[Woodcarver] Class Report

[Sylda]

I'm not that far from being a beginner and I had a great beginning teacher,
but you sound every bit as good.  I'm sure this left handed lady (I left
handed) will do very well.  Your arrangement of the class and choices of
projects were excellent.  She was fortunate to have had you!!
Congratulations on a job well done.  You should be proud.
Sylda

On 11/14/04 10:07 PM, "Alex Bisso" <albisso at bresnan.net> wrote:

> To make a DONATION to the Mailing List using PayPal OR regular mail, click
> this link: http://wwwoodcarver.com/WWWList/WWWList.html
> 
> Since I got so many good suggestions for teaching a 2-day one-on-one
> beginners carving class from the list, I thought you might like a brief
> report on the class.  First, I again want to say thanks for the input.
> Because of it, I have no doubt that my student enjoyed the class very much
> and really learned a lot.  After beginning with a discussion of types of
> carving tools (with demos), safety, carving woods and sharpening (with lots
> of demo/practice as she had factory beveled set of palm tools that needed to
> be properly shaped and honed), we began to carve in earnest.  We did the
> following:
> 1.  The 5-minute owl (ours was a bit larger than the pattern and took quite
> a bit longer than 5 minutes but it was easy and fun and she really enjoyed
> it - a great way to start.
> 2.  A simple relief carved flower pattern from www.carvinpatterns.com - for
> this we actually used the instructions provided for this beginner project on
> the web site which were supplemented by clarifications and demonstration.
> This was quite a learning experience but also very enjoyable.
> 3.  A very easily carved Christmas tree ornament which was a reindeer that I
> had cut out on the band saw, about 3/8" thick and which only needed
> additional shaping, rounding and details such as a collar, eyes, ears and
> mouth.  Some details were also burned with the wood burner.  She really like
> this one and it too had some very educational elements (especially rounding
> the antlers which were curved and required closely watching the grain
> direction.
> 4.  Lots of work on a study stick - first an eye and then a basic face with
> beard.  There was plenty of repetition on this and it was hard work but you
> could really see the benefit of repeating the steps.  This was great
> preparation for the final project.
> 5.  Ol' Joe's spirit face key chain.  We did this in a 1" x 1" x 4" piece of
> jelutong that was very easy to carve.  The previous hard work on the study
> stick really helped to make this a do-able task.
> In the end she was very pleased with the instruction and amount of
> information she had learned.  She joined the Montana Woodcarvers Association
> to take advantage of our woodcarving library (here at my house since I am
> currently the librarian) and took a couple of books, a video and a study
> stick home to help her continue her carving.  We also spent quite a bit of
> time looking at carving magazines, supply catalogs and web sites and she
> made a list of contact information for later reference.
> I think the most difficult thing to convey (might have been more difficult
> since she was left handed) was proper way to hold the work and carving knife
> or tool to have control, power and safety.  Often it was necessary to make
> corrections to keep her anchored to the piece and achieve the control needed
> for accurate and safe work while removing enough wood to get the job done.
> This required patience and persistence in making corrections to unsafe
> methods.  I found it to be very important to closely watch the student so
> that coaching and demonstration could be interjected when needed. It seems
> to me that this would really be hard if there were many students and I was
> glad that I had only one.
> Alex Bisso
> Billings, MT
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: woodcarver-bounces at six.pairlist.net
> [mailto:woodcarver-bounces at six.pairlist.net]On Behalf Of Alex Bisso
> Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 10:38 AM
> To: [Woodcarver]
> Subject: [Woodcarver] need help for class
> 
> 
> To make a DONATION to the Mailing List using PayPal OR regular mail, click
> this link: http://wwwoodcarver.com/WWWList/WWWList.html
> 
> Recently I met a lady who said she has wanted to do wood carving for many
> years and asked me to give here some starting lessons.  She will be coming
> to stay here for two days early next month and I need to plan the class for
> her.  I was thinking along the lines of:
> 1.  Explain basic carving tools and types of carving
> 2.  Discussion of safety
> 3.  Sharpenening demonstration and practice
> 4.  Beginning carving
> 
> Although I know she is interested in carving spirit or other faces, I am
> thinking it might be best to start with something easier.  I have a simple
> owl pattern that I think would be good to do first to learn about grain and
> basic cutting before attempting a face in a stick, egg or bark.  I would
> like your thoughts on this and perhaps suggested outlines for the discussion
> first 3 items above.  I will monitor the list for input and also welcome
> your responses directly to me at albisso at bresnan.net
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> ALEX BISSO
> Billings, MT
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Woodcarver mailing list
> Woodcarver at six.pairlist.net
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/woodcarver
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Woodcarver mailing list
> Woodcarver at six.pairlist.net
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/woodcarver
>