The Work Begins!

Developing a full sized pattern (scribble and erase, erase and scribble) for two of the five upper pipe shades to adorn the new J. F. Nordlie pipe organ now being built for the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Church in New Ulm, MN.  Eventually these pipe shades, carved in basswood, will be gilded with gold leaf such as those we did for the Chapel Organ in the Moravian Church in Kernersville, NC:

 J. F. Nordlie Organ - Opus 50.

Chain Saw Carving

Chain Saw Carving by Thomas Vrba

New Web Site

It was a pleasure to meet a young lady at our January third Saturday  meeting of the S D Woodcarvers, Inc. who was about as new to wood carving as anyone can get.  We gave her a sharp whittling knife and a piece of wood and expected her to go to work. But she really did not even know how to hold the knife and make the first cut.  We more experienced carvers find it sometimes difficult to explain how to do what has become almost second nature, but here is a website that really gets down to the basics:
Whittling WoodCarving

Another Dear Friend and Club Member has Passed Away

G. Verne Luke, age 92, died on Monday, January 11, 2016 at The Good Samaritan Society Village in Sioux Falls.  Until just a few months ago, he was a very active member of the S. D. Woodcarvers, regularly attending meetings and ready to offer wit and wisdom.  We shall miss him very much.

See his life legacy at George Boom Funeral Home

Name Drawing for Chip Carving Project

Put your name in the hat for a chance to win a basswood chip carving letter opener kit.  Remnants from a club project presented at the February meeting of 2003 at the Ed Wood Technical Center located on the campus of Southeast Technical Institute have been discovered under a pile of rubble in my work shop.

These will be presented to whomever has their name drawn from a hat during our annual business meeting, 1:00 PM, this Saturday, January 16, at the Center for Active Generations.