Wood Carving Illustrated - Issue #27 - Summer

Product Review
The new Carving Vise improves on the centuries' old
carver's arm.

Bald Eagle Portrait
Wanda Marsh's creative textures and thorough painting
instructions are sure to take your artistic skills to new heights.

The Cat's Meow: Carving a Refrigerator Magnet
David Sabol's step-by-step mischievous feline will have
friends and customers purring for one of their own.

International Woodcarvers Congress 2003
Last year's Affiliated Wood Carvers' celebration of carving,
classes and competition seemed like only yesterday. This
year's event is just around the corner.

Guardian Angel Fairy
Enjoy a pattern and learn about different kinds of fairies from
Lora S. Irish's latest book from Fox Chapel Publishing.

Friendship Cane
Twelve carvers and a publisher gave WCI Editor-at-Large
Roger Schroeder the best gift a friend could ever receive.

Carving Caricature Golfers
Bill Howrilla's latest book from Fox Chapel Publishing
captures the game in all its many ups and downs.

Carve a Scandinavian-Style Troll
Master carver Harley Refsal sets the pace for beginning
carvers with his flat-plane project.

All About Mallets
Roger Schroeder puts eight mallets through their paces.
There's definitely one that's right for you.

Wood Review: Boxelder
The wood's coral-red streaks and easy-to-sand-and-finish texture make it attractive to carvers.

National Caricature Carving Competition and Exhibit
So many entries put the judges on their toes at the second
annual national competition sponsored by the Caricature
Carvers of America.

The Sculptures of Michelle Holzapfel
A burl-loving wood sculptor melds carving, turning and
textures to create unique, museum-quality vessels.

Little Chipper
Open or closed, the D2 blade steel is a sterling feature of this comfortable-to-work-with and easy-to-carry chip carving knife.

Woodcarver of the Year
Meet WCI's 2004 recipient, author and PBS impresario
Rick Bütz.

Setting Up Shop
A visit to two carvers' shops reveals how organization
goes hand-in-hand with making the best use of workspace.

Father Christmas Woodcraft® Santa Carving Contest finalist Norb Hartmann
shares his techniques and the joy he derives from creating
St. Nick.

Light and Fan Pulls a Hit
Steve Brown steps up to the plate to show that any character
or subject can be carved into a decorative and useful pull.

Relief Carver's Depth Finder
Jim Dupont's homemade tool enables him to obtain accurate measurements for carving in relief.

Neckerchief Slides
Beginning carvers of all ages will learn four basic cuts by the
time they complete these two projects from Boy Scout
instructor Robert Reitmeyer.

Golf Ball Carving
Nathan Stump, who brings ducklings and other characters out
of their 'shell,” finds most golf balls a pleasure to carve.

Illustrated Guide to Carving Tree Bark
Learn, with plenty of photos, the key points to bark carving in
a new Fox Chapel Publishing book by Rick Jensen.

Decorative Decoy Carver's Ultimate Painting and
Pattern Portfolio
Making changes to existing patterns is the first step
toward developing original drawings like those in Bruce Burk's latest book from Fox Chapel Publishing.

Arbortech Power Chisel
Put to the test, this reciprocating power tool with a snap-lock
system runs the gamut from wood hogger to fine detailer.

Regular Columns
Editor's Corner
From Our Mailbag
News & Notes
Tips & Techniques
Relief Column from Lora S. Irish
Advertiser's Index
Calendar of Events

Lora Irish is an artist who runs an internet carving studio with her husband at www.carvingpatterns.com. She is a frequent contributor to Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts and Wood Carving Illustrated and the author of Great Book of Dragon Patterns, Great Book of Fairy Patterns, Great Book of Tattoo Designs, Great Book of Woodburning, and Wood Spirits and Green Men. She lives in Mt. Airy, Maryland.

Wanda Marsh began carving in 1993 in her native Texas. Many of her inspirations have come from watching the bird feeders she has placed outside her windows and the flowers that she has planted in her yard. Not to be limited to her own yard, she may even see something while traveling that sparks an idea.

Roger Schroeders success as a writer began when he gave up trying to write the great American novel. Instead, he turned to writing about his hobby: woodworking. Sharpening his skills and his photography and expanding his interests, he went on to author 16 books and nearly 200 magazine articles. Ranging in scope from woodcarving to house building, the books include such titles as How to Carve Wildfowl, Carving Signs, Making Toys, and Timber Frame Construction, which has over 77,000 copies in print. Founding editor of Wood Carving Illustrated, Roger is past president of the Long Island Woodcarvers Association and active in the Long Island Wood Workers club. He is a retired English teacher who specialized in teaching writing and research, Roger currently lectures on topics such as how to make wood into furniture, houses and sculpture. In the remaining time, he is an amateur cabinetmaker who enjoys constructing Victorian reproductions, and is an amateur carver who has won a number of blue ribbons for his natural wood sculptures.

Bill is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from the North Hills area. He has been carving for almost ten years, and he has found that being a cartoonist helps a great deal to visualize the pieces he carves. His comic strip, Sergeant Stars and Stripes Forever, ran in syndication through NEA, Cleveland, Ohio, for 20 months during 1972 and 1973. It appeared in approximately 300 newspapers nationwide. His cartoons have also appeared in Leatherneck, the magazine of the Marine Corps, in the early 1990s.

Harley Refsal teaches Scandinavian Studies at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where he also holds the title Resident Fellow in Scandinavian Folk Art. He is an internationally recognized figure carver, specializing Scandinavian-style flat-plane carving. Refsal was born and raised on a farm near Hoffman, Minnesota, homesteaded by his Norwegian-immigrant grandparents. He began working in wood as a young boy. His father, a carpenter and farmer, and a woodworker uncle who lived nearby kept him well supplied with wood, tools and encouragement. Since the 1980s, Refsal, who speaks fluent Norwegian, has shared his knowledge of, and skills in, Scandinavian flat-plane carving with thousands of carvers through classes and presentations in the United States and Scandinavia. His name is so integrally linked with the revival of this carving style that it is rapidly becoming known as the Refsal style; Refsal is available to teach woodcarving seminars and judge exhibits and shows. His carvings are available for sale.

Bob Reitmeyer completed his first carving as a Cub Scout. Now retired and Assistant Scout Master, he continues to enjoy carving. Bob's love of the art has led him to become a Wood Carving Merit Badge Instructor at three Boy Scouts of America National Jamborees where he has taught thousands of young boys the basics of woodcarving.

Rick Jensen got his first taste of carving growing up along the Missouri River bottoms in North Dakota. His father supplied him with a pocketknife at the age of seven. Whittling on sticks started what would become a lifetime of woodcarving. Other artistic endeavors of Rick's include antler carving, bone carving and stone carving.

Jack A. Williams is a commercial photographer working from his studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. Photography was once a hobby for Jack until he discovered he could make a living doing what he enjoyed. He then needed a new hobby, so in 1973 he started woodcarving. His artistic talents have been demonstrated with a third Best of Show in the first National Caricature Carving Competition held at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri; a Best of Show at the Ward Wildfowl Carving Competition in Ocean City, Maryland; Peoples and Carvers Choice and Best of Wood Sculpture at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; and Best of Division at the International Woodcarvers Congress in Davenport, Iowa. Jack also won first place in the Flex-Cut Tool Internet Carving Competition in 2001. The year 2003 marks Jacks 12th year to coordinate the woodcarving show at Dollywood, which hosts The Great Pumpkin Carving Competition, and to coordinate the National Caricature Carving Competition. In 2003 Jack was elected to become a member of the Caricature Carvers of America and is President and one of the founders of the Tennessee Carvers Guild. Jack now spends a great deal of time photographing carvings at shows and for friends, and his photography appears frequently in many magazines on woodcarving and other subjects. Jack is a co-author of Carving Found Wood with Vic Hood and of The Illustrated Guide to Carving Tree Bark with Rick Jensen, both published by Fox Chapel Publishing Co., Inc.

Bruce Burk ranks among the master bird carvers in the country and is responsible for getting thousands of other carvers started. Starting in 1954, he taught himself bird carving and has been carving professionally since 1960. Burk has published articles on bird carving in North American Decoys, Chipchats, and Ducks Unlimited Magazine and is the author of numerous books. Burk now lives in Grass Valley, California, where he devotes his time to the art of realistic bird sculpture, wildlife painting, and wildlife photography.

Mike Burton has been a professional woodworker for more than 40 years. He opened a woodworking shop in Ogden, Uthah in 1973 with his father and brother and later became the sole owner of this business, manufacturing a full line of furniture and custom wood products including guitar bodies and propellers for ultralight aircraft. After transferring the business to his sons, Mike put his energy into writing and is the author of three other books, Simple Marquetry (Sterling), Veneering a Foundation Course (Sterling) and Architectural Carving Revised (Sterling).