The winter semester of 2005, Bill Hurr taught an evening class on bark houses. Bark and tools were provided for the 5 or 6 week class for $35. Trudy Ginest was assisting him. The 1st house was a struggle. I used one knife, one small v tool and a little U gouge to complete the entire thing! They talked me into buying a second piece of bark and messing with it on my own. I purchased a set of chisels to rough out the piece, a couple Flexcut knives and an inexpensive 5 piece carving set. I completed that piece and Trudy’s comment made me smile then and now at the memory. “You’re a natural at this girl! You’ve got whimsy!”. Mr. Bill said he liked it too. I was just about hooked. Someone who'd watched the first two wanted me to carve Christmas gifts for her. She purchased 5 small houses for $400. I bought tools & books! The next was $150 and the next 4 for $200 each. I bought more tools & books. I was hooked! All that was done in 2005. Jan. 20th 2006 I snapped a cartilage in my wrist moving furniture at work. Not much carving and no guitar until recently. It's about time to catch the carving bug again.. it just hasn't happened YET.

I enjoyed bark carving. I liked the softness of the wood and the imagination factor. I did not realize I liked the softness of the wood until one day Trudy said they had a carver coming from out of town to teach a class, Keith Morrill, and I said I'd like to learn charicature carving. She said she'd get me up to speed enough to take the class. I arrived at her shop on the scheduled night. She handed me a piece of wood that was 2 x 2 x 12. We spent the next 4 or 5 hours taking off one corner before she showed me how to make an eye.. steps 1 - 9 and noses steps 1 - 6. When I got home, I had blisters on my hands. The next day, my right shoulder would barely move. I was IN PAIN... THIS WOOD HURT ME. The next night as I sat in pain, after work, I wrote "Bully in the Block". (See journal entry - My 1st experience with basswood.)

I also took a class with Jon Nelson. We carved (he and I) a Santa. I liked carving Santas. When Keith came back in the fall of 2006 I again took his class and tried my hand at a Santa cowboy - but, both hands were in braces and I was in lots of pain. He's still not finished.
I like the imagination factor of carving for breakage reasons too. Something breaks off a house, imagine something else.. a nose or ear or arm breaks off a chararicture or is poorly carved - you've got to fix it!
Though I lost my ability to carve, I did not loose my ability to pruchase roughouts. Between Jon Nelson, Keith, Bishops, Old Don and Doane, I was down right amazed when I started organizing and putting things away. I've somehow managed to compile SEVERAL YEARS worth.

EVERYTHING. I've messed a bit with chip carving. I took a class at Doane last year with Sheila Hunter and will take another this year with Darian Bebout. I've got a LONG way to go to get to a level I'm happy with. My cuts are just not concise. Perhaps it's my knives, yet another thing that is lacking. I have all the tools, I just lack the ability to sharpen well. I keep hoping my someday man will come along and just LONG TO SHARPEN knives, gouges, vtools..

I'll eventually start carving with the Tuesday night group at Trudy's.

I play a bit of guitar. My abilities are limited but, friends, family and even strangers at the nursing home enjoy listening to me sing and play. My 98 yr old grandmother is in the nursing home here, so I have an added incentive.

At this point, I owe so many carvings, I don't know if I'll ever again get to carve for money!

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