NEWS ROUND-UP

Rockford Register Star had a wonderful story about the Blackhawk woodcarvers Club in their GO Section the second week of July. Nice writing, and excellent photography. Full-cover illustration of Ray Olson carving, and other pictures of members at a Wednesday morning carving session. As a result of this article in the newspaper, we have had several (actually many!) inquiries from people interested in joining to carve with us. A few have already joined the club, and some others are considering joining.

Have you seen the new Club Cabinet yet? It’s amazing. Oak wood with a beautiful furniture finish. This six-foot-tall free-rolling edifice was built by Jim Griparis and Larry Christensen at the Griparis Custom Furniture Works, and has doors front and back. Except, the front looks pretty much the same as the back. It all depends on which side happens to be turned to the wall when you look at it.

All doors have locks so stuff can’t get out and run away. The waist-high sharpening cabinet has locking doors and a shelf for power sharpening equipment with a built-in overhead light. Pretty cushy. Lower cabinet (with its own set of locking doors) has space for the coffee pot and podium. Other side has more shelf space for our Club Library - books, magazines, and videos. And more stuff.

Last month’s Newsletter named the folks who originally bankrolled this project. You should go back and reread that. President Hallstrom passed the hat at the business meeting asking for contributions to further help pay off some of the expenses. And, when you look at the cabinet, you can easily see that it is an expensive piece of furniture.

Report from Davenport from the International Woodcarving Congress - - Don Stansfield was there all week and gave a report at the July 16 business meeting. As usual, classes were most inspiring. Don took one class from Phil and Vicki Bishop on caricature carving of an old-fashioned school marm. Don and Larry Christensen both took a three-day class from Randy Landen carving cowboys. Don was especially pleased with the insights he gained from Landen’s explanations of painting techniques. (As of this writing, neither Don nor Larry has brought in a sample of their class carving work.)

We don’t live there anymore - The Kenrock Community Center building has been sold to a church, and been renamed. The facility is now known as OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART ACADEMY. For the record, the address and phone number are still 3218 Eleventh Street, Rockford, IL 61109 ... 815-399-3021. Now the Blackhawk Woodcarvers Club "lives" at the Sacred Heart Academy.

While the large sign on Eleventh Street identifies the building as "Our Lady, etc -" there is another sign on a new awning over the door at the south end of the building that says, "Kenrock Community Center." No one has stepped forward to help enlighten us on this dilemma. You got an answer? Let’s hear it.

CORRECTION NOTICE : Our Club Show on August opens for the public at 10:30 AM, and closes at 4:00 PM. Times were incorrectly printed in previous editions of the Newsletter. Please make appropriate changes in your notes. For those who may not be aware of it, our Club VP, Don Stansfield, is the Show Chairman. Got a question? Call him,. His phone number is listed on the back page of this Newsletter. If you want to exhibit or compete or just be part of the fun, call Don.

Newburg Road bridge job has been completed. The bridge is now open so you can get to the Tebala Shrine Center at 7910 Newburg Road from either the East or the West.

Club Picnic is on Tuesday, September 9. Tony DeVita has reserved the twin shelter right by the golf course parking lot. Officially, the start time is 4:00 pm. Tony will probably be there much earlier to get the grills started. In the past, this affair has been a combination pot luck . . . the Club furnished charcoal & soft drinks, and we would all bring a dish to pass as well as our own meat to grill. A complete run-down will be in the September Newsletter. Watch for breaking news!

Current Membership and Library lists are available. Ask Membership Chair Dona Wisner for Membership list. Library Manager Marshall Field has the new Library lists available.

Carving Classes & Shows - Your Newsletter tries to keep current on carving classes and shows. We list nearby events for the next four months out from the publishing time of the Newsletter. For example, the August Newsletter covers August, September, October, and November. You will notice we list none in our area for the month of November. Actually, there are pretty slim pickings anywhere during November. Probably because so many carvers are "in transit" going south for the winter.

Christmas Ornaments - See the page appended to the end of this Newsletter. The Hanging Santa tree ornament and Stand-Up Snowman were "lifted" from another club’s newsletter. They had reprinted it with permission from Woodcarving Illustrated. Please note that the original publisher is duly reported and credited on our sheet. We, for our part, have given you reduced sizes to make the pieces lighter for actually hanging on a tree. Using basswood, of course.

Carve-It-From-A-Sphere This event at the Club Show Competition is open to anyone interested in taking part. If you had trouble last year making a round ball to carve, Don Stansfield has some ready-made 4" balls for sale - only $9 each. The rules are the same as last year. Winners get cash awards. First prize - $50; second prize - $30; and third prize $20.

1. Design must be original.

2. Carving must be from a 4" wood sphere.

3. Final carving must show original 4" sphere form.

4. Finish must have a natural appearance (no paint).

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Pecatonica Indian at the Winnebago County Fairgrounds has been finished. This is well in time for the County Fair. We all owe special thanks and a cheer of gratitude to the steadfast workers who did the job: Tony DeVita, Bob Matthews, Ray Olson, and Elaine & Gale Terrell. The statue stands about ten feet tall. And that does not include the bottom of the stump which was left to serve as a platform/base for the sculpture.

Our Club is now carving Jack-O-Lantern pins to be given to kids in Rockford hospitals at Halloween.

SICK BAY REPORT

Dolores Cascio reported in by phone the other day to explain why she has been missing from the carving scene. Pneumonia. She had to spend ten days in th hospital in June for treatment. She has been home since the first week of July, but is still not well enough to go out.

Ray Olson’s son, David, came through his heart operation OK. This was to repair a leak between the upper two chambers of his heart. Not your usual heart by-pass job. Ray says that Dave is recovering slowly.

Walt Gipe went into the hospital last month after collapsing on the floor at home. This was the effect of a very serious urinary infection that got into his blood stream and attacked his central nervous system. After chemical treatment in the hospital and recovery time at home, Walt is now coming along pretty well. He has been able to drive and to spend some time at his work on the County Fairgrounds Board.

Roger Benedict fell off his bicycle while riding through the countryside up in Door County. Bruised one rib and broke another. This is a most painful situation, and certainly no laughing matter. Can’t even drive yet. And what with his new Mazda Miata sexy red convertible, that’s really a shame. Hope the ribs mend fast, Roger, so you get back with us soon to make chips.

NEW MEMBERS

John Winter - John is a retired manual arts teacher. He has made some really cute and quaint tool caricatures of birds. He calls them "Toolies." For example, a carpenter’s hammer is the head of one, and a wooden screw sticks out the back side for a tail. Now, John is working to carve wings in relief on the sides of the bird. He also brought in a lamp with wood spirals going from the base up to the light fixture. He complains that no one admires the workmanship, they only ask how the power gets to the light! No wires show anywhere, it would obviously take some sort of magic to feed a wire up through one of the spirals. John has many other similarly fantasy pieces. They will make in interesting display at the Carving Show.

Ozzie Webb - Some of our members will remember Ozzie as the power carving expert who put on a splendid demonstration and program for our Club a couple of winters ago. He specializes in wood spirits, but displays great skill on other subjects as well. During the program, Ozzie explained some of the ins and outs of power carving . . . power tool choices; speeds; different bits and the tiny burrs and wheels. What was most impressive was that while he was talking, he was carving a wood spirit into a rolling pin. And, by the time the program was over, his wood spirit was finished. (On a rolling pin, Ozzie calls it a kitchen spirit.

BUSINESS MEETING

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

¬ President Bob Hallstrom called the meeting to order at 9:00 am.

¬ Secretary’s Report was read and approved as corrected.

¬ Treasurer’s Report was not read due to John Wacker being absent.

¬ Membership Chairman reported some new members have joined. Updated membership lists are available. ASK.

¬ Librarian Marshall Field, Jr. reported that there have been more new materials donated to our library. Marshall has new, updated library lists available for everyone. Just ask.

Visitors at the meeting - Sharon Knitter from Belvidere has done some carving with the Keen Agers Klub. She took Gordy Moscinski’s class at CLR last Fall, and is interested in our Club. She brought along a relief carving she is working on. Pretty impressive work for a lady who calls herself a beginner,.

Frank Lay is a retired minister living in Mount Morris. He read about the Blackhawk Woodcarvers in the special GO Section story, and came over to see for himself "what we looked like." Frank brought along two of his carvings for showing. He explained that since he was a Christian minister, it is only natural that his carvings follow a religious vein. The first piece was a head of Christ with a crown of thorns. About half life-size. Frank explained the expression on the face of Jesus as a combination of pain and anguish and sorrow for sins of man.

Frank’s second carving was a life-size hand of Jesus with an iron spike piercing the wrist. The iron spike was wrought by Frank’s son who does blacksmith work as a hobby. The spike is through the wrist because the human hand does not have the structural strength to support a body on the cross.

Christmas pins & ornaments for hospitalized kids. We need more. See Stansfield.

Larry Clark reported that he is available for photographing at the Carving Show.

Tod Wisner reported that an art teacher named Roth Meisen, of Roscoe, has a very large tree that will soon be cut down. She is interested in leaving a large stump and having someone carve it into something. A project like the Pecatonica Indian. She has been told that such a project has at least $5000 worth of labor in it, and would probably have a market value over $10,000. She will go to Pec to inspect the Indian, and then come to a Wednesday morning meeting to talk to an officer.

Carl Hicks brought in one of his earlier carvings. It is a relief in black walnut. The piece is about 14" wide by 16' or 17" high. Kind of rectangular, but definitely free-form. The subject is a bunch of grapes on a vine that Carl had copied from a wine bottle. He finished the piece off with a really handsome carved-in-the-same-piece-of-wood frame. That’s right, relief and background and frame are all in one solid piece of black walnut. And it is truly beautiful. The versatility of this cane man is remarkable.

See other Show-and-Tell work under Visitors, and New Members.

Don Stansfield launched the Jack-O-Lantern pin project. He had made many scroll saw cut-outs of pumpkins, and drawn lines on each to show where to carve. Also, he had full-color instruction sheets for each of us that gave instructions on how to proceed. Don, your charity seems to know no bounds. These pumpkin pins will be given out to kids in Rockford hospitals at Halloween. Don provided the materials and gave a presentation to explain some of the intricacies of the work. (Since when is a pumpkin "intricate"?)

CLUB SCHEDULE

ð August 16 - OUR CLUB SHOW

ð August 20 - Elaine Terrell weaves pine needle baskets

ð September 9 - Club Picnic at Sinnissippi Park

ð September 17 - Rich Andersen & antique woodworking tools

ð October 15 - Club Carving - TBA

ð November 19 - Recognize Carver/Member of the Year,  Nomination of officers

ð December 17 - Election of Officers,  Christmas Party & Swap

ð January 21, 2009 - Launch 2009 programs - 2009 Show, etc.

August 16, 10:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Admission $3, children under 12 free

Tebala Shrine Center
7910 Newburg Rd., Rockford, IL 61108

SETUP Friday afternoon

Judges - Dennis Neubauer, tool maker & Greg Wirtz, master carver

Food Concessions - provided by Tebala Ladies Auxiliary.

CARVING CLASSES

September Decorah, IA, Harley Refsal will teach figure carving @ Vesterheim 563-9681 www.vesterheim.org (Actual dates not known)

September 11, 18, 25, Oct 2, & 19 - Rockford, IL. Blackhawk Carving Club members Don Stansfield and Bob Hallstrom will conduct a Plane Carving class these Thursday mornings at Rock Valley College CLR, 9 AM - 12 noon. Students will Plane Carve a manger scene with Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. The figures will be mounted on a carved replica stable floor, with a symbolic star shining overhead. Call CLR at 815-921-3931 to learn pricing and reserve your place.

September 12-14, Evart, MI. - Caricature Carve-In @ Osceola County Fairgrounds with Phil & Vicki Bishop, Dave & Michelle Stetson, and Floyd Rhadigan. Contact Floyd Rhadigan 734-649-3259.

September 15-20, Sandwich, IL, Fairgrounds, Gathering of Woodcarvers , week-long series of carving classes & special events. Choose among 15 nationally recognized instructors. Priced by number of classes taken. Camping available, Sponsored by The Carving Shop, 645 East LaSalle St., Somonauk, IL 60552. Joe Dillett, 815-498-9290. Detail available on the Internet at www.camperjohn.com/gow08_main.html.

September 19-21, Bettendorf, IA, The Woodcraft Shop, Bob Guge teaches carving a goldfinch. Carol & Larry Yudis, 800-397-2278.

September 30 plus 6 more Tuesdays, Rockford, IL - Beginning Woodcarving at Rock Valley College CLR. Seven Tuesday morning sessions (9AM - 12 noon), starting September 30, and running through November 11. Taught by Blackhawk Woodcarvers Club member Gordy Moscinski. Gordy has been teaching this class for many years. It is always a favorite, and fills up really fast. If you’re interested, get your name in early. Call CLR at 815-921-3931 for pricing and to reserve a spot.

October 3-5, Bloomington, IL, Phil & Vicki Bishop caricature carving. Contact Mike Hartzler, 14 Swan Lake Road, 309-662-4276.

October 19-23, Branson, MO. Ninth annual Rendezvous II Seminar at Compton Ridge Campground & Convention Center. Variety of classes, Contact Ed Zinger, 15222 South Greenwood, Villa #2102, Olathe, Kansas, 66062. Web site www.woodcarvingrendezvous.com.

November - No classes known in our immediate area.

CARVING SHOWS

August 16, Rockford, IL, Blackhawk Woodcarvers 14^th Annual Woodcarving Show & Competition, Tebala Shrine Temple, 7910 Newburg Rd., Rockford, IL 61108. 10:30 AM to 4:00 PM, Admission $3, under 12 free. Don Stansfield 815-235-0075.

August 30-31, Springfield, IL. Sangamon Valley Woodcarvers host the 18^th annual Artistry In Wood show & juried competition with free seminars, soap carving, vendors, & more. Illinois Bldg @ Illinois State Fairgrounds. Saturday 10-5, Sunday 10-4. Admission $2, age 12 & under free. Lee or Betty Legg 213-546-8792, www.svwoodcarver.org.

September 20, Janesville, WI, Show/sale sponsored by Rock River Valley Woodcarvers of Wisconsin. Contact Donna Kjendlie at www.rocktivervalleycarvers.com.

September 28, Utica, IL, 20^th annual Valley Carvers’ judged/juried show & sale 9 to 5 at Starved Rock State Park Main Lodge. Bob Wills 190 West Willow St, Coal City, IL, 60416; 815-634-3086.

October 11, West Allis, WI. Badger State Carvers 40^th annual show at St. Augustine Church Hall, 2025 South 67^th Place, 10 AM-4 PM. Steve Klein, 2477 South 73^rd Street, West Allis, WI, 53219; 414-321-5298.

October 18-19, Danville, IL. Kickapoo Carvers’ 27^th annual show @ New Life Banquet Center in Holiday Square, 1419 North Bowman Avenue, Saturday 10-5, Sunday 10-4. Buzz Richie, 217-427-5996.

October 25-26, Wheaton, IL. North Suburban Carvers’ 29^th annual Artistry In Wood show at DuPage County Fair Grounds. Terri Pijut, 847-458-2919.

October 26, Madison, WI. 20^th annual Capitol Area Carvers of WI show/sale @ Olbrich Botanical Gardens, 3330 Atwood Avenue, Madison, WI. 10am-4pm; admission free. Co-sponsored by Badger Woodturners. Demos, raffles, vendors,. Manny Voeltz 608-241-1188, mmvoeltz@sbcglobal.net; Patti Landmann 920-992-5226, Website madison.com/communities/madcarvers.

November - no shows in our immediate area.

WANT ADS

CIRCULATION STATEMENT: this issue of Blackhawk Woodcarver is mailed to 58 members; 17 prospective members; ten Friends of Blackhawk Carving Club, 22 professional carvers, and 17 tool vendors Total circulation = 124. We send all copies of our Newsletter out by USPO in order to assure the greatest possible benefit to all.