Since I was on a carving roll last post, I thought I'd add a little more to the mix. There's a carving class coming up with Dennis Patchett, and if you've never heard of him, or taken a class with him, then you're missing out.
Dennis has taught quite a few classes at the woodworking school here in town, including Router Techniques, Advanced Router Techniques, Building a Mini Workbench, and one of my favorites – CARVING!
In his beginning carving class, he starts everyone off with one of the coolest projects - a wooden apple with a bite taken out of it. Students actually inlay the area of the bite with a different color of wood.
It's amazingly cool.
The great thing about Dennis is that he is so talented, and humble.
His approach to carving is completely special, sometimes using a mix of power and hand tools. He specializes in reproductions of period furniture,
and his work could be displayed in museums around the world. His linen fold panels are out of this world!
In the carving class, Dennis will start everyone with a simple apple carving, perfect for bribing your favorite teacher. (Or your child's teacher!)
And then he'll move on to spoon carving, which is pretty much the rage right now. Here are some spoons that we carved in a past class.
But - leave it up to Dennis, who is going to up his game, and talk about carving "love spoons." They're pretty fascinating - you can read about them here.
Finally, Dennis will finish the class letting students carve something of their own design. Need a sign for your cabin? A trophy plaque for commemorating a special date? It's up to you!
We've had some very cool designs in the past, and I can't wait to see what everybody comes up with this time. Here's a link to read more, or to enroll. There's no prerequisite for this course, and if you're into "slow" woodworking with few tools, this is the class for you!
Happy carving!