Starting kids - age, techniques, etc...

[arbarnhart]

My oldest daughter just turned 10 and is showing some interest in carving. She is "artsy" so it is no big surprise. I am letting her carve a piece of balsa with my chip knife after some careful instruction on the only cut she is doing - very short thumb push strokes. I gave her a leather thumb protector cut from an old small work glove for the other thumb, I am thinking I should get her a full glove, a detail knife and some basswood. I only let her cut right next to me. Thoughts and advice?

A second issue is more general. While she is cautious, she has younger siblings who are less so and their interest will rise when they see she is being allowed to do it with real tools. I doubt I will be able to hold them off until age 10. Any advice on early intro? I am thinking maybe either alternative materials (not sure I can interest them in cutting clay with wire loops, but it might be worth a try) or alternate methods of shapng wood (rasp, surform, ganwing it like a beaver, etc). Any thoughts or advice on that?

Thanks!
Andy

[squbrigg]

Well done.....they have shown an interest and you will never know where that interest will take them. With the younger ones, clay is a good beginning. Wire tools, are safe and you and your older one can make some simple spatulas shapes to help them smooth the forms.

I started my youngest when she was about 10, relief carving. Their small hands lack real strength and control, but you can safely teach them the simple stop and push cuts, with out getting fingers or other body parts in the way. We started with a flower together, a simple shape and used Basswood. She lost interest in the carving part but found an interest in the painting part. She went on to attend an art university and graduated with her BFA (Bat. Fine Arts) major in photography. She still paints and draws, though no carving.

Love that little voice asking : "Daddy, will you teach me how to carve?" Remember it like it was yesterday. She has her own little voice asking her things now! Sheez.....I'm too young to be this old!

Bob

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

"Sculpey" is good and when they finish if it is something you and they want to keep, just bake it in the over for about 45 minutes....otherwise if they insist on carving, do like a lot of people and give them a shaped popsicle stick and a bar of ivory soap.

[arbarnhart]

There's a thought - with one of my boys, carving a pistol out of soap might be a skill he needs someday...

I think they will be a bit insistent about it actually being carving because that is what I do. The issue seems to be more to do what I do (and I am not the least bit upset about that) than to just sculpt things. Another option is to involve them in my pieces - like sawing the blank to a silhouette and letting them use a rasp to knock all the corners off.

-Andy

[Thor]

Great suggestions already, but here's another.
About 20 years ago when my children were young, I was an art instructor for very young children at Art Centers and Day camps and in my own studio.
One of the most popular projects that I did again and again was carving plaster.
I would use milk cartons, the waxed cardboard kind, as the mold. I mixed vermiculite with the plaster mix in order to make it even easier to carve. The kids enjoyed mixing it, pouring it into the moulds, and then you simply rip off the milk carton and you have a hunk of stuff to carve with a spoon or dull knife. It sets up pretty quickly.
This is something you can appease the younger kids with while the other one gets to use the sharp knife.
When I was really young, my mother used to go to the Atlanta Brick Company and get prefired bricks for us to carve the same way.
One of the best woodcarvers I know personally, swears he started carving when he was 3 years old. I believe him, but if I had been his mother, he wouldn't have gotten near a knife at that age.
Thor

[Kenny_S]

Nothing more for me to add except the younger ones only carves in soap. Most Ivory soap as I have not found anyone a\llergic to it yet. My eight year old is now in to wood as the soap carvings are done. Safety first and above everything else.

[rick-in-seattle]

Andy,
For your oldest daughter I would recommend two gloves instead of a glove and thumbguard. Be sure they have rubber dots and fit well for good control.

Yes, kids can cut the hand holding the knife.

[mwilleson]

Keep the hands covered, teach them to keep the hands out of the way, and only let them carve when you are sitting at their sides. I'm also starting my daughter with simple projects that amount to rounding edges. It's enough to keep them interested and uses simpler cuts which I believe are safer.

Just to add a comment about gloves - Rick carries some good ones for $6.95 in a range of sizes from ex. small to large. I just ordered one for my 11 year old daughter. It is the same quality as the $15.95 glove I bought for my son a year or two ago.

Mike