Road to Bethlehem

[dnstehly]

I hope you will enjoy seeing this. I carved it as a Christmas 2010 present for my wife, Sue, and just got around to taking some pictures. I harvested some big-tooth Aspen a few years back and that which remains is spalting heavily. Any of you that have carved spalted wood will appreciate the challenge faced here but I thought the wood so beautiful that I wanted to make something special from it. I seldom work from a pattern and unfortunately do not give too much thought to planning the complete piece before starting. When I get an idea for something I just like pick up the wood and start carving. I paid for that levity in this piece. I started with the donkey and had no trouble with that except that I failed to think of the fact that eventually it would need a bridle. So I had to painstakingly carve a bridle in pieces and do a glue-up. Next came Mary. Not anticipating the anatomical difficulties with a twisted, sitting, female form, the first attempt was a disaster. I decided a clay model would be required. I did much better on the next attempt except I wasn’t thinking about how Mary would be fitted to the donkey. I was satisfied with my second Mary but there was no way she would sit on that donkey with hand and legs in place. I was now rewarded with carving a third Mary. From there out things went smoothly until I got to fitting the lead rope from the bridle to Joseph’s hand. That required a second carving of the lead rope. I suppose I should have learned from this experience but I know darn well that when I next decide to tackle a complex carving I’ll just pick up the wood and go. I had a very respected judge tell me that one should never carve detailed figures from spalted wood but I still like the way it came out. I love the tones and figure in the natural, oiled wood. 12 in. long by 9 in. high by 5 in. deep.

[Merle Rice]

Hi David, with all the trouble you had I think your Pieces turned out very good. Nice job and think of all the lesons that you have learned for your next pieces. Merle

[uvawyo]

David, That is marvelous!

[efmaron]

David you did a beautiful job, I carved a Indian head with splattered wood and the finished carving looked awful.

[FreeMan08]

Great job David
What a wonderful gift, I'm sure she will love it. I think it looks great in spalted wood. You have me hankering to carve something like that. Thanks for sharing.
regards
Ed

PS
If you power carve spalted wood, be sure to wear a respirator. The spalting is caused by a fungus, and can be very dangerous
for your lungs. Some years back I made some tables out of spalted maple, and the wood actually had warning labels on it. Just a word of caution.

[Ron T]

Hi David,

The pieces came out very nicely and I would never have known the trouble you encountered without your explanations. I will try to take a lesson from your experience.

I also had trouble with my last stick for lack of pre-planning.

[Sharon of the Dell]

It's absolutely beautiful!
I love the spalting and think it really adds to the piece.

[brent]

EHHHH! What do judges know! ( I know, it takes away from the finished piece).This is some really beautiful work from what I can see. Nice job!

[Dileon]

The design of the wood did not take away from the carving.....looks good

[tomrsey]

David, that is a great piece.