TexasWoodcarving.com

I ran across fromoldbooks.org which is a site with thousands of high resolution images from old or rare books. Most of these images are now public domain. This should make one more useful reference site.

Here is a photo of Ricky's finished sign for Jenny Ellerbe Photography. Good work Ricky.

This week fellow woodcarver Floyd Brigdon came to visit our class. Here are some of the pictures he took of the usual crowd. Here is Doug Oliver with a piece he is working on. You can see more of his work at http://www.texaswoodcarver.com/ .

Here is a small wood burning I recently did on the plain cross of a rosary. It is a simple pattern, but I think it has a nice effect.

Here is a carving that a student of mine is working on. It will be a sign for Jenny Ellerbe .

This is the tool cabinet that I built to go above my workbench. An adjustable lamp is mounted just above it.

A carver with leather working experience asked me if the background texturing tools used for leather can be used for wood. The answer is yes, but with a caveat. I have used leather stamps on several carvings. It's hard to see in this picture, but the backgrounds in this carving are stamped with a leather working tool. I use a teardrop shaped, cross-hatch stamp the most. Some stamps will not work very well - especially those with much detail. The stamps work by crushing and tearing the wood fibers. The torn wood fibers will remain torn, but the crushed ones will (to some degree) return to their original form. Therefore, stamps are best used for creating texture, but not for detail. Creating texture will also add color since it will reflect light and take finish differently.