Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

A friend gave me some wood to play with. Was a board about 3-4 feet lone. I don't know what type it is, but it sure carved nice. I will have to ask him the next time he drops by. He is a truck driver and goes all over the place.
And my painter did the magic!!!

jederick Loc: Northern Utah

Beautiful work Erv...you sure have a talent for woodworking/carving!!! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Thank you!! I am getting close to being happy with them.:) Still some room to grow. I think my grandfather would be pretty happy.

tusketwedge Loc: Nova Scotia Canada

beautiful job Erv. A friend of mine uses a lot of poplar wood.Cut easy and once dry pretty stable.Again job well done.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Thank you!!! I have used about every wood that is in Ohio!! Some of the nice folks on the site here have sent me some very special pieces. But I have not used then yet. I want just the right thing to come out of it. I like Maple and Elm, some times I do Oak and have done some poplar. I even do pine if I find the right piece.:) And I just cut down 15 Ash trees. So I have a lot to get done.:)

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Very nice Erv.

You already have your retirement supplement here. Take that camper and go around to the folk art festivals. Dress up in the right style and offer real country art for sale at outrageous prices while you put on an exhibit of carving for wide eyed little kids. Even if you never sell any you get to travel, see the festivals and watch a lot of fascinated little ones get the bug to be a wood carver. Janny can show them how to paint carvings. It should be fun. (Maybe you could even deduct costs on your income tax if you claim to be doing it as a living.)

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Beautiful work!!!
Pat

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

LOL! Going around the country sounds good. The carving at festivals not so good.:) Janny did craft shows for the first 25-30 years of our marriage. I cut out the wood for her to paint. She did really good too!. But she finally got tired of the rush of getting it all done.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Erv, I just remembered a wood used by the folk artists of Uruapan, Michoacán down in south west Mexico. I have some masks made of it. When green carving it is like carving soap, then bake it and it turns hard and light with the water cooked out. I wish I could remember the name of it.

In 72 when I was down there with a Californian State University field school we saw demos etc by one of the great regional carvers. His stuff was exported by an American family who sold to a network of Art Galleries mostly in the US under some international program to provide income for folk artists. He did say that the man he got it from shipped some wood to artists all over the world.

I have a lot of old notebooks and stuff stashed away from those days, I'll have to look to see if I can find the name of the wood. It might be available yet today.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

That would be really nice Robert. I love trying new wood types. I just got a piece of teak wood rom a friend. I haven't put a knife to it yet. But it didn't feel to hard. It sure is pretty tho.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Thank you Pat! I have one more in the shop to finish and then I am going to take a break.:) Maybe!:):)

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I found the wood name then had to look that up to see what it was in English.

Zompantle - Seems it is a fine grained balsa that is much denser than the stuff used for model planes. Soft and even spongy when green and loaded with water. Gets a bit harder and lighter when dried for carving and then fairly hard and even lighter when cured after carving and before painting. I remember the carver we met said his cousin who ran a bakery let him use the hot ovens to cure the wood at night when the bakery was closed.

I have two masks I got from him when we were on a field school in 72. I will take pictures of them and post them. I have an "El Diablo" and a "Moro" a variation on the "Negrito" mask. Both are for a religious festival dance. Somewhere I have a little minature "Viejitos" mask used in the Dance of the Little Old Men (Viejitos) but I don't know where it is. It fell off a book shelf in the dark and got stepped on and split down the middle. It got put in a zip lock and stored away and I haven't seen it in years.

The dance it goes with is supposed to depict little old men walking with canes, and the dancers come out acting like that, then it gets faster. (the dancers are usually athletes in their teens or twenties) The group we saw knew they were performing for a group from a US University so they pulled out all the stops and went into afterburner with dance offs etc by pairs. The room was too small for the follow the leader stuff. Here is a variation of the dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdhHUvBrA7c

Look here to see a selection of masks from Michiocan State in Mexico.
http://www.google.com/search?safe=active&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS563US563&biw=1706&bih=874&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=masks+of+michiocan&oq=masks+of+michiocan&gs_l=img.3...22287.33039.0.33738.18.17.0.1.1.0.208.1156.16j0j1.17.0....0...1c.1.64.img..5.13.870.0ViY78CrPXA

Sylvias Loc: North Yorkshire England

Excellent work Erv, love these. Lots of beautiful detail in these carvings. :thumbup: :D

Leicaflex Loc: Cymru

Gosh Erv, you are very talented indeed.
:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

DOOK Loc: Maclean, Australia

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: