Blackhawk Carving Club The Blackhawk Woodcarver
Friends,
An interesting
phenomenon I've observed in the Blackhawk Carving Club is the semi-annual
changing of the guard. Every fall members come back from the northern climes
where they had retreated to last spring. And likewise, others begin their
disappearing act as they head south for the winter. Of course you know this
will repeat itself, in reverse, next spring.
Those of us who
tough it out year round in beautiful northern Illinois and southern
Wisconsin need to be sure to wish those coming and those going, a “welcome
back” and a “have a safe journey.” But, the really important thing here is
to recognize those of us who are brave enough to stay in and around
Rockford, Illinois year round.
Christmas Party
When: December 9th (Wednesday)
Where: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Academy (formerly Ken Rock)
Time: 9:00 am to 11:00 am
Details: Bring a dish to pass.
Signup sheet next to sign in sheet at weekly carving meeting.
Club will supply: paper plates, napkins, eating utensils, coffee, water,
juice, salt and pepper and butter.
P.S. left over carryout available for those needing boxes
Rosalie Wesley
November Birthdays
(that we know about)
6 Bernie Budzynski
8 Don Magnuson
10 Dawn Rozanas
20 Richard Anderson
President - Gary Curl, 895-5106
Vice Pres. - Frank Lay, 677-1190
Treasurer - John Skaggs, 547-6951
Secretary - Martha Fitch, 399-2453
Librarian - Dawn Rozanas—229-8996
Show Co-Chairmen - Gary Curl
895-5106,
Elaine Terrell
765-2886
Webmaster - Gordy Moscinski, 874-7978
Membership - Chuck Drewes,
316-0398
Newsletter Publisher, Gary Johnson 399-1697
Newsletter Editor, Gordy Moscinski, 874-7978
Photographer - Larry Clark, 262-9982
Historian - Elaine Terrell 765-2886
Programs—Bob Matthews 544-2359 &
Denny Neubauer 515-508-9524
Petty Cash—Dona Wisner
Christmas Party -
Rosalie Wesley
Picnic -
Tony Devita
November 4
open carving
November 11
open carving
November 18
open carving &
meeting
November 25
open carving
December 2 open carving
December 9
Christmas Party
When: December 9th (Wednesday)
Where: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Academy (formerly Ken Rock)
Time: 9:00 am to 11:00 am
Details: Bring a dish to pass.
Signup sheet next to sign in sheet at weekly carving meeting.
Club will supply: paper plates, napkins, eating utensils, coffee, water,
juice, salt and pepper and butter.
P.S. left over carryout available for those needing boxes
Rosalie Wesley
December 16 open carving & meeting
December 23
open carving
December 30
open carving
January 6
open carving
January 13
open carving
January 20
open carving & meeting
Homemade jigs & helpers
Bring in your homemade jigs,
vices, tool boxes, clamps or anything that you made to help in carving.
January 27
open carving
February 3
open carving
February 10
open carving
February 17
open carving & meeting
February 24
open carving
Woodcarvers Meeting of October 2015
Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the
Blackhawk Woodcarvers held on October 21, 2015 at 3818 Eleventh Street,
Rockford, Illinois.
The meeting was called to order at 8:58 A.M. by
President Gary Curl.
Due to the absence of Secretary Martha Fitch minutes
from last regular meeting not available.
In a special session Bob Matthews presented the Show
Committee’s recommendations at the October 14, 2015 carving session.
Motion: The Show Committee recommended that the
Blackhawk Wood Carver’s Club
hold the 2016 Carving Show with following goals and
a change of location:
The show committee proposed that we move our show
venue to the Discovery Center in Rockford. Floor opened for questions and
comments.
Our club has continued to grow, but the show
attendance has diminished.
Shriner membership has declined and they must raise
their rental fee significantly.
Discovery Center’s normal admission fee of $8 won’t
apply to those going to the carving show. The Discovery Center will not
charge our club to use their facility for this event. The available space
will be one large main room and several smaller rooms. There is also the
option of tents in the parking area. There is a patio behind the center that
would be ideal for a chainsaw demonstration. We could still have vendors
selling tools and wood. Still have exhibitors and competitions.
Discovery Center can typically draw 600
visitors a day. The Discovery Center would like occasional volunteer carvers
to demonstrate and discuss carving.
John Skaggs called for a vote and motion passed 21
to 3.
Notes taken by Chuck Drewes and emails sent to club
members on same date.
Membership Chairperson, Chuck Drewes indicated new
member, Mike Rutter added to our
roster .
Treasurer’s report given by John Skaggs. Multiple
expenditures due to annual Woodcarving Show.
Petty cash report brought up to date by Dona Wisner
for both August and September.
NEW
BUSINESS:
Snowman Carving Challenge presented by Don
Stansfield. Carve a small wooden snowman and display it at the Blackhawk
Woodcarvers meeting on December 16,
2015.
The
simple rules are:
1. A one piece snowman head and body must be carved from
a piece of wood not exceeding 1-1/2” square by 3” in size.
2. Add-ons are
acceptable.
3. A finish of the artist’s choice is to be used. Prizes will be
awarded.
Jeff Hartman informed the group of a woodcarving
show scheduled in Madison, Wisconsin for Sunday, October 25. Show to be held
at Abundant Life Christian School.
Woodburning Program scheduled for October 28 and
will be presented by Bob Matthews and Larry Stenzel.
Dona Wisner made an announcement that more
volunteers for soap carving are needed. John Skaggs suggested we have a
demonstration on soap carving so that
members know what volunteering entails. No decision
made at meeting.
Jeanne Williams has a maple tree that has come down.
Who ever would like to remove
the tree can have all of it.
Respectfully Submitted,
Rosalie A. Wesley
Substitute Secretary
Deadline for the news for the next newsletter is December 2nd.
Don't forget the Door Prize drawing on First
Wednesdays. Bring something you don't need or want anymore, but know someone
would be thrilled to win at the drawing.
Carving Shows/Classes
Shows within 3 to 4 hours one-way drive time of Rockford will be listed as
they become known.
2015 Fall Seminar Schedule at the Woodcraft Shop,
2724 State St, Bettendorf, IA 52722
November 27, 2015
Sharon Bechtold
A Holiday Burning Workshop
Denny Neubauer, Rockford, Illinois
December 3-4, 2015 cost $95.00
December 5-6, 2015 cost $95.00
Carving Miniatures and Learning How to Sharpen
Does that name sound vaguely familiar?
If you guessed “the maker of
Denny Tools”,
you are correct! Denny has been
enjoying his retirement since selling his tool business to Mike Shipley back
in July 2011. Mike now calls
the tools he makes “Ozark
County
Carving Tools
– OCCT”.
Mike learned a whole lot from Denny about tool making, especially
about the sharpening end of the business. Denny is going to share a bunch of
those tidbits of sharpening knowledge with all of you during the two day
seminar session. If you can’t
get your tools sharp after that, then you must have been sleeping in class!
Long before starting to make tools, Denny taught a lot of woodcarving
classes. His favorite type of
carving to teach was doing miniatures.
He taught all sorts of subjects from Santa Claus, gnomes and
Leprechauns to golfers, carpenters and all sorts of everyday folks.
As difficult as it may seem to carve such tiny characters, Denny
takes you through the process step-by-step so you can end up with your own
gang of small people. We’ve had
Denny teach his miniatures and sharpening class a number of times, but it
keeps on filling up. If you’ve
taken it before, sign up again.
He keeps adding new and exciting projects all the time.
These classes will be held at The Woodcraft Shop, 2724 State Street,
Bettendorf, Iowa 52722
Member
Larry Stenzel demonstrated his wood burning technique at the October 28
meeting, using our new audio/visual equipment. For subject matter he
had chosen an African bull elephant. Wood chosen was birch plywood.
Prior to the meeting, he had transferred the outline onto the wood, and
explained how that was done using graphite transfer paper.
Larry
began by burning the outline with a 1/32-inch ball tip, explaining that he
doesn’t want it to be very prominent, that hopefully the shading done later
would make the outline disappear. He then selected an area and began
filling it in, using the stippling method (small dots) he most often
employs. There are a number of burning tips made for shading, of
course, but Larry said he hasn’t had much luck with them and is more
comfortable shading with dots of varying sizes and density for shading, to
get a three-dimensional look. He uses three sizes of ball tips for
most of his work: 1/32, 1/16, and 3/32-inch. While he uses these tips
for nearly everything he does, he did acknowledge that he really needs to
take some time to learn to use the shaders and other tips for getting some
other effects.
Throughout the demo, a number of people asked questions and Larry did his
best to answer them.
The Clearing Folk School carving slide-show went
beyond my expectations; thanks to Bob Matthews’s suggestion to discuss the
carving and background details.
Well, this carving began a few years ago when we invited an arborist to
advise how to trim our timber in Door County.
He, also was the director of the Clearing, and became interested in
my carving works which led to an agreeable design for mounting in their
student lodge on the Clearing campus.
The carving represents the Clearing points of interest created by the
clearing founder, Jen Jensen 75 years ago.
Of interest were the numerous landscapes, workshops, lodging, and the
school building. The mural
relief carving is from a basswood plank having a size of 12 X 48 x 4 inches,
that required about 7 weeks to complete.
In a special session, Bob Matthews presented the Show
Committee's recommendation at the Oct. 14, 2015 carving session this
morning.
Motion: The Show Committee recommended that the Blackhawk Wood Carver's Club
hold the 2016 Carving Show with the following goals and a change the
location:
"Our destination is the education and promotion of woodcarving. Our
mission is to reach our destination through the excitement and promotion of
wood woodcarving and the Blackhawk Wood Carvers Club".
The Show Committee proposed that we move our show venue to the Discovery
Center in Rockford.
We are still hammering out the details and we need your support with input.
Then the floor was opened for questions and comments and they revealed
following:
Our club has continued to grow but the show attendance has diminished.
It's time for a change!
The Shriner's membership has declined and they must raise their facility
rental fee significantly.
The Discovery Center's normal admission fee of eight dollars won't apply to
those going to the carving show .
The Discovery Center will not charge our club to use their facility.
We can use each other to grow attendance.
There is one large main room but other smaller rooms are available as well
as outdoor tents in the parking lot and still have plenty of parking.
There could be activities for children and adults.
There is a patio behind the center that would be ideal for a chainsaw
carving demonstration.
We could still have vendors selling tools and wood, exhibitors and
competition.
The Discovery Center can typically draw 600 visitors a day.
The Discovery Center would like occasional volunteer carvers to demonstrate
and discuss carving.
John Skaggs called for a vote and the motion passed 21 to 3.
Respectively, Chuck Drewes
S
Saturday, October 11, Stillman Valley, Illinois - Four members of the
Blackhawk Woodcarving Club, led by Gary Lundquist, put on soap carving
classes for a
Girl Scout Crafts & Camping
week-end at Camp Medill McCormick.
Puffy clouds and soft, warm breezes made a perfect Fall day.
Small problem - the blazing sun washed out many picture details.
Dona Wisner helps Scouts at one end of a picnic table while Dick Dunphy
teaches those at the other end of the table.
Dona Wisner and Gary Lundquist get in close and serious with Scouts.
Annlyn concentrates, struggling to make the knife do what she wants.
Annlyn in deep though, pondering details, as Dick Dunphy shows her how to
control her knife.
Gary Lundquist explains basics of carving soap to mixed group of Scouts and
mothers.
Some mothers get personally involved with their Scout’s project.
Scout leaders thanked our woodcarvers, when the afternoon was over,
for putting on such fine, instructive, and entertaining classes.
Mothers too came over to say thanks.
Our four carvers agreed it was time well spent - fun working with the
kids - helping the Girl Scouts - great way to get some fresh air!
Show and Tell
pictures by Larry Clark, comments by Rosalie Wesley
Dave Meyer carved three soaring Dolphins in low relief out of butternut and
finished with Danish Oil and colored with burnt sienna. He then displayed
his deep relief of an Ivan Willock pattern with a cabin in back and trees in
the forefront. This was carved in basswood and also finished with Danish Oil
and burnt sienna.
Larry Stenzel burned his Siamese fighting fish also known as a beta fish and
used water color pencils for a life like depiction on birch plywood. Larry
started this as a demo at the carving show and finished at home. The second
item on display was a 1951 Henry J burned on birch plywood. Larry researched
the car on the internet to insure authenticity.
Bunny Nordheim used a plastic orange pumpkin as a base and carved Ginko
leaves around the upper portion. In a Riken case Bunny displayed a carved
Ginko leaf, a butterfly and Darning Needle, which is a type of winged
insect. The Darning Needle is composed of carved wings, a body molded from
epoxy sculp with lines created by water color pencil , colored with acrylic
and sealed with satin poly. Legs created with thin jewelry wire.
Chuck Drewes combined both wood carving and burning in his Church in the
Vale.
The church was carved out of basswood with a background burning. Chuck used
wipe on poly, but applied the poly with a brush, let it soak and then wiped
it off.
Also he brought in a prospector.