Author: courtney

Touch Forms in Wood

Hand carved Touch Forms Wooden Stress Relievers Handheld Art The Adult Pacifier Dummies for Adults During my younger days visiting museums and art galleries, seeing signs that read: Please do not Touch, inspired a devilish desire to ignore the sign and reach out when no one was looking, especially if it was an interesting organic shape. I made a vow […]
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More Wood Carving Power Tools

The Die Grinder The die grinder name comes from one of the earliest and archetypal applications, tool and die work, where they were used to creating the precise contours of dies or molds. As far as I have discovered, the U.S. Inventor Eli Whitney was the first to manufacture interchangeable parts for mass-producing firearms for the War of 1812, so […]
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Best Sanding Disc

The best woodcarver’s sanding discs were discontinued by 3M a few years ago. I was trying to order a case of new ones when I got wind of the discontinuation from my regular supplier. It took weeks of searching the internet until I found a small country hardware store that still had one case left. Naturally, I bought the case […]
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Best Woodworking Power Tool

The Angle Grinder is the best woodworking, most versatile and most dangerous power tool. History According to Wikipedia, the first angle grinder was designed by the German company Akermann & Schmidt in 1954. There is also a conflicting report gives credit to Thomas Joseph in 1973. Credit must go to Akermann & Schmidt, because I was using the angle grinder […]
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The Unbelievable Woodcarver’s Tool

We are living in a time when time is of the utmost importance in most things we do. Manufacturers are looking to automate to speed up production and reduce labor and other overhead costs. The woodcarver is facing a similar dilemma: the overhead costs must be reasonable in order for him or her to earn a living wage and put […]
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Modern Abstract Wood Sculpture

I hesitate to use the word Modern. During my student days and to this day, I question the labeling of Primitive and Modern Art. After reading that the modern artists got their inspiration from the so-called Primitive art, my choice of description is African Art. It did not take me very long to find my style in art. During my […]
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Hand-carved Mahogany Seashell

Seashells are one of my sources of inspiration. They add a different dimension to my sculptures. Not the usual hole/cavity or blank or empty spaces, instead they are decorative lines. My favorite shell is the  Nautilus, which I have been carving in relief for years. Conch shells are very prevalent on the island. Diving for conch is a source of income […]
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Woodcarver’s Tools 2

The woodcarver has to keep pace with the cost of living. This demands tools that will reduce the time to complete a work of art or a craft item. I have always promoted the mandatory teaching of the arts in schools, rather than drop the subjects from the curriculum, whenever there is need to cut education budgets. Most critical thinking […]
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Woodcarver’s Tools 1

Celebrating 50 years as a Wood Carver. My career as a full time artist started over 50 years ago as a painter, sculptor, and ceramic artist. It took 3 years before I found my passion in wood carving, even though I still toy with ceramics. My last exhibition of paintings was in 1970. Immediately after leaving College, I met an […]
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What is the Best Wood for Carving

100+ year old teak utility post My first experience with carving wood was as a little boy carving tops. Spinning tops was one of our favorite past times. The tops were carved from green tamarind or white cedar, carved with a knife, we would cut off the head of 4 to 6 penny nails, depending on the size of the […]
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