cottonwood bark

[irmar125]

i have been carving for aout 15 years most of which is self tought,due children and a lack of many pportunities in south floorida.no complaints met some real nice carver5s along the way.now that im rtired i started carving cottonwood bark about 6 months ago,and i fell in love with it.i have carved a lighthouse,wimsical houses,and i just finished another light house and i lit up the top,as i said being retired does any know where to get decent cotton wood bark for less then$10=$12 a piece 2,is cottonwood carvings sellable ,if so about how muuch,shouldthey be painted or left natural.i know alot of questions but I Iguess if there is anyone working in this medium they just might be able to help me!
i have just finished carving my second lighthouse,this one i tried an experiment with 2 battery units the top of the litehouse lites up and a section in the middle also lites up,nice an bright..with a replaceable flat battery.only problem have to take it off the wall to turn on and off switch.anybody got any other ideas .....perfer battery thanks Irwin R

[slivers&dust]

I just checked ebay yesterday for cottonwood and saw a guys selling between 4 and maybe 10 pieces per lot for $8.00 for all....plus shipping which was around $15-$16 for each lot...thats about $2.50 - $6.00 each

[GeorgiaCarver]

Ebay can be a good place to get the cottonwood. The amount you get for a carving depends on the carving, size, skill, detail and market.

I normally get $250.00 for a cottonwood bark carving in the 18" tall range but I do not sell through ebay.

hope this helps a little bit.

[Don by the lake]

I like to carve bark also. In fact I like it alot. Luckily when I moved from Colorado to upstate NY I brought quite a bit with me. Georgia Carver is right, Ebay is a good place to buy bark but don't try to sell your work there unless you are very good. As far as finishing a peice I do natural finishes and paint also with watered down acrylic washes. The last couple of carvings I painted I experimented with a technique I learned from the Bishops of washing the wood and then painting it while still wet. Works pretty well!

[R-OLDS]

Cotton wood bark, I've carved quite a bit of it as its quite available in my area in Michigan. I use shoe polish and certain waxes as a finish on bark, most of the time I use natural shoe polish as the other colors make it the bark quite dark but it depends on the results you want. I've not seen much paint put on bark carvings but sometimes a little paint works well.
Selling bark carvings, I watch Ebay from time to time and I've not seen very many people get what I feel the carvings are worth as far as bark carvings go. IMHO I've seen certain carvers sell lots of carvings for more than I feel they are worth for long periods of time.

Randal