Blackhawk Carving ClubThe Blackhawk Woodcarver
Volume XXVII, Issue 9
We meet every Wednesday at 9:00 am
until 12:00 noon at the Ken Rock facility at 625 Adams Street, Rockford, IL.
KenRock is located in the area of Rural and North 2nd St.
Presidents Report
September 2022
At the last meeting we had a good
showing of carvings including some cowboys. As usual they were excellent,
keep up the good work! Our next challenge was given to us by Don Stansfield
carving a mold of a pumpkin and skeleton head with cross bones. It’s called
the Halloween funeral biscuits, see attachment. I started carving this today
and it’s a challenge. Baking the biscuits will be my wife’s challenge!
We are looking for tips and tricks
making carving easier. It can be on sharpening, painting your carving,
carving cleaner, how to take an idea from thought to pattern to a blank to
carve, and tricks to using a band saw. As you give us the information, we
will publish it in the newsletter each month.
Tip #1: Every time you strop your
tools you start the rounding process and over time it will only cut straight
on. To slow down this process lay your knife flat on a 500-grit wet and dry
sandpaper and move the knife in a circular motion on both sides a few times
then strop on leather.
Keep carving and send in those tips!
Denny Neubauer
Newsletter deadline
Keep sending your pictures and
stories by the October 5, 2022 deadline.
Secretary report for August 2022
Minutes of the regular monthly
business meeting of Blackhawk Woodcarvers; held on, August 17, 2022 at Ken
Rock Community Center, 625 Adams Street, Rockford, Illinois 61107.
President Denny Neubauer opened the
meeting at 9:39 am.
Secretary, Steve Terrill read the
minutes of July 20, 2022. There were no questions or
corrections, the minutes stood approved as read.
Treasurer: Larry Stenzel cannot
attend because he is in self isolation due to covid exposure.
He reported to Denny that we continue to be solvent.
We are paid up through the year.
New Business:
Denny noted that there is an upcoming Janesville show on Saturday, September
10 from 9-4. You can enter the “People’s Choice” if interested.
There is more information on the website. We are
renting a table and need some people to man it. We will
need 3-4 people to man it so others can walk around while someone monitors
our table. Bob has agreed to be there.
There will be a sign up for others interested. It will be
at the fairgrounds and there will be a map available in the newsletter.
Continuing Business: We are
continuing the cowboy challenge and it looks like members are responding
well. Denny has blocks available if people want them.
Denny would like to see someone carve Miss Kitty. Tony
thinks she was pretty well carved already.
Tony was at Ted Faber’s house.
He has a couple of cabinets to get rid of, one is 63 x 36 with doors
and drawers, the other is 36 x 36 also with doors and drawers.
He would be glad to take anyone interested down there.
He also has a box of wood that Tony will bring in next week for
people to pick over.
Don Stansfield noted that the latest
Woodcarver’s Illustrated including 100 tips for carvers.
Denny has had the idea that we should share good tips with each other.
One more thing, there is a Cowboys
and Indians series patterned by Tony’s watching Gunsmoke every Wednesday.
Denny suggested a size of 6 inches. Denny would
cut some blanks out around 2x2x6 inches.
Respectfully submitted; Steve
Terrill, Club Secretary.
The carving easel is $10 or two for
$15. The grinder is for $20. Call at 815 988 3314.
Thanks, Roger Benedict
Clearing
Off the Bench
FOR THE SAKE OF ART
You are a woodcarver; you are an
artist! How many times has it been said, “the art of
carving” and you never gave it any thought? This is an interesting phrase,
“in the art of,” that has me thinking about our Wednesday morning carving
group. As far as the wording I am not sure woodcarvers in
general realize their significant contribution to the thought of art.
However, for the sake of art I wish to express my impressions of many
of your carvings.
During my years in the Blackhawk
Woodcarvers I have witnessed many carved objects supported by curiosity and
inventive thinking. Personally, knowing how skill levels
play a role I generally search beyond skill and seek the creative idea which
the carver has demonstrated---my opinion leans toward this as the basis of
woodcarving. So the meaning here is creativity and
originality needs more recognition and applauded.
I would like to suggest the next
time during “show & tell” deeply observe the displayed carvings and notice
the act of creativity. I think you will be amazed how
much creativity lies beyond the surface of the carved cuts.
Try not to take for granted for only what you see---explore.
Keed Your Tools Sharp
Roger Benedict
Funeral Biscuits for Woodcarvers - from an article by
Dave Western—Wood Carving Illustrated
While researching carved wooden
objects, I accidentally discovered some interesting embossed wooden moulds
that had been used in the old tradition of baking funeral biscuits (cookies,
for our North American readers). These unique, decorated treats were given
as an edible memorial token at funerals and wakes. The tradition may have
developed from the ancient practice of hiring sin eaters', who would attend
the funeral to consume a ritual meal and thus spiritually take on the sins
of the deceased. The dearly departed would then be free to ascend Heaven's
heights unencumbered by any transgressions committed during his or her
lifetime. These funeral biscuits would frequently be wrapped in paper
printed with a eulogy or dramatic quotations and then sealed closed with
stamped wax. The cookies themselves were generally embossed with a stamped
image that would rise when the dough was baked.
In Victorian times, these images
tended toward the maudlin or macabre, but it occurred to me they would be
easily adaptable for modern use at Halloween. With 31 October not so very
far away, carving these moulds now will give you a chance to run a few
batches of cookies for sharing at your office Halloween party, for eating
while you guard the sweet bowl on the big night, or just for testing
purposes.
have carved a couple of simple
designs that I think would be applicable to the Halloween celebration. The
skull and crossbones is always popular with children (and more than a few
adults) and the carved pumpkin is, without doubt, the most famous modern
symbol of All Hallows' Eve.
These little cookie stamps are
fairly straightforward to make and can be crafted from small scraps of
whatever close-grained, food-safe wood are available to you. Very few tools
are needed and the designs can easily be modified to suit your carving
abilities or design tastes.
At the end of the article, I have
included a tradition funeral biscuit recipe, as well as some advice for ways
to make them slightly more appealing to modern palates. I hope you will be
encouraged in some pre-Halloween baking experimentation.
Biscuit recipe
Finally, here is the recipe for making your own funeral biscuits. Now, I confess that I have never made biscuits prior to this adventure, so don't expect instructions of Delia Smith quality, but if you'd like to have a bash at it, here's the traditional recipe, along with some suggestions for making it taste a bit less Victorian. I've scaled it down by a third from most of the traditional recipes... so feel free to boost it back up if you have more baking confidence than me
Funeral biscuits for woodcarvers
.Thoroughly mix ½ cup of sugar, ½
cup of soft batter/margarine, an egg and a teaspoon of vanilla.
Gradually add wet ingredients into a
mixing bowl containing a cup of sifted flour and a pinch of salt.
Mix together until a stout dough is
formed (add more flour if it seems a bit wet), then cool in fridge for a
couple of hours before rolling out to approximately in thick.
*Traditional recipes call for a
teaspoon of toasted caraway seeds during mixing. Other more modern recipes
replace caraway with ½ teaspoon of cardamom or 4 teaspoon of orange zest.
Lightly dust the mould with icing
(confectioner's) sugar, press the mould (or pound it down once) vigorously
into the dough then gently remove. It should come away from the dough
cleanly, but if not, gently peel the dough off the mould. Cut the cookies to
shape with a thin, sharp knife. I simply followed the outline of the mould.
Lay the biscuits on a baking tray
and bake at 175°C (350°F) for between 12 and 20 minutes (depending how
crispy you like them). They stay fairly light-coloured until they start to
burn... again, don't ask me how I know that.
For an All Hallows' celebration, the biscuits would probably look good with a bit of decorative black and/or orange icing piped around the edge
Happy Halloween.
9 Tony Devita
9 Carrie Lay
14 Carol Behning
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.
Carvers
wanted
Sometimes I get calls from people wanting to have a carving done (for money). If you are interested in any of these contacts, let me know and what kind of carvings you are interested in doing for people. Don Stansfield dchip1508@comcast.net
Want to
buy or sell
If you have anything that you would
like to buy or sell send me an email and I will put it in the newsletter.
Gordy
President, Denny
Neubauer, 238-5296
Vice Pres, Richard Dunphey, 633-9003
Treasurer, Larry Stenzel, 389-4714
Secretary, Steve Terrill, 708-0471
Committees
Programs, Richard Dunphey, 633-9003
Webmaster & Newsletter Editor Gordy Moscinski 874-7978
Photographer Steve Terrill
Picnic Tony Devita
The Rock River Valley Woodcarvers of
Wisconsin will be having their annual show on Saturday September 10, 2022 at
the Rock County Fairgrounds “Craig Center” 131 Craig Ave. Janesville, WI.
Hours are 9;00 AM to 4:00 PM. More information on website:
www.wisconsinriverwoodcarvers.org.
“Carvin The Rockies CCA” will be
held September 24 & 25, 2022 in Colorado Springs, CO. More information @
www.cca-carvers.org.
The Northeast Wisconsin Woodworkers
Guild will be having a woodcarving show in Denmark, WI on Saturday & Sunday
October 8 & 9, 2022. More information as soon as we get it.
The Waupaca Area Woodcarvers will be having their first woodcarving show on November 6, 2022 @ 407 School Street, Waupaca, WI. More information available from Harold Mohr (715-281-4923) or Kathy Brehm (920-740-1986).
A little
humor
Sven and Ole went out duck hunting.
They worked at it for a couple hours and finally Sven says, “I wonder
why aren’t we getting any ducks, Ole?”
“I don’t know,” says Ole.
“ I wonder if we are throwing the dog high enough?”
Ole was fishing with Sven in a
rented boat. They could not catch a thing. Ole said,
“Lets go a bit furder downstream.” so they did, and they
caught many monstrous fish. They had their limit, so they
went home. On the way home, Sven said, “I marked da spot
right in da middle of da boat, Ole.”
“You stupid, “said Ole.
“How do you know ve vill get da same boat next time!”
So there was a big snowstorm and a
snow emergency was declared. Ole had to park his car on
the odd-numbered side of the street. Two days later, more
snow, and he had to park it on the even-numbered side of the street.
The next day ,another snowstorm, another snow emergency, odd-numbered
side of the street, and Ole said, “Heck, Lena, I’m tired of this.
I’m gonna leave the dang car in the garage and if
they want to tow it, let ’em tow it.”
Dick Dunphy took Denny’s class
at Rock Valley and carved 3 skinny guys. One has a turnable head.
And one was a little guy for comparison.
Steve
Terrill brought in his unpainted attempt at a cowboy
which is a work in process. He also brought in an Indian head that Ray
Olson had carved in 2004 which is pretty close to completed but not painted.
Steve was reluctant to paint it since he does not want Ray’s work thought to
be his own, but will probably paint it anyway.
Jerome Mais brought in 2 cowboys
.
Tony DaVita carved a cowboy.
He saw it and just “carved him”
Tyrone Johnsen carved a little
caricature of Denny, forging a knife and hitting
his thumb when the preacher’s daughter came by and he lost concentration.
It is complete with a mouth yelling something and a very swollen thumb.
Bob Hallstrom brought in 3 busts
he carved in 2005. One is a double bust. Excellent work.
Denny
Neubauer carved a cigar store Indian in when he was
in a class with Floyd Radigan over at port Bryan. It is a work in
progress. He is a great teacher and fun. He also showed a pair
of carvings in progress, one an Indian and one a Cowboy.
Jerry Robey showed a carving
that Ted Faber roughed out of butternut and did not want to finish so he
gave it to Jerry who just finished it.
Richard Talbot carved a little book.
Gordy Moscinski
carved a hot air balloon using 16 pieces of wood
for the balloon.
