[Eddy Smiles]

Gene... Just got through talking it over with the Chief of Finances and I made be swithcing over to the Net Zero form of DSL next month. I'm hoping that I'll be able take advantage of all these videos and tutorials when I do!

[Keithmc]

Gene,
Your video's are great. Watched all six. Learned a ton. Look forward to more. You are very good explaining things as you go along.
Thanks
Keithmc

[tucker1931]

Dang Dang Dang, double Dang. Oh for a cable hook up, Gene what I did see was makin me crazy. If only I could see it on a phone line. That little fella sure looked good what I coulld see of it, unfortunately it's 3:20 AM and I'm gonna have to go back to my lazy boy and try for some more sleep. It looked to me the thing I'm really lookin for, pics absolutely clear, looks like an excellent tutorial, unfortunately for me, I guess I'll never get to enjoy it. Thanks for putting it together, I'm sure there will be a lot of people that will benefit BIG TIME from watching it.
Cliff

[rickm]

IMO the videos are great, but if I can add a couple notes. I didn't watch all by the way.
First, your not using a glove or any type of protection. A newbie carver watching this would assume its ok not too use a glove. Seems silly I know as your obviously an expert, but for a guy who got 27 stitches in one finger from a carving knife, lost most of the feeling in that finger and gave up carving for 10 years because of that injury, I think you should show people to wear a glove or something.
Next, the narrative is great but a bit long at times and takes away from the work. Basically its distracting when one really looks at what your doing.
Lastly, your very good and you go very fast, most newbies are still trying to balance the knife and you have the work almost done.! Slow down and maybe even skip some to show the details better.
What i really liked was in a lot of cases as you employ the knife you are using various grips that support the work and the action of the knife, that push the knife safely thru the wood and the knife action is supported by several fingers of both hand. (hard to explain) I would like to personally see more video on these various grips and hand positions you employ. YOu might do them even self consciously and probably explains why you don't get cut.
It is nice to see an artist who really enjoys his work and is good at it.
This is a great, generous idea, but I dont want people thinking they can pick up a knife and do the same without some risk of injury, and the video can be a bit hard to follow. thanks.

[Bandaid]

Great job Gene! Puts a different spin on tutorials.

[gene messer]

Once again .. Thank you all so much for your kind comments ..They are so much appreciated ..

Rick .. Thanks so much for the suggestions .. Iam just starting to learn this video tutoring .. so bear with me ..

Your right .. I didnt use a carving glove and I explained that in my post to begin with .. that I want do that again for I know Iam targeting beginners the most ..

Also .. I also know I went a little to fast .. but the reason I did that is because to do a complete figure .. if I would have shown every cut .. and knife position .. I would have had to do it in 12 parts rather then 6 and I thought that would have been too long ...

you see.. the problem is .. the videos can be only 8to 10 minutes long or they want download them .. so you can see the problem when you are working on something that will take more time to finish .. And of course the more parts you have to do .. the less people will watch all of them ..

I wish it was like just like a video I could take all the time I wanted .. but it's not .. so time is essential with this to get it all in .. maybe I could just take certain parts of the carving and demonstrate then separately ..

Iam open for suggestions from anyone and what people want to see .. for my first time ... I wanted to show what was involved in carving a figure all the way through ..

Thanks so much for the input ..

Gene

[PeteM]

Hi Gene,

Thanks for doing those videos - it is very instructional for me, having carved some of your previous tutorials. One thing I picked up on was the way that you take two or three thin slivers at a time, rather than the thicker ones I have been taking off. Also the angle of the cut you use to remove the slivers is different to what I have been doing.

One thing - would it be possible to film from an overhead or carvers' eyepoint position? That way everything wil be the right way up, and it might be easier to keep the carving in full view.

I like the commentary - it takes alot of effort to keep talking for that length of time, nevermind carving at the same time.

Maybe a separate video on carving safety might be an idea, that you can then recommend and reference at the beginning of every video without losing time repeating safety information.

Pete

[windsong]

HI Gene
I enjoyed your video.Very much.It took me all day to get to watch them with dial up but it was worth it.I picked up at least 5 or 6 things i can use to improve.Getting to see you carve the little guy was way better than just photos.After watching you i can see where i was making some mistakes in my carvings.YOU DID A GEAT JOB GENE.I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME AND EFFORT TO MAKE IT FOR US.
windsong

[Thomp]

gene,

dont stop you got a knack for this, its nice to see how others carve for us shut ins,

but due to my dialup constriction i got 5 more bed time stories,

i was able to finely get the part one watched as it took 4 hours to come down in drips and draps,

is there any other way to get the videos than you tube. like on a home made cd rom?

Thomas

[Graywolf71]

Gene, my friend, you are one talented SOG!
I've been watching your videos and shaking my head, muttering that i wish i could carve like that and was knocked in the head by the wife. I know i can carve but we just get fascinated by others carvings i guess.
Please don't stop making these. I love your style of flat plane carving and being able to watch a master at work in insperational even to those of us that have carved for years.

The only thing i can add is to repeat Pete in that you ought to move the camera into an over head posistion so we can have a carvers view. The carving was out of the frame at times and we were unable to see your cuts as a result.

The speed of which you cut was no problem, i simply downloaded the video and slowed it down to see the cuts better.

Keep up the good work and i will let you know that i plan on using this in my little carving group to help explain flat plane carving.

Michael Gray