What’s it like when you are carving?

[DiLeon]

I go down to my basement where I have partitioned off a medium sized room that I consider " MINE " . I listen to music on my tablet ( Irish Country Music, no advertising, no news, just 100% music ) and let the rest of the world take care of their own problems ,.... I'm down here to carve . On rare occasions I have taken a few minutes to sweep the floor, but that doesn't happen often . None of us know how long we've got left on this planet so for me, I intend to spend my time doing something I enjoy 100% for as long as I can...

When I work I am in a zone so deep I do not see or hear people coming near me, and when I come out of my work trace. It scared the living poop out me to see someone standing there that I am ready to fight ... this is bad because I have come close to almost knocking someone lights out. I made my work areas no people zones for this reason. I have been asked to work in public areas I refuse. The art classroom was not easy, my best work was when I could get into the zone of work, so studio work with others was not a good fit for me other than watching others, and then I took my best work home.

[Stevee]

I like to listen to talk radio while i carve. I especially like to get some insight into the world so I can ignore it!

[Soggy]

I go down to my basement where I have partitioned off a medium sized room that I consider " MINE " . I listen to music on my tablet ( Irish Country Music, no advertising, no news, just 100% music ) and let the rest of the world take care of their own problems ,.... I'm down here to carve . On rare occasions I have taken a few minutes to sweep the floor, but that doesn't happen often . None of us know how long we've got left on this planet so for me, I intend to spend my time doing something I enjoy 100% for as long as I can...

[uvawyo]

I go into a zone, even when i am carving with others sometimes when they are talking i can pop out of the zone to listen or coment sometimes not. And time does fly by in my zone

[Dark Lightning]

Chatting with other carvers, cutting out the stuff that doesn't belong until it looks like what I have in mind. Covid cut into the chatting when the senior center got shut down. Then, there was some animosity with the "teachers" at the club, so I just quit going. It's amazing how giving someone a little power (as in, has a key to the door, and facilitates a class makes them "rulers") and turns them into intolerable people. It reminds me of when someone makes rank in the military, and they're real jerks until they grow into their stripes...but these guys didn't grow. My garage is a mess, but I'm getting a handle on it and will start carving again (it's been months) and wood working. I got the remaining wing and the router table bolted to my new table saw (SawStop PCS with the 40" extension) just today. I had to put some stuff in the garage into temporary storage to get the room for that. OK, I've wandered a bit, so that's enough for now.

[Morrow7x]

Time flies. It's quiet. I sit down to just think about one little idea...

If I sit down intending to spend some time, I might listen to classic country- Hank Thompson, Hank Snow, Jimmie Rodgers, etc.

Being an 'intuitive' whittler with my little guys, as opposed to an 'engineer-type' carver, I only have a general idea of what I'm after. I made a couple minimal rough out patterns I trace just to get going, but the final product gels as I go along. I almost always need to adapt and improvise due to changing ideas, or broken wood (my fault). Often a screwup doesn't seem so bad the next day, or even takes me in a better direction. I think up my own little themes and gags, and sometimes I chuckle out loud when I come up with something.

DiLeon I feel the pain of hunting through wood chips to find a tiny piece. For me, since I don't do eyes or ears, it's usually a small prop that's tough to hold on to. Like an idiot, I decided to add something to the base of a completed little Ahab gnome after it was mounted. Drilling a hole while hand-holding the piece (yeah, don't do that), it spun out of my grasp and bounced across the bench. I looked for 30 minutes, on the bench, under the bench, in wood chips, in wood scraps, the back of the shelf, the box of wood... Finally found a hand and harpoon behind me, sitting on a windshield wiper of my truck. A bit of a mixed-media project, I found the metal harpoon point several days later, even further across the garage, while sweeping sawdust from under some bicycles... :-)

[JBright11]

I crave solitude and mostly quiet when I carve. Like Ed, I may have some 60-70-80's soft rock playing in the background, but that's about it. Pink Floyd's album dark side of the moon is a favorite.

I have a horrible tendency to destroy ears, and eyes. Well, to be honest, I've yet to carve what I perceive as a "good" eye, with the exception of "cartoon" eyes. I've tried several times to use a "practice stick" and carve eye after eye, but it just doesn't seem to work for me. Seems I would rather produce a semi-acceptable completed carving over a collection of eyes of varying quality.

I just try to do the best I can each time and realize I'm learning and keep on working to improve. As I've carved more, I'm starting to realize when I've "goofed" earlier in the process and I typically just stop working on that particular carving and set it up on a shelf where I can see it. At some random point I'll look at that carving and think of something to try....and give it a shot. Sometimes it works and I can continue with that carving....sometimes it doesn't and back on the shelf it goes.

[Brian T]

My grandmother told me, some 60 years ago, that I would 'see' things in the wood to carve. I thought she needed her bolts tightened up a little.
But it happened. Scared me to realize that the block of cedar was a salmon on the redd. So much so that I was holding the fish by the tail. Took away all the not-fish wood.
That's what happens mostly even now. I have piles of wood here and there in the house and outside around the back door. Now when I see carvings like animals or dishes, I just smile to know it's there.
Sound: I've had SiriusXM radio for a very long time. We have 4 stations on a repeater, some times that works sometimes not. I like the soft music channels so there's maybe 25(?) to pick from.
Rumpuss-cat was an outdoor stray, she's still aloof enough to leave me alone except at night when she gets chilly.
I read half a dozen news sites on the internet and that's all I can digest for the day.
That's it. As peaceful or as noisy as I decide it needs to be.

[pallin]

Some creative activities are "additive" - You add paint strokes, new colors, new ingredients in a recipe, etc. You use creative judgement to decide what to add, how much, when, what the results should be.

Carving is "subtractive" - you're taking away material (wood) using special skills with a knife or gouge, constantly assessing whether you're doing it right. When do you stop removing?

Answer: For me it's analytical and exciting. When it's not, I put it aside.

[DiLeon]

Got it…. Yes I have a carving that will never sell the carving is nice but the eyes are off and it make her look goofy. I love doing the eyes I think of as waking up the sculpture. But you are right it is a make or break moment. As for my carving environment the sunroom is a great space and I usually have Pandora’s Led Zeppelin channel playing on the the iPad so 60’s 70’s rock.

As for ghost in the wood? It wants me want to strangle somebody when they say the wood speaks to them and tells them what it wants to be. Now I have looked at a piece of wood and thought what can I make out of a piece that shape. Like after doing the cutouts for the Asherahs I looked at the leftover bit and realized the eagle head pattern I made would fit. But it was my brain making a decision not the wood talking.

yea my wood does not speak to me, if I did I would not want to hear what it had to say. lol My brain talks too much also...it is a wonder I get anything done with it nonstop creative talk of what to do next. I love Hearts' version of Led Zeppelins ...Stairway to Heaven, that sucker is blasted on my big speakers, you would think I had a band inside my place as I carve. Rock on.... I listen to a very large amount of different kinds of music although. Most of the time I want a calm ambient kind of music so I can focus on what I am doing....if I get bored the rock music comes on to wake me up.

I heard someone tell me spirits live inside the wood if you listen you can hear them. Good way to give this old goat a heart attack

[Nebraska]

Got it…. Yes I have a carving that will never sell the carving is nice but the eyes are off and it make her look goofy. I love doing the eyes I think of as waking up the sculpture. But you are right it is a make or break moment. As for my carving environment the sunroom is a great space and I usually have Pandora’s Led Zeppelin channel playing on the the iPad so 60’s 70’s rock.

As for ghost in the wood? It wants me want to strangle somebody when they say the wood speaks to them and tells them what it wants to be. Now I have looked at a piece of wood and thought what can I make out of a piece that shape. Like after doing the cutouts for the Asherahs I looked at the leftover bit and realized the eagle head pattern I made would fit. But it was my brain making a decision not the wood talking.

[DiLeon]

Quiet. I like it very quiet when I carve. That way I can hear the pieces when I break them off.
Been working a rough out I bought some time ago and it is pretty dry, splitting a lot. So I'm having to be inventive. I enjoy the challenge but must walk away often.

I had to laugh that I do not want to hear it break...LOL want to see someone Yell, jump up and down cursing? and when the pieces break and it's me,... down on the ground looking for it so I can glue it back on in the middle of a bunch of wood chips. That is if I find it. When I was carving the fish for the turtle I was down on the ground looking for fish fins more than I was carving!!! I always save chips for those broken-off pieces to recarve to fit, ...and then there is the super glue moment when the break-off sticks to everything but where you want...feel like doing surgery, it is one of those yikes moments!!. I am one to crank the music up....it will be anything from classical calm to Bon Jovi singing Living on a prayer. I am shocked the neighbors do not complain.

[DiLeon]

Break the eyes off? Not sure what that means.

Carve an eyeball or eyelid, it breaks, pops out, or is in the wrong place. Just something that popped in my head...one of those oh-no moments of what now? I find eyes are one of the hardest things to carve and make look good on the whole body. Eye repairs are even worst because eyes are inset into the wood so you make small very detailed cuts, one wrong move .... It is an oh-no moment... do you repair, do you recarve ...do you throw it in the trash can? . Not sure if I am making sense here...???? I wanted a perfect eyeball, for example, and bought a bunch of eye punch palm chisels one time, what a bust, darn things were impossible to sharpen and if you got the punch into the wood it broke the grain vs...cut it. I was not a happy camper. Today I use massive math measuring....sort of do the Ian Norbury method for eyes but still got to get that perfect eye...what do you do?

[sappy]

Quiet. I like it very quiet when I carve. That way I can hear the pieces when I break them off.
Been working a rough out I bought some time ago and it is pretty dry, splitting a lot. So I'm having to be inventive. I enjoy the challenge but must walk away often.

[Nebraska]

Break the eyes off? Not sure what that means.