Blackhawk Chipper
 

Meeting Times

There are two evening meetings per month, which are held at the Ken-Rock Community Center at 3218-11^th Street, Rockford, IL.

The first meeting is on the first Tuesday and is an open carving meeting from 6:30 to 9:00 PM. Join the gang and bring your friends

The second meeting is on the third Tuesday, February 15th and is the business meeting, starting at 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM.

Every Wednesday is open carving from 8:30 AM to 11:00 AM. Come and join the gang, bring a friend! Enjoy a taco.

All our meetings are aimed at enjoying one another passion for woodcarving. Always there is a lot of carving information traded back and forth, and of course the life interest stories, "three for a dollar" are worth the gas mileage and time.

January meeting notes

The Monthly Business Meeting was called to order by President, Elaine Terrell.

Treasures report

Given by Dolores Cascio showed a balance. There remain some outstanding membership dues to be paid.

Old business

August Show Meeting will be scheduled at RJ Benedict’s home in February. Committee members will be notified.

New Business

The Center for Learning in Retirement at Rock Valley College has requested that our carving club present a training session for their members. Gordy Moscinski has volunteered to be the instructor and Roger Benedict will coordinate with the Learning Center. More information to develop later for their next Fall Sessions.

Meeting presentation was led by RJ Benedict about the five tools that you would take with you on a deserted island. There were many items mentioned and most very humors, but the most interesting were the two small box of tools that Dan Stansfield presented.

Show & Tell

Gale Terrell---Three wood burned plaques and painted with oil pencils for his grandchildren. Wood was from a yard tree that was recently cut down.

John Bibby---Two chipped carved Christmas ornaments that he was seeking advice on how to finish.

Gordy Moscinski---A cleverly carved wristwatch from oak and aspen that was nearly over one foot long. Had a 2-inch diameter battery operated clock and actual moveable wristband and buckle. Can be either hung on a wall on set up on a desktop.

Dan Stansfield---Showed his Kol-rosing knife that will make 1/8-inch maximum incisions by holding vertically with one hand and force movement with the other hand.

Misc. Schedule

February 15---Lew Riley will lead us through some drawing exercises to discover our hidden skills.

March 15---Scott Long, Rockford sculptor and artist will provide a "clay" talk and demonstration.

Guest Speaker

Lew Riley has been teaching portrait drawing at the Rockford Art Museum for the past five years. All his life he has dabbled in sketching and drawing of things and people. Prior to retirement he was an air traffic controller for 36 years, having spent 18 years at the Rockford airport. Lew has been with us before about two years ago presenting simple ways to see things and sketch them. Lew also brings a bushel of humor with his work.

When----- Saturday, August 13, 2005

Time------10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Where-----Klehm Arboretum in Rockford, IL

Don Stansfield presented two small boxes of carving tools and equipment for his survival kit. Each box had five items. Let’s see if you can beat this:

Box #1---knife, V-gouge, U-gouge, sharpening stone, and a pencil.

Box #2---Knife, honing leather, band-aids, super glue, and matches to burn the screwed up carving.

Now we know why Don’s carvings show a creative approach. His survival items topped all of us. Would you want to give this another thought?

Tony DeVita led a group of Cub Scouts in soap carving. He says that eight Cub Scouts used up 24 bars of soap while trying out there carving skills. Aren’t you glad that you did not have to clean up afterwards.

From the coordination of our member, John Wacker, three club members presented their thoughts and experiences with wood carving at a morning Rockford Kiwanas meeting. Those who participated were Marshall Field, Elaine and Gale Terrell. The feed back was that they contributed a class act presentation.

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Please be mindful of our carving friends who are home recovering with serious illnesses: Ron Flam, Hank Osinski, Dave Hoffman, and Ron Million. Dave wishes to have visitors, but call his home first before you drop in.

Important; notify the newsletter editor for any member’s sickness that requires announcing to the membership.

from Woodcarving by Chris Pye

Will the wood need gluing up, or will the design fit into an available piece of wood?

Does the carving depend upon light and shadow with the wood acting as a vehicle for the effect?

Are you using wood that is within your own capabilities as a carver?

Does the wood relate to the design from the grain configation and color?

Is a highly polished finished wanted or some rougher texture?

Is the carving to be eaten from? (A tight-grained, flavorless wood is needed as Sycamore)

Is the finished work to reside outdoors or indoors?

Will the wood have any effect on your carving tools? (Some tropical woods contain calcium deposits.)

Is the wood allergenic from the dust?

(Rosewood, Cocobolo. or Iroko require caution)

For those who have an e-mail address the newsletter will be sent via the Internet. It would be appreciated to have a larger list, thus please forward your address to RJ Benedict.

March 19-20, Plover, WI. Wisconsin River Carvers 5^th annual show held at Elizabeth Inn & Convention Center at I-39 and Hwy 54. (715) 344-2274 Bill Kubisiak.

March 19-20, Wheaton, IL. North Suburban Carvers annual Spring Artistry in Wood exhibition held at Cantigny Park, 1 S. 151 Winfield Road. (630) 668-5161.

April 16, Menomonie, WI. Northwest Wisconsin Woodcarvers Ninth annual exposition and sale held at Thunder Mall. (715) 664-8638 Jean Moats.

April 24, Oshkosh, WI. Annual carving show and sale held at Winnebago County Expo Center on Cty Y east of Cty 76. (920) 725-5391 Bob Gehr.

May 14-15 Bloomington, IL. Annual Sculptors in Wood carving show and sale held at Challenger Learning Center. (309) 662-4267 Mike Hartzler.

July 9 Delafield, WI. Lake County Carvers 24^th annual show competition and show held at Public Works Building 111 Main At. (262) 542-3867 Tom Ellenson.

August 13 Rockford, IL. Blackhawk Woodcarvers 10th annual carving and competition show held at Klehm Arboretum & Botanical gardens 2701 Clifton Ave. (815) 397-8910 Roger Benedict.

September 11 Madison, WI. Capital Area Carvers of Wisconsin 17^th annual show and sale held at Olbrich Botanical Gardens Atwood Avenue.

October 22-23 Wheaton, IL. North Suburban Carvers 26^th annual Artistry in Wood Exhibition and competition held at DuPage County Fair grounds. (773) 763-1788 Marcy Samat.

CARVING CLUB WEBSITE

http://www.carving.moscinski.net/

"I say try; if we never try, we shall never succeed"

----Abraham Lincoln

Blackhawk Woodcarvers
1921 Boscobel Court
Rockford, IL 61107
 

The Blackhawk Woodcarvers was founded in 1993 and has a goal of preserving and encouraging the art of woodcarving. Membership is open to anyone having any skill of carving, including those who have never carved and want to learn about carving.