[PeteM]

This is a miniature nativity scene I made from olive wood from Bethlehem, (sold as pen blanks on Ebay), using Lynn Diels' book 'Flat Plane Carving the Nativity', which I saw recommended on the forum.

The blanks are 3/4" square and 6" long, so I scaled the measurements down to fit. Joesph, Mary and the Crib all came from one 6" piece. The tallest shephard is 2 1/2" high; the crib about 1 1/4" long.

The olive is harder to carve than basswood, but not too difficult with sharp tools. It is very oily, and smells of olives (not surprising really!). One thing I like is they way it burnishes, and the incredible grain, which seems to suit the theme very well.

I have to glue or dowel together some pieces to make a donkey etc.

P.S. I just noticed that I have put a king in Joseph's place, and Joseph is to the left of Mary. Should have got my daughter to arrange the pieces

[gene messer]

Pete .. Iam sorry .. I almost missed this one .. glad I didnt .

Pete .. this set is wonderful .. and in olive wood at that ..

I have seen Lynns book on the subject and you did a great job ..

The olive wood is beautiful and the figures unique ..

Wonderful job and wonderful carving ..

Great job ..

Gene

[Joy]

Great idea and great execution! Thanks for sharing.

[millhoused]

Pete,

What a great idea.

Thank you so much for sharing.
I am going to copy your idea and make sets for each of my children..

Thanks again,
Don

[PeteM]

Hi Don,

Glad you like the set - I will have to make another one at some stage, so my kids have one each.

One thing - I noticed on Ebay that there are two grades of pen blank being sold, the cheaper ones do not have the highly figured grain, and even the 'top' grade box had a mixture of pieces.

I find metric easier for measurements, so converted the measurements to mm then multiplied by 0.372 (ie reduce 2" to 19mm).

[Donna_T]

Pete,
The set is beautiful. What a great job you did of carving and finishing them. The olive wood grain really adds to the character of the figures.

Our carving club used the same flat plane patterns to carve a set to donate to the local YMCA (they let us carver there free of charge) for their annual auction. We finished it in natural also. But, we're switching to the S. Cipa folk art style to make one for their 2008 auction. It will be a nice change.

Thanks for sharing your georgeous nativity set and have a great 2008!

Donna T

[Fergster]

Hi Pete, I really like those. So much so that I think I'm going to get a few pen blanks and have a go at a few tiny carvings myself.

Word of warning to you perhaps - on one site I saw selling olive wood, it mentioned that it can be quite corrosive to tools.

[jillsy]

Sweet set Pete!

[wood-whittler]

pete,


neat nativity, and pretty wood also, good work.


bart

[Banjo]

That turned out great! Excellent job! The olive wood looks really pretty.