[AlArchie]

This is a mite late, but in August, The Gogebic Range Woodcarvers Association hosted a relief carving seminar instructed by Fred and Elaine Stenman. Stenmans are from the St. Cloud, MN area and instruct nationwide. Our little berg is in the middle of nowhere (we say we're not at the end of the earth, but you can see it from here) but still had a nice turnout.

Al Archie...............Bessemer, MI
Carol Huempfner.....Marquette, MI
Dorothy Weigle.......Marquette, MI
Phyl Aurich............Marquette, MI
Bonnie Wielgosz......Bergland, MI
Lucia Pairolero........Marenisco, MI
Michelle Matto........Port Charles, FL
Jenny Young..........Port charles, FL
Roland Wyszynski....Montreal, WI
Gene Calvetti.........Hurley, WI
George Younk.........Bergland, MI
Tony Gonsowski......Ironwood Twp, MI
Pete Rigoni.............White Pine, MI
Kathy Rooni............North Bessemer, MI
Joe Calabro............Wakefield, MI
Sandy Mattson.......Ironwood, MI

And of course, Fred and Elaine Stenman from St. Cloud. http://www.stenmanstudios.com/

Fred and Elaine are a couple of the nicest folks you'll ever want to meet. They run a three day seminar in low relief and woodburning. Two projects are completed in each seminar; a small woodburning and a low relief carving finished in acrylics. Our shindig was held in the wood shop of Bessemer's A. D. Johnston High School. this gave us plenty of room for the 16 participants to work, with good solid work benches and plenty of readilly available power outlets and good lighting.

Although the Stenmans provided ready-to-go patterns, thay also had individual elements to choose from (different trees, buildings, docks, birds and animals) so some of the instruction covered layout and design of scenes, placement of individual elements, and overall balance of the scene. Then there was the close monitoring of each student's carving. After the carvings were complete, Elaine went over the selection and use of colors and stains to enhance the carving, instructing in the mixing and application of the acrylic washes, and the oil tinting of the edges of the carvings.

So here's a synopsis of the instructions;
1. Selection and development of a scene to carve.
2. Selection of suitable board to enhance the scene.
3. Placement of individual elements on the board.
4. Carving the board....placement of cuts, layers to develop,
undercuts for depth, rounding and texturing.
5. Elimination of rough texture cuts.
6. Polish sanding the entire carved board.
7. Burning in the outlines (use of burning pens).
8. Selection of colors for painting.
9. Techniques for application of colors.
10.applying the tints, and finish to the carving.

All in all a lot to learn in three days......and a lot of fun, to boot!


We have had Fred and Elaine here for five years now and were surprised (at first) that they would stick around till EVERYONE had completed their carving. That meant some long days for them and no certain cut-off time. Everyone had a great time, learned a lot and finished their projects.......except me 'cuz I had to leave early for another commitment. I finished it later, though.

Here's a few pictures of the seminar and some of the projects we had to choose from. Oh, and you could pick and choose from individual elements to make your own pattern, or Fred would draw up a pattern of your own camp or cottage for you to carve.

Al

[Marci MN]

WOW...thank you for posting this Al. I've been watching for SOMETHING from MN that I might be able to go to a class. St. Cloud is only an hour from me.

I love their work...wow its beautiful!

Anyone know of carving shows that happen in Minnesota by any chance?

Thanks again Al.