time, i will add it only on the first of the month and remove your name on the last day of the month,, and the next group of folks will be added the following month on the first and so on,,, ,, cost is 10.00 by paypal only enjoy, arleen

working , and getting company, trying to find time to carve

hi folks,, as i told you before that i was going to have another video coming up on the santa,, well time is getting away from me,,, as it normally does this time of year,,,, we have alot of family and friends that come and visit us in the summer and fall,, most of the folks are from canada, since we have alot of family there,,,,, this next month will be a busy one,,, so trying to get things in shape around my home and at the farm leaves little time to carve,,, might be a good thing for a while, sometimes when your time to carve is limited , it makes that more special when you can carve,, i was going to go to the roundup,,, but no air in the building, and i just couldnt make myself go,,, its been so hot and sticky lately i cant stand the heat,,, believe me when i have to plow snow you will not hear me complain,,, lol snow is a welcome sight for me,,, i dont like driving it in , but rather have that then this heat anyday,,, sorry to those of you that enjoy hot weather,,, \

well no relief in sight,, i can handle a few days but back to back,, it gets old,,,, well folks take care stay cool, and keep carving ,, arleen

getting ready for a new video

hi folks,, some of you might be going to the northeast roundup, have a great time, i will be starting a new santa video , i have to decide which one to do,,, i think i will first i will do the one with the black suspenders and the white tee holding a book with the title called LIST i was asked at the lancaster show if i would do this one,,, he wanted to be able to see it,,, so for him i will start that one most likely tonight,,,, take care everyone, and say cool arleen

EAGLE FLAG BRANCH ORNAMENT #7 (END)

new santa photo

hi folks, i just finish this santa, i dont have a teaching video of this style yet,, but will soon, or my other one,, thought i show you what it look like ok, take care bye

CARVING NEW SANTAS

hi folks, i will soon do another santa on youtube , i just finished an old carving that i started some time ago, and sat down yesterday to finish it,, it looks a lot different, of of a block,, in fact i did two santas that are different to want i use to carve in the past,,,, i finding it so much fun to create something new, i will post some photos of the finished santa soon , keep carving , arleen