Cousin Chuckie: Self Taught Carver

My cousin Chuckie is a self taught carver.  He learned to carve with a carpet knife on his noon hour.  This weekend he volunteered his time as a demonstrator at the Lake Itasca  Pioneer Farmers Show.  We stopped by on Friday to say Hi.

Chuckie is a very talented carver and wood burner.  All of these birds have been carved and each individual  feather is wood burned before they are painted..some are just carved and wood burned..the feathers are real works of art.

We see Chuckie at carving in town. He is always available to answer questions and to give suggestions.  His carving group is quite active, and Far Guy and I have decided to join them once a week when we can.  So to make a long story short we are keeping company with people who have very sharp knives!   It seems like a real friendly group, mainly men, but there are a few women.

I have an unfinished duck and an unfinished Santa that I should do something with..something as in finish or burn in the wood stove. Far Guy and I both have unfinished Carousel Horses from a class we took a long time ago. We have lots of projects to keep us busy with this group for the winter. 

Another of the reasons we decided to join the carving group is the Christmas Ornament that Far Guy designed for 2010. It is a carving. If we go every week between now and Christmas we will have it in the bag!  We need to carve about 60 ornaments…we have 12 done…well not done done..but carved.  When we get them all done I will share photos.  We have been working on them during the day either in Far Guys garage or in his greenhouse, the heat has been keeping us out of there lately and into the shade of the garage. Wood Carving is a very messy hobby, soon enough we will have to carve indoors, but for now it is an outside activity. 

Carving is a quiet activity, you can hear the Loons down on the lake, and the Chipmunks with an attitude Chirping at Chance, and the sound of a ball being deposited into the carving bag that sits on the floor between us:)