Do you know what I love about my job? I love the variety – the variety of projects I get to work on, the variety of places I get to go, and above all, the variety of amazing people I get to meet. This past week was no exception. Charles Neil and a gang of 6 of his woodworking buddies showed up at my shop bright and early Monday morning for a week of intense woodcarving. Charles is a highly skilled (and inventive) woodworker that has a great web site and also has a weekly video woodworking show called the Mastering Woodworking Show. He videos the process of building complete pieces of furniture – and has a great sense of humor.
Click here for a youtube video of “the gang”
Charles started out wanting to come down by himself to learn a few extra tricks with woodcarving. He mentioned it to a few of his friends and students. I got an email asking if I have room for 3 or 4 people to come with him. I said “sure, I’ll make room”. Then I got another e-mail from him – “can you fit 7 of us?” “Sure”, I say without hesitating “I’ll make room” – wondering how in the world that would happen. I counted the amount of level surfaces in my shop and realized that most of these surfaces are covered with something. So, I had a frenzied day of cleaning out my shop and shifting things around. This clean-up was despirately needed – I found things that I lost track of several years ago!
We went through quite a few carving projects in 5 days – some much more difficult than others. We started out by carving that good ol’ ball and claw foot. Everyone did well with that – even some who have never carved before!
Then we went on to a tiny little flame finial for a Newport Clock that several of the guys are building as part of one of Charles’ classes. What a fiddly little carving! It’s like micro-carving. I have carved this finial before, but on a larger scale for a 6 shell Newport secretary. We all discovered that carving smaller is NOT easier.
Then we ventured into the convex Newport shell, as this is also on the clock they are building – only a slightly smaller version. That went really well also – considering it is probably one of the more difficult carvings to do because of all the grain direction issues. It’s fascinating to see the confidence grow on long classes like this. By the 4th and 5th day, wood is just flying! (sort of).
The final project was an acanthus leaf on the knee of a cabriole leg. By this time they were pros.
There were a few incidents where bandaids were needed…
We had several opportunities to learn from the experts during the week (I learn more from my classes than my students!) Charles Neil showed us the product he developed that seals any kind of wood so that it can receive stain and finish smoothly (this worked GREAT for basswood). It’s called Pre-Color Conditioner – Blotch Control. He also showed how to use ashphalt as a stain – fascinating! You can see an article he just wrote on this here – https://www.thefinishingstore.com/latest-article-from-charles-neil/.
Jeff Fleisher teaches chip carving at North Bennet School of Woodworking and showed us techniques of making very delicate geometric cuts with a chip carving knife.
My eccentric English father-in-law, David May, is a highly talented artist in many areas. One of those skills is decorative metal engraving, and he was kind enough to meet with the guys and demonstrate the technique. Since they are building this clock, they will need a brass clock face engraved, so I hope that partnership works out.
The guys became a regular at the local Crab Shack, where they pretty much cleaned Charleston out of all their oysters (yech – who would eat snot?)
So now after my new-found friends are all back in their homes in the snowy north, I walk into my quiet, empty, clean workshop – and it echoes of loneliness… sniff…
Farewell til next time…
Mary, many thanks , you are a superb teacher and we certainly had a great time .
We are ready to return, everyone agrees one of the best woodworking experiences we have ever had.
I (we) had an exceptionally fun and educational time at Mary’s class. Mary is a master carver and an extremely good instructor. For each of the projects Mary mentioned in her blog, she demonstrated a certain set of techniques, stopped at a logical point and had us carve to that point. While we were carving, Mary would visit each of us and give one-on-one suggestions and guidance. Then we continued on in the same manner…all very clear and at a good pace…..and our carvings ended up looking just like hers (don’t we wish!!!). We found ourselves wanting to get to Mary’s shop earlier and earlier each day…we started at 9am on Monday and by Wednesday we were asking her if she could open the doors at 7:30am…and then the time just flew.
Mary emphasized the need to go home and to immediately continue to carve to instill that ‘muscle memory’ in ourselves so I’m off to make some mahogany blanks and make the transition from basswood to mahogany….shouldn’t be a problem!
I highly recommend one of Mary’s classes if you are interested in learning how to carve. Mary has projects for the completely inexperienced to several that are very challenging so there is something for everyone.
Thanks guys! It was a blast!
Looked like a ton of fun and very educational. The Ball and Claw together with the Acanthus Leaf on the knee of a Cabriole Leg. Is on my wish list!
I had totally forgotten Charles was taking carving instruction with Mary May. This weekend, I was home sick with the flu watching a lot of TV, and guess who was on public tv with Roy Underhill?
Thanks for sharing!
-Ace-
What a great learning experience (and a barrel of fun)! We worked hard on the four projects Mary described. I had a lot of trouble with the first project, the ball and claw foot (but brought the carving home for more work!) but by the time we progressed to the Newport convex shell and especially the acanthus leaf on the cabriole leg I was growing in confidence and (dare I say it?) skill. I’m not proficient yet, by a long stretch, but I have a good sense of how to proceed now and I’m excited and eager to keep working at my carving. I’ve carved (in walnut, no less) every day since I’ve been home.
Mary is a great teacher and helped us all learn better techniques. Now it’s up to us! I can’t say enough about Mary and her class. If you have any interest in learning to carve, check out her video series or, better yet, take a class with her!
Thanks Mary for a wonderful experience….your teaching skills are exceptional. Prior to attending Mary’s class, I had never touched a carving chisel in my life….Never !! On the first day of class I learned some very important lessons….most important lesson was…”Never touch the end of a chisel because they are very sharp…” The next lessons were much less painful….learn to layout your work, carve with both hands, learn and appreciate grain directions and keep your chisels sharp. As expected, I was very tentative when I first started….light taps with the mallet…really not making much progress. As the week progressed my confidence built with Mary’s assistance and by the end of the week, I experienced the great pleasure of hearing the chisel slice through the wood with a wonderful sound and the chips began to fly. My suggestion to all “wanna-be” carvers….take one of Mary May’s classes and join her Web-School…
Thanks Jim & Norm!
We only went through a few bandaids… but it was worth it all!