[Woodcarver] Teaching Children to Carve?

Fri Dec 10 08:55:17 EST 2004

Hi Susan,

Great answer to the mother.  I am currently teaching
three children (2 sisters and a brother) ages 10 thru
14 and I think you covered the most important items in
your letter to the mother.

In my case it was a grandmother who urged the kids to
get lessons after they hounded her for tools.  I
accepted the challenge only if the grandmother would
also attend and help watch the use of sharp stuff. 
She also now has some ability to watch over them at
home.

My first session dealt with safty, types of carving
and tools.
They were then told to go to Ivan's and pick up a good
knife and safty glove.
The second session was spent sharpening and honing.
The third session they will finally get to cut some
wood learning the basic knife strokes and making the 5
min. owl.
The sessions will never be over 1 1/2 hour in
duration.

Larry

--- Classic Carving Patterns
<irish at carvingpatterns.com> wrote:

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> Good Morning Everyone!
> 
> I had an interesting question in the e-mails this
> morning concerning a
> young person (8 years old) wanting to learn wood
> carving.  Now I have
> never taught children!  So I thought I would post
> both the question and
> my reply for feedback from those of you on the
> digest that do teach
> kids.  Any ideas or suggestions would be fantastic. 
> If you know of any
> WebPages that focus on young carvers, tools sets for
> young carvers,
> books or instructions for young carvers, safety
> issues (for any carver
> at any age) ... would you please share them with us.
> 
> Oh ... Please, this question is about an inexpensive
> holiday gift that
> probably will end up is some shoe box or kitchen
> drawer in a few weeks
> ... At least that is what would happen with my son
> at that age ... So
> let's not get into $50 tools sets versus $50
> individual tools - you
> should always buy the best -  sort of thing :)  The
> focus of my question
> to you is Teaching Children to Carve.
> 
> Thanks, Susan Irish
> 
> --- The Question ---
> 
> Wow!  There is just so much information on carving! 
> I am a mother of an
> 8 yr. old who is interested in beginning carving.  I
> was hoping you
> could answer a few of my question?  What is a good
> age to start carving?
> What are some basic items needed to get started?  I
> read about 4 of the
> most basic tools....how about a good book you can
> recommend for the
> beginner?  Where do I get the wood?  And so many
> different types of
> wood!  It is something she is asking Santa for and I
> have no idea where
> to start shopping or looking...so hopefully you can
> help!
> Thanks!
> A Frazzled Mom
> 
> 
> --- My Answer ---
> 
> 
> Hi Frazzled Mom!
>  
> I really can't suggest what age is good to start
> carving as I believe it
> would depend on the muscle control development, the
> size of the child's
> hands, and their hand and eye coordination.  So I
> think that you are the
> one that will have to judge this.  I would suggest
> for any child that
> you get them either a carving glove which covers the
> wood holding hand
> or an extra thick Terri cloth hand towel to protect
> that same hand.
> Personally I use a towel both, doubled over, for the
> holding hand as
> well as for my lap to catch the wood chips.  A vice,
> which is used in
> 3-D carving, is great to hold the wood and will keep
> her hands away from
> the knife edge.  For relief carving, flat carving,
> you will want bench
> claps or spring clamps to secure the wood plague to
> the work table.
> Clamps will be available at your local hardware
> store, just tell them
> what your daughter will be doing and what type of
> surface she will be
> working on ... a table top, a small square of
> plywood for her lap ... 
>  
> The greatest danger in wood carving is to the
> holding hand.  That's the
> one that gets 'stabbed' because the knife slips on
> the wood and gets
> imbedded in the thumb or index finger palm area of
> the holding hand.
> So, please, be prepared because even the most
> experienced carvers
> inadvertently stabs themselves once in a while!
>  
> First, I would browse the web for the wood carving
> badge instruction
> pages for the Boy Scouts.  They have a lot of great
> suggestions for
> young carvers both in what to carve as well as how
> to carve.  Basswood
> and balsa wood are both excellent soft woods for a
> young carver to try
> and are readily available at most hobby stores.
> Basswood is the best of
> the two as balsa requires extremely sharp edged
> tools. Learning to keep
> the tools properly sharpened is one of the hardest
> lessons for the new
> carver.  Avoid any form of hard wood as maple,
> walnut, or pine and don't
> use scraps of wood that are laying around the
> workshop or house.  
>  
> Ivory soap has long been a carving media for a
> beginning carver as well.
> Soap carves much the same as the softer woods, is
> easy to find, and
> makes wonderful gifts for the family when the carver
> has transformed
> them into different delightful shapes. It's a great
> learning media then
> the new carver can move onto the wood forms. 
> Linoleum blocks that are
> used in print making also make a wonderful media for
> a new carver.  They
> require only a simple line design carving then ink
> is rolled on top of
> the block to print greeting cards.  So you get two
> hobbies out of one
> work.  www.dickblick.com sells linoleum blocks and
> ink.
> 
> I would add plasticine clay to the new carver's
> media as well.  This is
> a plastic clay that never dries out.  So you can
> work on a sculpture
> today, set it aside for a week, and return to it and
> begin work again.
> With plasticine once the carving is done a cast is
> made and plaster used
> to cast copies of the original work.  This means
> that you can make one
> carving, create a cast (which is a lot of fun to do
> in itself) then make
> a whole bunch of statues from that cast.  Plasticine
> is also available
> through Dick Blick.
>  
> Personally I would get a basic bench knife and a set
> of Japanese Long
> Handle carving tools.  This would give her all the
> different carving
> profiles that she needs while keeping the cost down
> until you and she
> discover if this is something that she will want to
> continue. Plus there
> would be enough tools that both of you could carve
> at the same time,
> sharing the tool set.  I would highly suggest that
> you plan to carve
> with her.  First, of course, is the concerns for her
> safety so you will
> want to be present as she learns her new hobby. 
> Second, and maybe even
> more important, it can become something the two of
> you share in both
> time and interest which will greatly increase her
> joy in the craft.
>  
> Instead of a book I would suggest going through our
> website and reading
> some of the online tutorials we have.  Our books are
> gears to an older
> carver but you might try www.foxchapelpublishing.com
> for other book
> ideas.  They are my publisher and print about 600
> different titles.
> 
> ---
> 
> Thanks everyone!  Susan Irish
> 
> Carving Patterns Online
> Designs Online Since 1997!
> Classic Carving Patterns By L.S.Irish
> http://www.CarvingPatterns.com
> http://www.WoodCarvingPatterns.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
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