Shelfie

Hi All,
Sorry I know it's been a couple of weeks since I've done a post but I have been really ill with the cold from hell. I'm getting on for seventy years old and I've had my fair share of colds and never resorted to calling them the flu, I've had the flu and believe me it is twenty times worse than a cold. Anyway, this cold was the worst I've ever had, it lasted almost, 3 weeks so you can tell how bad it was.

Still, I did manage to do a bit of whittling. I wanted to try more figure carving, so I followed a video on youtube made by a carver called Gene Messer. Below is the result and not bad considering he doesn't show any pictures at the beginning, so you have no idea what the finished result is supposed to look like. until you are done. I call the figure "The foreman" miserable as sin and hands in his pockets is what most people think of when you mention a foreman.

If you fancy having a go, here is a link to the video.

I quite enjoyed following the video and I picked up a few tips along the way, and armed with that information I decided to have a go at doing a shelf sitter of my own design. If you are not familiar with the term "shelf sitter," it is just something that sits on the edge of a shelf usually with the legs dangling down. I don't like the term shelf sitter so I called mine a shelfie.

He was carved from a piece of 1.5 inch square lime wood.

I think he looks kind of cute even though his face is a little bit flat. Flat faces are the trade mark of the novice figure carvers, so I've obviously got a lot to learn. I have been surprised by how much help there is on youtube for  those who would like to carve figures. I would recommend it to anybody because it has all the ingredient of a great pastime.

1) Very little equipment is required, a carving knife that cost about £9 and a carving glove that cost a fiver. is all you need to get started. You will need a lump of wood of course but you can start with pine from your nerest DIY shop.

2) It takes up very little space. You can even do it in the lounge if you want to by catching all the shaving on a lap tray. While the weather has been sunny I have been sitting on a chair in the garden whittling away without a care in the world.

3) It is a great hobby for those who want to be creative. You can either follow plans and patterns from books or design something of you own.

4) Your creations can be used to decorate your own home, used for gifts or even sold.

5) Raw materials in the form of Lime wood is relatively cheap especially in small sizes if you get it from a proper timber merchant like G and S timber.

Anyway, it is certainly one of the best hobbies that I have tried and I've tried quite a few.

So what's next? Well I've got a yearning to turn another pen and I've had thoughts about that shelfie. Part of me wants to paint it because I think it might look better, but I'm worried about spoiling it. So I will probably do a similar one and see how it looks when it has been decorated. I will show you them both in my next post.