The Blackhawk Woodcarver
Why do I like
to carve?
When I was a
little kid at home in Wausau WI my dad owned and operated a small Auto Body
Repair Shop which was located behind our home at the outskirts of town.
His small two stall garage was heated by a wood fired cast iron
stove. (Safety Laws were quite
different at that time). Dad
would get wood to burn in the stove from the Curtis Window and Door Company
in Wausau. Once or twice a year
a dump truck from Curtis would come and dump a load of small end cuts and
knot cutouts from pine wood.
The family would then have to rush out and gather up the wood and stack it
in the back room of the garage.
I don’t know how much help I was because I was always looking for the neat
pieces for my projects. I loved
the wood piles – the smell of the wood, the neat pieces I’d find, the
projects I’d think up for the pieces of wood. When I got older and joined
the Boy Scouts, I got my jackknife.
The wood pile became a new friend.
I still have some examples of my early attempts at carving the pine
wood pieces from the wood pile.
These were happy days I will never forget.
Again, as a
reminder, I would like to have our club members start bringing in along with
regular SHOW and TELL items, some of your carvings that you have treasured
from the past. We all have
carvings packed away or setting on a shelf that no one has seen for years
except our spouses. I will have
an extra table set up so we can show our favorites on the Wednesdays that we
have our meetings!
So…….Let the
chips fly and see you at the club!
Jerome Mais
Blackhawk Carving Club
P. O. Box 8285 Rockford, IL 61126
Open Carving every Wednesday (8:30-11am).
Ken Rock Community Center (Sacred Heart Academy, Multi-purpose room)
3218 Eleventh St, Rockford, IL 61109
Business Meeting; third Wednesday. of the month. Friends and spouses of
carvers are especially welcome to come to meet and visit. Carvers bring in
finished carvings for “Show & Tell.”
May 10
open carving
May 17
open carving and meeting
May 24
open carving
May 31
open carving
June 7
open carving
June 14
annual picnic (see article
right below)
June 21
open carving and meeting
June 28
open carving
July 5
open carving
July 12
open carving
July 19
open carving and meeting
July 26
open carving
August 2
open carving
August 9
open carving
August 16
open carving and meeting
August 23
open carving
August 30
open carving
September 6
open carving
September13
open carving
September 20
open carving and meeting
September 27
open carving
May Birthdays
(that we know
about)
1
Rosalie Wesley
2
Roger Benedict
8 Lloyd Duerst
14 Wes Englund
21 Bob Matthews
21 Colin Bystrom
22 John Hartwig
22 Steve Terrell
23 Jenne Williams
25
Larry Christensen
26
Charles Drewes
28 Art Valley
The Blackhawk Woodcarvers annual picnic
The picnic will be held on Wednesday, 14 June 2017, from 3:00pm until dusk at Baum Park in Cherry Valley, IL. We will be at the pavilion by the tennis courts. No grills will be provided other than the ones at the pavilion, if anyone wants to use them please contact Tony DaVita and he will provide charcoal and starter. The club will provide soft drinks and water.
submitted by; Gary Lundquist
Musky Area Wood Carvers Workshop
August 15-18, 2017 in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin. Teachers include: Wes Spadgenske, Dan Haack, Bob Harris, Echo Keller, Sophie Kubisiak, David Kublank, Gordy Moscinski, Denny Neubauer, Elaine & Fred Stenman, Greg Wirtz, James Thalacker, Dorthy Huse and Lee Belanger. For the full layout go to muskyareawoodcarvers.com
The Woodcraft Shop, Bettendorf, Iowa
John Engler, medium relief woodcarving.
Friday to Sunday: May 26, 27, and 28, 2017 - $185.00.
Josh Guge, realistic
bird carving and painting.
Friday to Monday: September 15, 16, 17 and 18, 2017 –
$270.00 + a $20.00 material fee.
For more information call toll-free 800-397-2278 or go to
www.thewoodcraftshop.com
Rock River
Valley Show
The Rock River
Valley show in Janesville.
Applications for a table are available.
The show will be Saturday September 9 from 10-4.
See Jerome Mais for applications.
Blackhawk Carving Club Minutes March 2017
Minutes of the
regular monthly business of Blackhawk Woodcarvers; held on April 19, 2017 at
3218 Eleventh Street, Rockford, Illinois.
Jerome Mais
opened the meeting at 9:16. He
apologized for not starting on time because the building was closed for a
holiday and there was no one with a key!
Jerome started
with mail. Flexcut has sent us their annual discount envelope.
See Jerome for details or a voucher.
The MDA muscle
walk is coming up soon. Luis
Cowan explained the details.
There is now a vaccine for Muscular Dystrophy that can be given to infants
and stop MD. MDA continues to
seek funds for research. The
Walk for MD will be 8:00 AM May 6 at Klehm Arbouretum.
Louis requests that we all sign his poster that he will sport at the
walk. Sign as a supporter
whether you give or not.
The Rock River
Valley sent us information about their show in Janesville.
There are applications for a table are available.
The show will be Saturday September 9 from 10-4.
See Jerome for applications.
Steve Terrill
read the Minutes of the previous meeting.
The minutes were approved.
John Skaggs is
up in Madison today with his wife and gave Jerome a copy of his report.
It looks good to Jerome.
He will have John report on it next meeting.
Dona Wisner
reported on Petty Cash and we continue to be solvent.
Dona brought in cookies but did not make coffee because of the delays
in getting in.
Chuck Drewes
was not available for a report on membership as he left when the building
was locked.
Old Business:
Jerome is looking for a committee of 2 or three people for making
decisions about the Christmas Party with spouses.
With no volunteers, Jerome suggested when the Executive Committee
meets they will assign a couple of people to that committee.
Since the
previous nominating committee is not available, we will need volunteers for
vice president. Roger Benedict,
Gary Curl, and Gordy Moscinski volunteered.
Jerome asked for a report at the next meeting but Roger suggested
they report today.
New Business:
Gordy Moscinski has been e-mailing newsletters.
If you do not get one, get your e-mail address to Gordy.
Roger Benedict
showed a number of club members the 7 years of writing essays that he had
printed as:”Clearing off the Bench”
He read the one about “Covenent of Carving” and “The Joy of Carving”
and “Marooned on an Island”. Thanks, Roger for the words of wisdom.
Well said!
There was a
report from the nominating committee that they presented Tyrone Johnson as
vice president. He was elected
unanimously.
The meeting was
closed at 9:50.
Respectfully
Submitted
Steve Terrill,
Secretary
Club
Officers
(815 area code)
President - Jerome Mais, 398-7904
Vice Pres. -
Secretary -
Photographer - Larry Clark, 262-9982
Membership - Chuck Drewes,
985-8575
Newsletter Publisher, Gary Johnson 399-1697
Historian - Elaine Terrell 765-2886
Programs - Bob Matthews 544-2359 &
Denny Neubauer 515-508-9524
Picnic -
Soap Carving –Gary Lundquis
Deadline for the news for the next newsletter is June 7, 2017.
New Facebook Page
I propose that the Club start a Facebook page to further increase its
exposure and I believe add some fun for the membership and their family and
friends. The Facebook page would not compete or duplicate the Website nor
the Newsletter. Setting up and even maintaining the Facebook page is
relatively easy and without any fees. I can and have done this. If you
desire to see an example you can go to Fargo & Southern Railway Company on
Facebook. This is my model train Facebook page where I put pictures of my
visits to my friends’ model railroad layouts, my real train rides and
activities, and share posts from other Facebook posts of relevance and
interest.
I see this as an added way to get relatively easy exposure of the Club. I
consider Facebook suited to posting a picture or two with a sentence or two
to share our activities and art/craft work. Additions, editing, and changes
are all easily and quickly done. We can share postings and pictures from
other clubs, organizations, or individuals. It can be public and one does
not have to be a registered Facebook user to view the page(s). Only
registered Facebook people are able to post a comment.
I believe we can have more than one administrator to do the posting. This I
would like to try. I believe what we really need is someone with a better
quality cell phone camera than mine to shoot some photos and then post them.
Easy to do from a cell phone with the picture on it. Taking the pictures
with the higher quality camera as Club Photographer Larry Clark does is
still relatively easy but it generally requires hooking the camera or card
up to the computer and then posting through there.
I know that Larry Stenzel, Bob Hallstrom, Steve Terrill, and myself are all
on Facebook so we all have some experience there. I maintain both my
personal Tyrone Johnsen and my hobby Fargo & Southern Railway Company
Facebook pages: plus I have set up and maintained a Facebook page for
another organization.
I would be glad to answer any questions regarding this proposal.
Tyrone Johnsen
Door Prizes
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.
Wes England carvings. Sent by
Elaine
Show and Tell pictures by Larry Clark and comments by Steve Terrill
Larry Stensel brought in 3 woodburnings.
One, uncolored was a raptor diving with talons ready.
The other two were colorized butterflies on flowers.
All very well done.
Jerome Mais brought in a wallet he had carved out of
wood, one of his first in 2009.
It really looked like a real walled. It made you want to take out the money
and leave the wallet. He brought
in a candlestick holder he carved in 1999 from a tree in his back yard.
He carved a pintail duck in 1988 before he joined the club.
Richard Prutz brought in a Spanish Church he carved
of Basswood and woodburned to highlight details.
Gordy showed a fisherman sitting on a bench on a deck
holding a carved rope loop. To
enhance the difficulty, he is looking down, with one foot forward and one
back. Great Detail!
Roger Benedict showed his first relief carving from
Gordy’s class in 1994. What a
start to a great career/hobby.
He also showed a curled modern art sculpture with a painted canvas behind
for dramatic presentation.
Frank Lay showed 3 canes with pool cue shafts and saw
handle handles. Two handles were
real and one he carved to be a saw handle of mahogany. He also showed the
plum carving relief he did in Roger’s recent class.
Don Stansfield showed two chip carved crosses of
basswood with a finish of Danish oil and two coats of rub on poly.
He also showed a candle holder chip carved with holly and sporting a
three inch candle.
Tyrone Johnson showed a well carved little person
from Denny Neubauer’s class but he is still working on the finish.
He displayed a relief carving from Roger Benedict’s class that was
very nicely done.
Passed
Treasured Carvings
Again, as a
reminder, I would like to have our club members start bringing in along with
regular SHOW and TELL items, some of your carvings that you have treasured
from the past. We all have
carvings packed away or setting on a shelf that no one has seen for years
except our spouses. I will have
an extra table set up so we can show our favorites on the Wednesdays that we
have our meetings!
Jerome Mais
If lawyers are disbarred and
clergymen defrocked, then doesn't it follow that electricians can be
delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree
surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?
Why is it that when someone tells you that there are
one billion stars in the universe you believe them, but if they tell you
there is wet paint you have to touch it to check?
May the fourth be
with you
