Woodcarving Illustrated - How To Magazine for Carvers: Carving in Cottonwood Bark

Carving in Cottonwood Bark
================================================================================
Shannon on 08/25/2010 11:14:00
 
I met Edward Otto at the Conewago Carver’s show (conewagocarvers.tripod.com)
last October. I immediately asked Ed to write an article for the magazine (see
Woodcarving Illustrated, Fall 2010, page 52) and signed up for his class. I
warned him I had very little experience, but he assured me I would do fine.
The first thing we did during the class was choose our piece of bark. Ed had
quite a selection and after choosing our future woodspirit, we students were
tasked with mounting the bark to a piece of plywood. Everyone else's bark was
mounted vertically and ready to carve. Mine was a bit askew. But then I've
always been a little quirky so it suited me just fine. Ed showed us how to
remove the bark so we could start positioning the face. Armed with very few
tools of my own, I borrowed what Ed referred to as his ice cream scoop and took
off the first few layers, revealing a beautiful red canvas.
I followed along as Ed guided us in setting in the nose and eye sockets. It
wasn't long until my hand was raw from the rough bark—I highly recommend
wearing a carving glove on both hands when working with cottonwood bark! But the
blood was easily carved off of the workpiece, once again revealing a beautiful
clean canvas for my woodspirit face.
I found the wings of the nose to be the most difficult part of the carving. I
just couldn’t get that angle right and Ed had to clean up my mistake and help
me try again. The nose ended up a bit more petite than I would have liked, but
I'm really proud of my work.
During the class, I borrowed several of Ed’s tools and afterward I purchased
the two gouges I borrowed most often. With a slightly larger, but still very
modest, tool collection, I was determined to try again. I vowed to produce a
woodspirit with a more masculine nose this time. I wish I would have taken more
studious notes during the class. I still haven’t ventured out to try another
woodspirit on my own. But now, I have Ed’s full instructions at my fingertips
and I’m feeling pretty confident I can create a friend for my first
woodspirit.
Give the project a try—remember to wear two gloves! I’d love to see your
results. Send me a picture or post your results on our website,
www.woodcarvingillustrated.com, in the carver galleries.
-----------------------------------------
Woodworking books and magazines from Fox Chapel Publishing.
-----------------------------------------
Don't miss an issue of Woodcarving Illustrated magazine.  Subscribe today!
Want a back issue?  Click here to order back issues.
Out-of-stock back issues are available as digital editions through our partner,
Scribd.com.
The complete list of WCI digital editions currently available includes: