Questions for Shawn Cipa

[Shawn-Cipa]

Dileon,

Awesome renderings!! This is what I like to see; a carver takes an idea or pattern and expounds upon it to make it their own. I see that you prefer natural finishes - good job. I love your creative choices on the various bases.
I am honored to have been an inspiration to your carving endeavors; it is wonderful to see someone with such passion, and I hope that my future books will continue to give you a desire to carve even more; if anyone else is reading, back in this thread a Noah's Ark project was mentioned. Well, anothere deal has been struck with fox Chapel, and I am currently working on the next book for just that!

Thanks again Dileon, and way to keep it original!

Shawn

[GaDoug]

Any update on the Noah's Ark Book?
My Son's name is Noah so I eagerly await this publication.

[Shawn-Cipa]

GaDoug,

It is in Fox Chapel's able hands now. I actually turned in the manuscript last spring; it takes roughly a year for the layout, printing and distribution, so we are looking at spring or maybe even fall of 2011.

It was quite a project, and I hope everyone enjoys it when it hits the shelf!!

Shawn

[GaDoug]

Thanks Shawn,
Spring would be better than Fall. My guess is that this will be a Christmas present for my wife and it will take me some time to complete.

Ga Doug

[Robby]

Hi Shawn,

I'm trying to carve the "Mother and child ornament" that is in the WCI hand carved holiday special magazine. I did the angel tree topper last year that turned out great. But, I'm having trouble figuring out the depths since there is really only the one picture. The hardest area for me is the baby, hand, halo area. Is the back side along the edges rounded over as much as the front? Not sure if I'm asking that so you can understand my question. I really like the design, just seems like 1-1/2" thickness is too much or maybe I'm not seeing the roundness of the faces. Thank you for making yourself accessible for questions here on WCI forum also!
Robby

[Dileon]

Shawn heard your book on Noahs Ark is coming out this fall and your working on it.....any pictures that you can show us? that will give a sneak look for us Cipa fans? DiLeon

[Howie]

This question is for Shawn, but may apply to any of his friends as well. Since there's a lack of stores selling Fox Chapel pubs in my area (please work on that guys!), I'm wondering if anyone can tell me about Shawn's roughing method in his instruction prior to my purchase. Does he work from a bandsawed, precise blank or from a brick?

Thanks!

[Dan C]

Howie - Shawn starts from a block of wood. Usually in his books, he takes you all the way through the carving process on a couple of the projects in the book.

What he usually does, is to provide you with a front, side, and top view (sometimes a bottom view if needed) of the completed carvings and also with a line drawing of the carvings from the front, side, and top. He would do that for all of the projects in the book.

For each project, he also provides information on the type of wood he used, grain direction, dimensions he used, carving strategy, and helpful hints and information for the individual carvings.

I think, when you say "precise blank", you are referring to what I would call a "roughout". Shawn doesn't sell roughouts for his projects (as far as I know) so the expectation is that you would start with a block of wood and use the line drawing front and side sketches to cut out a blank on a bandsaw.

His books are great, his projects are really neat, and I would highly recommend his books. Hope that helps!

[KimHoJo]

I was thrilled to see your new book, Woodcarving Noah's Ark, in this month's WCI! I'm ordering it today. My family loved the nativity set I carved using your pattern, and this set looks even more promising. It's the first carving project I've been excited about in a long time.

I have a quick question for you. Are the shelf-sitter cat patterns in the magazine the exact size of the patterns in your book? I'd like to get started before the book arrives, but I wanted to make sure the cats were to scale.

[leavyc]

Excited about the upcoming book. Looks like a keeper!!