I have posted some pictures of Santa cut outs that I made for the daughters as gifts; I have included some detailing with the carving. These go a lot quicker and do make nice decorations for cabinet tops, fireplace mantles, window sills; my wife doesn't like most of them because they are only finished on one side.
I had a conversation with another carver at Christmas and he asked me what my "philosophy of carving" was-I know that I have written several philosophy of teaching and coaching papers during my working years but had really never thought about carving. I don't lay awake at night thinking about this but I do believe that I carve because it is fun, relaxing and when working with wood you work with what you have. I told my daughters that is how we teach because not all are created equal and our job is to teach them all; so same thing with carving. Look at the piece of wood, visualize what might be, draw some lines and start removing anything that does not look like a duck or a santa. I want to make each piece better than the one before and I don't want to repeat the same carving over and over. Our ancestors recognized the importance of wood, whether it be building shelters, cooking or warmth; the decoys that carvers built before us are prized as pieces of art and the hands that carved them are no different from any other carver today. We hope that we can only carry on the tradition.
Remember to measure twice and cut once.
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