Back from Dollywood

[Bob_in_TN]

What an experience!!!!!!!

Had a great time, very fast pace, and a lot of fun.

I took mini-seminars from Dave Stetson, Gerald Sears, Pete LeClair, and Bob Travis, all were very good. That was Sunday.

Monday, spent a day with Harley Schmitgen. I chose to carve Cody.

Tuesday, day with Pete Ortel, carved a Happy Hobo, which I made into a clown.

Wednesday, day with Phil Bishop, I carved Boris.

It's almost overwhelming having 7 instructors of this caliber in a four day period, not complaining at all, you just have to relax, carve, have fun and be able to reset your brain in a couple of nano-seconds. Everyone I met was just great. The only one I met from this board was Groozier, but our schedules didn't allow me to spend any time with him.

Would urge anyone who has a chance to attend if at all possible.

Bob

[Anthony Filetti]

Bob,

Glad to hear you had such a good time! Where did you stay? I'd like to go in the future but this year didn't work out so all I could do was submit a carving for the competition.

Did you have time to look at this years carvings? I'm kinda chomping at the bit to see what I competed against this year. Always enjoy seeing all the great work.

Hopefully I'll get there in the future.

[Mitchell]

Welcome home Bob. We'd love to see some pictures if possible.

I could imagine that it was pretty hectic. Maybe next year I will be able to arrange some time there for the seminars.

[makenchips]

Bob, I too was very close to going this year but work got in the way. I would like to hear more about both the mini seminars and the all day classes. Was there enough time to finish anything? Did you get to spend some one on one time or did the instructors teach from the front of the classroom?
What did you like most and what did you like least?
The mini seminars sound interesting what was there focus?
Sorry about all the questions. I have a million more but these were just some. Answer if you wish and thanks for sharing.

[Bob_in_TN]

I'll see if I answer some of your questions.

Mini's, These lasted approx. 1.5hrs each. You could choose to carve along or listen and take notes. Some of the subjects, hands, mouths, expression, profiles, and eyes. There were more choices, but I don't remember all of them. Most of the mini's were done on practice sticks and you didn't get much individual instruction, You were able to ask questions and the time spent was enough for a single subject.

The all day workshops were very good. Had many roughouts to chose from, from each instructor. I had one of my carvings nearly done, maybe a half hour to clean up. On one I need to finish hair and clean up. and on the third one I probably have another 1.5 to 2 hrs of carving left. I'm not a fast carver and I'm at the point where I'm trying to make clean cuts as opposed to going too fast and then have to spend too much time cleaning up my cuts. I think most of the guys nearly finished each days carving, but I doubt that many finished all of them. The instructors traveled around to each individual and spent about 8 to 10 minutes, then moved on.

Liked most, liked least? This is probably the hardest question. I really enjoyed just being there and learning from these pro's. Everyone of them is very helpful and will help you anyway they can. I'm a "people person" which I think most carvers are, so I enjoyed carving and talking, met some great people from all parts of the country.

I stayed at the Rodeway Inn, it's fairly close and inexpensive. I didn't get up to see all of the carvings in competition, which I regret.

I took very few pictures, was too busy carving. :>) If I attend another year, I think I could smooth things out, budget my time a little better, and enjoy it even more.

I hope this answered some of your questions, and I would encourage anyone who can find the time to attend in the future, to do so. You'll never regret it!

Bob

[Anthony]

Hi everyone,

I also enjoyed the CCA Seminars a bunch. I took mini seminars from Pete LeClair, Bob Travis, Dave Stetson and Phil Bishop.

My day long classes were with Pete Ortel, I carved the [img]images/smilies/004%5B1%5D1.gif[/img] Hobo. Phil Bishop, I carved Dracula and Harley Schmitgen, I carved Cody.

Each CCA carver has a unique style and method of carving. I picked up lots of tips and hope that I can use them as I work on more projects.

This was a very enjoyable 4 days of carving and I felt we had ample time with
each instructor. The provided lunch was very good each day. I spent more on tools and roughouts than I had planned...but oh well.[img]images/smilies/013%5B1%5D.gif[/img]

See the photos I took at-
http://spaces.msn.com/members/spiritowood/

Anthony

[Anthony Filetti]

Anthony,

Thanks for all the great pictures and information! Looks like a good time was had by all...

[Mitchell]

Nice first post Anthony! Thank you for sharing.

[Mitchell]

I am happy that the CCA members have finished another project also. I saw Tom Wolfe's piece a couple of weeks ago. It's really amazing that they can all carve the items individually and they fit so well together.

[Ashbys]

Wow Anthony, Thanks!

Looks like it was amazing ! I will bee looking at these for weeks. So many different things to look at . Thank you.

Ash