This will probably be the final batch of plant pokes until after Christmas as ‘other priorities’ take over … also, the workshop gets hellish cold at this time of year due to gaping gaps under the doors and roof which may as well not be there when the cold winter gales get going!
Click image for full view!
As ever these were made using the power carver, actually my new power carver following the untimely demise of my last one. I went for a different model and whilst it doesn’t have the same grunt as it’s predecessor it’s actually not too bad once you get used to it’s foibles! Next time I may need to invest in one of the heavier duty motors.
There’s a good chance that I’ll be putting the power carver to greater use in the future for larger carvings, currently I exclusively use traditional hand tools for these but the amount of time this takes just even from a roughing out point-of-view can be excruciating … time will tell. Still at least the traditional tools can be used in the house … by the fire!
I’ve developed a real joy out of making these little characters, generally I’ll closet myself away in the workshop, put on some Razorlight and get into a general carving frenzy.
This batch were made using some of the last remains of the silver fir and elm, although I do have some european larch, Birch and Ash waiting in the wings for when the mood next takes me.
Here are a few group photos for your pleasure:
As much as I’d love to upload these to the shop we’re continuing to stock up for a glut of craft fayre’s in the run up to Christmas, our main event will be in Dundee with a couple of smaller events more locally. Details will follow in due course anyway.
I’ve finally completed a new set of plant pot ornaments (plant pokes), extending the range to include a smaller variety of ‘wood sprites’ measuring between 3″ – 4″ tall as well as the usual range measuring between 6″ – 8″ in height.
These particular plant pokes have been carved in either silver fir or elm (the majority being the fir), before being treated with oil to preserve them against decay in moist plant pots and finally having their uppers finished in a tough varnish.
As ever every piece is an individual with it’s own character, everyone has their favourites and every sprite will shortly be looking for a new home. These sprites have been specifically created for a forthcoming event, details of which will be given nearer the time, although if you’re particularly keen to re-home one of the wee souls drop me an e-mail using the contact details on the contact page.
The items in the uppermost image are priced at £6.50 / each, whilst their larger counterpartsin the lower image are £8.50 (incl. postage and packing).
Work in progress:
- paper pulp sculpted head (fund-raising project)
- paper pottery bowls
- paper pulp sculpture
Ah yes, finally! This has, without doubt, been the single most time consuming carving I’ve done, normally I keep track of the time taken in order to assign some sort of meaningful price to the object, however, as the hours ticked by and began to appraoch 20 hours of blister inducing carving I decided to ‘forget’ to record anymore hours?!
It did however give me a good chance to get to know this particular character:
Larry is something of an unpredictable fellow prone to contradictory outbursts espousing first one position in an argument before immediately taking up the other, of course this may have something to do with the argumentative mouth-piece that resides on the back of his head.
Some have suggested that Larry has become unstable over the years, no doubt as a result of continually having to justify himself to, well, himself. Inevitably his ’sap’ pressure has risen to levels where his health really has been compromised, indeed, you can see it in his bulging eye!
It maybe won’t come as a particularly huge surprise that Larry is indeed, a piece of Larch wood, taken from an over-sized beast of a tree that had taken over my sisters garden and requires a certain amount of ‘pruning’. It’s an incredibly pale wood, almost pastel white, with a grain that’s almost indistinguishable from the rest of the wood. It creates a very subtle contour which is best seen in, well, in real life!
The finish here is acrylic paint with a coating of a couple of hard wearing varnishes.
I now have a shed full of this wood, much will be burnt in the stove although I’ve already picked out a couple of prime pieces for carving, not least of all a trunk section with two partially intertwined branches rising out of it … branches doesn’t really describe them though, maybe slightly smaller trunks. It’s about 3 or 4 feet tall and screaming out to be carved.
This is the first larger carving I have completed using my new gouges, they have essentially allowed me to abandon the set of craft knives I had been using and at the same time has also eliminated the fear I had of breaking the rather flimsy knives. The gouges have certainly made life a lot less difficult, making cutting and shaping far simpler and far less frustrating!
Dougie Fir had been living at the foot of our garden when I discovered him during some routine maintenance. Seemingly he’s been there for some time living amongst the rather awkward and jaggy Sitka family of wood sprites. To be honest I think he was grateful to be rescued from amongst their clutches.
Generally he seems like a bit of a sad fellow, his sad eyes show the lie of his forced grin. Personally I just think he needs some decent company and a good cuppa tea, but I think he’s disconcerted by his current view from where he can see his former captors. In this case I’m sure that a bit of distance will do more to heal his wounds than any encouragement I can offer.
I have also used paints on this carving to a far greater extent than I have on previous carvings where I have limited things to eyes and lips. On this occasion the entire carving has been painted, either with the application of various washes or with more detailed work. The over-all effect has come out better than I expected and I think it’s an aspect of the carving that I shall continue to develop.
Possibly one of the most important aspects of whittling or carving with knives, aside from actually having a knife or two, is making sure that those knives are sharp. Any fool can tell you that you’re more likely to have a nasty accident with a bluntknife than you are with a sharp knife, how to get your knives sharp though and how to keep them that way is something that, for many, is shrouded in mystery.
Probably for about the first year of my carving I was one of those people who just didn’t get it, and my knives became duller and duller … the truth is you really don’t notice it a great deal until you do sharpen them, then you find yourself thinking “Wow! This is so much easier now?!”.
A huge amount of the information online takes great joy going into the deepest detail about different sharpening stones to use, the different ‘grits’ available, the different types of steel, angles, techniques, approaches, yada yada yada … it’s all terribly dull (no pun intended!).
Here’s the key points:
Two main types of sharpening stone are generally used, a water stone and an oil stone. The only real difference seems to be what you use them with … water or oil. I opted for an oil stone that I picked up in my local iron mongers (hardware store) because that’s what was available, and I’d heard of it before. They’re also known as whetstones.
The ‘grit’ of the stone refers to how rough or smooth it feels. The rough one grind, the smooth one sharpens. Most stones that you buy have a rough grit on one side and a smooth grit on the other … this will do for most people.
If you’re reading this then the type of steel doesn’t really matter, although there are those who will swear to you that stainless steel is evil.
Much time is given over to the angle of the blade. The angle of the blade dictates the sharpness, the narrower the angle the sharper it’ll be, the angle also however dictates the strength of the edge and the more acute the angle weaker the edge will become. I tend to go for somewhere between 17 and 22 degree (half of a 45 degree or quarter a right angle if you prefer). Don’t get too hung up on this though as your own carving style will dictate whether or not you need a stronger edge or not, as will the age and types of wood you use.
There are loads of different techniques avaialble and everyone swears their technique is best, it might be best for them but that doesn’t mean it’s best for you (or me for that matter), find your own way.
The video below is probably the most straight-forward that I’ve found and dispenses with the jargon and angle obsession that makes many of the other ‘how to’ videos so very tiresome, except for knife geeks … obviously.
If you’re looking to hone your sharp knife, maintaining the edge in between sharpening sessions, but aren’t sure about the technique the video below give a fair indication of a few techniques you may wish to try. Remember though, honing is not sharpening, it’s purely maintenance.
I spent ages referring to these as “things that you stick in your plant pot, you know, as decoration” so thanks to Jolene for finally setting me straight and appointing the title “plant poke”, at least when we’re trying to sell them at the craft fayre we’ll be able to put a name to them now!
None of these are more than 8 inches in height with a pokey bit on the bottom so that they stand up in the plant pots, so unless you’re trying to stick them in a pot with a seedling or a tiny plant they should be nestled amongst the foliage … although I suppose it depends on your plants, I know a few people who could do with one of these to distract from the fact that their plants were laid to rest some time ago!
With my larger carvings I tend to restrict myself to traditional hand tools (knives, gouges and the like), however, for these I wanted something that would allow me to work at a greater pace and I ended resorting to my generic dremel type power tool that I’ve been looking at askance for the past few months trying to figure out how I might employ it best. Well, aside from using it to create clouds of sawdust which gets everywhere, it seems that I can produce these chaps, and with a little pyrography for embellishment I think they look pretty good … my favourite is the one in the middle.
I think I may apply a few of the lessons I’ve learned from these to the larger carvings I do.
Making stuff can be hard-going at times, it can be difficult to judge just how good your stuff is in any subjective way, and if it’s not any good, well, what’s the point! Of course family and friends can tell you that what you’ve been making is “super”, “smashing”, or even, “great” yet you’ll always have a nagging doubt that these people simply don’t want to hurt your feelings with a totally honest and critical assessment of your work.
Jolene and I are rather good at giving critical feedback and yet when you see something day-in-day-out even the extraordinary becomes ordinary or unremarkable, perhaps the old adage about familiarity breeding contempt would fit, the very reason why judging your own work can be so difficult.
With our first craft fayre approaching rapidly (one week to go) there is a danger of us suffering a crisis of confidence despite most of our stock being ready and packed. Aside from our trademark wood carvings, papier mache pieces, felt ornaments, and needlework items we’ve put together a range of mounted prints and photo cards and a few other bits and bobs.
We were rather delighted then that an enthusistic shopper recently purchased two of Jolene’s felt birds and left some rather encouraging feedback:
It is such a treasure to own a pair of your MadeStuff birds. I love every bit of them. Your little birds stoled my heart. As soon as I saw them, I just knew that I had to have them. They are perched on their own shelf in my family room and cheerfully greet all who enter. Their colors work well with my decor. They chirp happily and love to show off their plumage. They will bring joy to those who visit them and sing in my heart forever. Thank you for your kindness and expedite shipping. I will always be eternally greatful.
Rather positive I’m sure you’ll agree, and certainly welcome in the run-up to the craft fayre!
Fortunately it’s not just Jolene that’s been getting positive feedback as I discovered when I received feedback for one of my carvings earlier in the month:
very creative piece with abstract yet palpable feeling
Very brief, which is no bad thing, yet I think it suggests a connection with the piece which is all I can really ask. Out of curiosity I went and checked the feedback the shopper had left for other sellers on Etsy, to say that some it was ‘neutral’ would be over-stating it, the criticism of the finish of a piece of woodwork is no small thing. I would be devestated if I received feedback saying one of my carvings hadn’t been sanded properly… although at least I would know what I had to do to improve my work!
The feedback that we get as crafters is hugely important and whilst we might not necessarily like what we here, there is no doubt that without critical assessment of our work improvement is made all the more difficult. Finding such critical feedback is no easy task though and whilst the examples cited above don’t help us develop our craft they do provide a much needed boost in the run up to our inaugural craft event!
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, critical and honest feedback on anything you see on this site is welcome … nay! It’s needed!
This is the last piece carved from wood sourced from the NW Highlands, Scotland, when we were on holiday there earlier in the year. It was good to get something a bit different my usual efforts in Elm and Alder, and whilst I think the Cherry’s nice I think I’d like to do some more in Yew which seemed to have a really nice grain and felt good to work with (see freaky tiki).
Size (H/W/D): 8.25″ / 2.5″ / 3″
Time Taken: c. 8 hours carving + finishing
The Avenger wears a permanent frown borne from years of bravely battling against those who would disturb the peace and tranquillity of the enchanted glen whence he lives … he may well wear a permanent frown but he also wears a mask to hide it. Surely the ultimate fashion accessory for any would-be super-hero.
Most recently the avenger is to be found terrorising some over ambitious and unlicensed lumberjacks who have seen fit to invade his corner of the world, fortunately for his woodland friends The Avenger knows just the trick for disabling chainsaws and is a dab hand when it comes to dulling the cutting edge of axes …
Eric is one of those chaps you meet who’s always so keen to help, packing bags, carrying groceries, helping little old women of the wood across the stream.
Regrettably his slightly maniacal smile does lend him something of a worrying air and often the poor soul to whom he has offered his services will see all manner of horrors behind his off-centred eyes and run screaming and wailing in the opposite direction … often dropping their belongings behind them.
Being a helpful soul Eric is inclined to pick these items up and attempt to return them which invariably ends up in a cat and mouse chase through the enchanted glen and which has seen the hero of our piece on the wrong side of a cell door on more than one occasion … poor mis-understood Eric and his peculiar ways.
This is the second carving I’ve completed from the stock I acquired whilst on holiday up North of Ullapool in the highlands and is the largest carving I’ve completed to date, standing at approx 8.5″ tall. The wood is Elm and was probably a little less green than I might have liked … although at least the blisters appear to be healing up and my finger tips are becoming increasingly leathery!
Anyway, without further ado, here Eric in all his glory:
25 November, 2009 12:42 pm | 
