Spaces Still Available for Basic Relief Carving Class

October 19, 2015 / Mary May / Ball and claw foot, Period Furniture Carving, Society of American Period Furniture Makers, Wood Carving Tips

This weekend I’m heading to The North Carolina Furniture School in beautiful Winterville, NC to teach a basic relief carving class. Stuart Kent is the Founder of the school, and he is also a highly acclaimed artistic woodturner and teacher.

There are still spaces available for the carving class this weekend, so come join in the fun of learning how to get started in this wonderful art. I started over 25 years ago and still wake up every morning saying “Oh, goody. I get to carve today!” Find out for yourself how much fun it can be!

One of the beginning carving projects – carving a camellia flower!

Also, next week I have the honor of co-teaching with Ben Hobbs on building a reproduction of a lovely Robert Walker Dressing Table from around 1770. An original table can be seen at MESDA (Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts) – photo below. Ben is a very knowledgable and skilled furniture maker that specializes in making period furniture and teaching the traditional methods. He also is the recipient of the 2011 Cartouche award from SAPFM (Society of American Period Furniture Makers). Ben will be teaching all the construction methods and I’ll teach how to carve the petit and delicate ball and claw feet plus the scroll on the knee. It always surprises me that carving smaller versions of designs often takes longer to carve that the full size.

And in my spare time, I’ll be working on completing my book on how to carve acanthus leaves. Sign up here to receive my newsletter for the inside scoop!

Carved Dresser Legs

October 3, 2015 / Mary May / Wood Carving Tips

I recently finished a really exciting and challenging project for a fellow SAPFM member, Jim Podesva. Jim is making a reproduction of a beautiful Thomas Seymour dresser from the late 18th century, and he asked me to carve 4 highly ornate carved legs. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Jim did a beautiful job in turning the legs, and the wood was an amazing Honduran mahogany. The most complex and detailed part of the carved leg is the ribbon, grape vine and reed section. This is the order that I carved that section:

Lower down the reed section to an even surface
Lower the background of the grape vine
Carve the grape vine design
Carve the reeds

Next, the micro-acanthus leaves. These are only about 2-1/2 inches long, but have the same details as larger leaves. I also carved beads, laurel leaves, and flutes to continue the carved details.

I filmed the entire process of carving this leg and it is currently available on my online school.

If you are a Premium Member to my school, you can watch the process of carving every detail of this leg.
Check out the following introduction videos for this project:

Part 1 – Carving a Ribbon, Grapevine & Reeds Introduction video
Part 2 – Carving Laurel Leaves
Part 3 – Carving Acanthus Leaves
Part 4 – Carving Beads
Part 5 – Carving Flutes
Part 6 – Carving Reeds and Laurel Leaf Foot

If you want to purchase the entire leg project, you can find that here.

Next project is carving a traditional Charleston Rice Bed. Yeah!!
Well… I might just have to finish writing a book on carving acanthus leaves first…

Woodcarving Adventures in Maine

July 25, 2015 / Mary May / Wood Carving Tips

This past month has been a very busy month in teaching, travelling, and adventures in cooler temperatures. Last year I scheduled my July to spend most of it in Maine, where my husband and I could escape the heat of South Carolina, and enjoy the balmy, cool breezes of coastal Maine. It sort of worked, but not quite as planned.

It turned out that my husband had to stay in SC and work. He runs a foam insulation company, and for some odd reason as the temps increase to the mid to upper 90s in SC, everyone wants their attics insulated – go figure… So he stayed in SC and sweated in attics while I traveled to cooler climates and tried to resist telling him how wonderful and cool it was in Maine. Poor guy…

I started out teaching a 5 day introduction to carving class at Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. It was a great class, and everyone did an amazing job. Here are some highlights:

Finished scallop shell and background lowered around acanthus leaf.

Lots of different carvings worked on during the week.

Sunburst carving - half concave and half convex.

And then I had to go home for 5 days before the Lie-Nielsen Open House (can you believe it?). I had planned on staying in Maine as an attempt at a vacation – didn’t happen. There was too much I needed to do back home.

I flew back into Rockland, Maine just before the Open House in a little Cessna from Boston – it was SO fun. I love flying in those little planes. It ended up being about $200 less expensive for me to fly into Rockland than fly into Portland – I don’t understand that, but I jumped at it.

The open house was a lot of fun. I got to see old friends and met a lot of new friends. Open House highlights:

Roy Underhill playing with sharp objects

My attempt at throwing a double headed ax.

Not great form - didn't even come close to the target.

And then the next week I spent 4 days filming 2 instructional videos for Lie-Nielsen – one on carving a Greenman and one carving a Pineapple.

All of the carved bits and pieces of faces used in the video.

And finally I taught a fun weekend carving class at Lie-Nielsen.

Everyone working hard on their carvings.

Not working so hard on their carvings...

Carving the background down of the dogwood flower.

Lie-Nielsen assistants, Denielle and Liz - showing off the... Duck??

Fan carving - concave on one side, convex on the other.

And now I’m back in SC continuing to work on my acanthus leaf book and catching up on commissions. Never a dull moment! But enjoying life!

Sign Up Soon!

June 27, 2015 / Mary May / Antique furniture reproduction, Charleston Rice Bed, Finials, Videos, Wood Carving Tips, Woodcarving classes

Only 4 more days and I will be increasing the prices for my Online School of Traditional Woodcarving for the first time in 3 years. If you sign up before July 1, you can lock in at the current low rates, for as long as you remain a member.

Also, if you want to receive monthly newsletters keeping you up to date on future video lessons that will be added to my online school, carving tips and tricks, a free template every month, and class schedule – and a weekly newsletter announcing and describing the latest new video (every Wednesday evening), sign up HERE.

Here are a few of the more recent video lessons that have been added:

Carving a Trifid Foot

This lesson shows how to carve a traditional Trifid foot often seen on Queen Anne and Chippendale style chairs. This lesson is 1 episode and runs around 40 minutes. I show how to carve 2 different styles – one with a smooth web, and one with the defined “stocking” shape. You can view a short introduction video HERE.

Carving a Newport Flame Finial

Another very traditional detail for those who want to build period furniture – the Newport Flame Finial. This very symmetrical spiraling finial has some real challenges with grain – but it’s worth the effort! You can view a short introduction video HERE.

Carving a Lily and Rose Design in Shallow Relief

In this lesson, I show how to carve 2 beautiful flowers in 1/4″ shallow relief – the Lily and Rose. This is carved in Maple and I show how to create an illusion of much greater depth. You can view a short introduction video HERE.

Currently there are 91 unique lessons and 183 individual episodes available, with a new video added every week. Here is a list of all video lessons currently available to Premium Members.

If you are just starting out with woodcarving, there are 16 FREE videos available to get you started – how to sharpen gouges, basic carving cuts, clamping techniques, and several beginning lessons. But remember – if you wait until after July 1 to sign up as a Premium Member, you will be paying the new increased price.

Some very exciting projects are coming up over the next few months that will become lessons for my online school – Carving details for a Charleston Rice Bed, a Thomas Seymour style dresser leg with a ribbon and grape vine (with all the details), a Green Man, more details on the Philadelphia Highboy top (the only part I still need to add as a lesson is the center shell), and last, but not least – a pineapple applique. In between the larger, more involved lessons, I will be putting in some single-episode and easier projects. I don’t want to scare anyone away!

Happy Carving Everyone!

Take a Woodcarving Class in Germany

June 11, 2015 / Mary May / Wood Carving Tips

I’m heading off to Germany! I will be teaching the following classes in Munich, Germany at the Dictum school. Spaces are still available!

September 4, 5 & 6 – Relief Carving of Floral Designs

September 8, 9 & 10 – Advanced Course in Relief Carving

There will be someone available to translate if necessary. Also, be aware that “Advanced” really means that you have some experience with woodcarving – even if you have only taken one beginning course.

I taught a class at Dictum last year and I would highly recommend the experience – very professional school and their store is amazing. I’m really looking forward to teaching there again. I’m planning on staying in Germany longer to explore – and get some amazing acanthus leaf photos for “Carving the Acanthus Leaf” book!

5 days of carving – what can be better?

May 28, 2015 / Mary May / Tips & Tricks, Wood Carving Education, Wood Carving Tips, Woodcarving classes

Next week, June 1 – 5, I will be teaching “The Joy of Woodcarving” Class at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking. The weather is going to be a lot nicer than when I was there earlier this year 🙂

There are still a few spaces available. Time is running out to sign up!

We will be starting with the fundamentals of carving – sharpening, basic carving cuts, how to work with the grain – and we will progress to a variety of relief carving projects that will get more challenging as the week goes on. For each project, I walk you through the complete step-by-step techniques of creating a beautiful carving.

Whether you are a novice carver and have never picked up a gouge before, or are an experienced carver – please sign up! If you have experience in carving, you can create a more customized course if you wish.

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