We have reached a new milestone at my Online School of Traditional Woodcarving! A total of over 100 individual video lessons are now available, which also adds up to over 200 unique videos (some lessons have multiple episodes).
A big THANK YOU to all the current and past members who have journeyed with me through this great adventure! I sincerely appreciate your loyalty, encouragement, and friendship along the way. I could not have done this without you! As you learn to carve wood through watching the video lessons, I also have learned a lot over the past 3-1/2 years.
We started the school with one standard definition camera, then moved to 2 standard definition cameras. As the technology improved, we moved with it. We now have 3 Ultra HD cameras and therefore 3 different angles to teach from. Some of these angles are very close-up in order to show great detail of carving cuts. The sound technology has also improved so you can hear even better the “puff, puff” sound of me blowing the wood chips away 🙂
Most of the lessons on the school are close to “real time”. I try not to skip over any part of the carving process and film right through to the end. This can result in some long lessons with multiple episodes, but you can always fast forward through the repetitive parts (or take a nap). Feedback from students is mostly “please leave it all in, even if it gets boring”. Even through the “boring” parts you can learn a lot.
As I film each lesson, I “think out-loud” so you can hear why I make this or that cut, how it is best to carve in this particular direction, etc. I even leave in the mistakes to show how to fix them, or do a design “adjustment” on the fly. Videos can be brutally honest (expecially HD) and you see all the details – probably more than I see as I’m carving!
Here is a list of all the current video lessons available to Premium Members. The lessons that have been added over the past year or so have short introduction videos that you can watch to get an idea of what the lesson is about.
We are now in the process of re-filming many of the beginning lessons to bring them up to HD video quality. Several of the sharpening videos have recently been updated on the site, and these are all available as a FREE member. The following video is one of the newly re-made videos on sharpening a v-chisel.
Keep an eye out over the next few weeks, as more of the older beginner lessons will be replaced with better quality videos. These new videos also have new teaching content, as I endeavor to give as much information as possible in each of the lessons. I don’t hold anything back!
I would also like to give a “shout-out” to two people who are an integral part of this school.
- Bob Easton who is the mastermind behind developing and maintaining the school website. Over the last 3-1/2 years, Bob has worked countless hours behind the scenes, making the site work smoothly, working through technical problems, and helping members (students) if any issues come up. I could not have done this without Bob.
- Caleb May, my step-son, has been my main video editor for the past year. He has brought new ideas, creativity, and has allowed me to focus on what I love to do most – CARVE! With Caleb taking on the task of working through the complex editing process of 3 camera angles, it has made adding a new episode every week so much easier!
Please sign up for my school newletter where I share any updates to what is happening at the school, recent lessons that have been added, teasers of upcoming lessons, carving tips and tricks, and FREE templates. You will also get weekly notifications when new video episodes are available to watch (every Thursday morning).
