Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Carving With A Rotary Tool

I know that there are some carving purists out there, and that's fine. I know that there are some who will only carve wood with a knife, and that's fine too. And there are some that will only carve with mallet and chisels, that's great. Then there is the whole bunch that use power. Hells bells then there's chain saw carvers, and some who use hatchets and machetes. Do we want to forget about the dynamite that was used to rough out the faces on Mt. Rushmore! There's carvers of toothpicks, Cottonwood bark, Cypress knees, pine knots, and peach pits. Well yeah! then there is wood.
I some times use a rotary tool and a sanding drum to carve the animals for the Noah's Arks that I make. Some will say, "no! you don't carve them, you GRIND them". To those who say this, I'll not get into an argument. But I am carving; so there.
I am preparing a tutorial slide presentation of how I use the rotary tool (Dremel) to carve a Cheetah. Maybe I'll title it THE 5 MINUTE CHEETAH. I'll post it when it's completed. Yep! I said 5 minutes; but I may have to change it to.........3 minutes. Greed made me learn to do the animals real fast. Several years ago I was given the opportunity to make 5 Noah's Arks with 18 pairs of animals each. The only trouble was that the request was made at Thanksgiving, and the arks had to be done in time for Christmas. The requester was the wife of a well known music celebrity, and the prices were, well they were good. I couldn't say no! So, I learned to use the rotary tool very quickly.
Stay tuned.

1 comment:

Tom H said...

I am presently researching how to grow another arm and hand. Will need them to take the photos of me carving the piece.