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Welcome to Mary May’s on-line school of woodcarving!

Have you ever been involved in a project where you completely lose track of time? That is a true sign that you love what you’re doing. Come join me (Mary May) on a journey of learning the wonderful art of woodcarving – and let’s lose track of time!

I have been teaching traditional carving skills for over 15 years. In my endeavor to make available and share the techniques of this art with as many people as possible, I have put together this on-line video school. The videos range from beginning carving projects to advanced. Some are just short tips and tricks, while others cover a complete complex carving project.

Some videos were filmed in actual classes (where there is some interaction with students), while others were projects I completed in my workshop (where you can hear the roosters in the background).

I plan to add videos to the site as I complete a variety of carving projects in my shop. I can’t predict what video projects will be made in the future, but as a work comes in, the camera will be rolling…

Join us. Become a member and start enjoying these videos.

There are currently 39 lessons available.

Try a Sample:

This sample lesson demonstrates the quality of lessons you can expect after becoming a member.

News and Updates

5/13/13 – And another video added! Carving a Classical Shell and Acanthus Leaf Design. This carving goes on the top of a square mirror frame – as a sort of “crown”. You can see many variations of this design throughout the antique furniture world. There are a lot of challenges in this carving – especially dealing with grain issues in carving the shell. The Acanthus leaf is slightly different than others that I have made videos for – in that it is more twisting and scrolling and many of the typical aspects (such as “eyes”) are not included because they are actually around to the other side of the leaf.

4/24/13 – Another video has been added. This is a sweet little carving of an incised maple leaf – also called “intaglio”. It is about 22 minutes long and is a good project for the top of a small jewelry box. You can take this technique and carve any kind of leaf or similar design.

4/4/13 – Chapter 3 and 4 of carving the Dragon and Acanthus Leaf has just been added to the video school. These videos start the process of carving the acanthus leaves. The trick to this carving is making the leaves flow and getting the general movement of the leaves before carving the details.

3/27/13 – I just added the first two chapters of the video “Carving a Dragon and Acanthus Leaf Design”. There will probably end up being 15 to 20 chapters for the complete project, and I will be adding the chapters to the school as I edit the video. This is a very ornate carving with a LOT of acanthus leaves, and some real dimension to the design. The videos will be added sort of like a TV show – it will keep you in suspense until the next episode! But I think you might know how it ends…

3/20/13 – New look to the site. Bob Easton, the master-mind behind the technical aspects of the website, made more room on the front page for this “news and updates” section, and more space on inside pages for videos. Here I list the latest videos, any changes to the site, any other nice little news tid-bits that will be helpful in keeping everyone up-to-date on what is happening with the site.

Recent Additions