First Black Walnut Spoon

Black Walnut Spoon

Here's my first black walnut spoon. I'm happy with it. It wasn't overly difficult to carve and I love the look.

Finding Black Walnut for a Spoon

First Time Carving Black Walnut

 I had been searching for freshly downed trees for months. Never did I find anything of interest. THEN I found a downed black walnut! 

I had never carved black walnut before and wondered if it would be too hard for me. I am used to green sycamore wood, which is so easy to carve. This black walnut wasn't bad though, and I love the grain!

First Carving of the Year - Spalted Cherry Knife

Last fall, I saved a chunk of spalted cherry that vaguely looked like a knife. Today I finished shaping it up. I guess you could call it a “spreader” or “cheese knife.”

 

A Drawing a Day 2

 Here are some of the drawings I have done since the last batch I shared.

Pysanky for Today

 Pysanky for Today

This is the basic design for pysanky that I am working on right now. It is based off a design of Lorrie Popow’s. I think she uses ostrich eggs, which are much larger than the jumbo chicken eggs I’m using. So, I don’t have all the egg real estate to do everything she does. Plus, I get bored easily and feel the need to just change things up every time anyway.

Pen and Ink This Week

 

Pysanky Time

 I’ve been working on my yearly pysanky production. Only 2 out of 6 eggs came to a horrific end so far. (Fell off a table or work stand.)

I’ll get better photos later, but here’s what we have so far.

Bike Wheel Wreath

 Looking through my photos just now, I found a photo of the wreath that I made before Christmas. I had been wanting to make one out of a bike wheel for a long time. My wheel gave up the ghost last March during “Freezing Saddles” and I saved it just for this very reason!

A Drawing A Day

 A friend of mine posted on Facebook, drawings she was doing for a challenge. The goal is to do a drawing every day this year. I thought this was a great way to motivate myself to draw, so I joined in. Here are a few of the drawings I have done so far.

Scherenschnitte Christmas Cards

 Santa’s Workshop Papercutting

Here it is January 19, and I haven’t gotten around to posting my Christmas card design from 2023.  Oops.

It’s always such an ordeal for me trying to figure out what the theme will be for my yearly card. I take forever and go through lots of prototypes. 

This year I ended up using the theme of Santa’s workshop. This way, I got to cut a fancy border design, which was the house. Architectural designs make such nice designs that can be set on a table or hung. And in Santa’s workshop, I got to add a bike, which was something I really wanted to include. 

Most of my cards were cut out of heavy drawing paper. After about 95% of them were cut, I noticed a pack of watercolor paper I have hoarded for years. And wouldn’t you know, that stuff is perfect for my greeting card snips!