steve kelly
Member
- Messages
- 265
I did a little wood carving a few years back using maple wood but I had to stop because of neck and back problems...My wife loves dolls so I decided to start back about a year ago by carving a doll of my granddaughter Tessa...I still have back and neck problems so I have to limit myself to only working about an hour at a time.....So far I seem to be doing okay with that.....Since then I have carved 4 dolls: 4 year old Tessa; A 10 year old girl from Russia that was adopted by a friend of my wife's; Marie Osmond; and Johnny Bench and his locker room cubicle....all done in maple which I find is a very hard wood to carve...But I use maple because I can get it a lot cheaper then Basswood....I also make my own carving tools...A lot of them I make out of old files that I find at garage sales....They work really great and they stay very sharp.....You can also make knives out of sawzall blades......Tessa ; Russian girl ; Marie Osmond ; Johnny Bench ; I carved Johnny's Glove, his shin guards, his faceguard, his chest protector. his shoes, his helmet, and his clothes ...It's a lot of fun but sometimes I get frustrated because I don't have any training back ground in art or carving...So it's all trial and error with me.....I've tried a couple of relief carvings that turned out okay...and I have dabbled a little bit in burn burning....I love that wood art medium...But I need to get better at that.....steve