December Party

Potluck Swap Meet last December was well attended by carvers, friends, & relatives. The potluck buffet of finger food was almost sinful !

Our guest speaker was Robert Kerwin, a retired Industrial Arts teacher from Elgin schools. After moving to Rockford to be near his family, he began making unique boxes. The uniqueness was the method of construction that enables perfect fits with the drawers. His finishing methods were with several grits of sandpaper and rubbed in Danish oil and later with a coat of wax.

Jeff Lightcap, family member of the old Rockford Standard Furniture store, will be our guest speaker on his method of making decorative wooden boxes. For 35 years this hobby has consumed his leisure time. His other wood making interests are making furniture and turning wooden bowls. Obviously we will learn a lot from a person totally engrossed with wooden items.

Jeff Lightcap held everyone's attention with many well-spoken words of wisdom. His presentation was excellent whereby late into the evening he discussed his novel method finishing his wood products. On a 1:1 ratio he mixes raw linseed oil with a varnish and rubs this mixture into the wood several times. Between coats there will be several days for the coat to be completely dry. He also showed a rocking chair and three small wooden cabinets, It was interesting to observe a person with so much passion for wood working.

Annual Picnic-----September 11^th

A good turnout led to good food and fun to get together. What is it about a picnic that brings the best out of us? Anyhow for those attending, it sure was worth it.

Educational subjects about any aspect of carving.  Our speaker for Tuesday night September 19, 2007 was "Salem" who is a fine young sculptor, born and raised in Rockford.   He started sculpting July 2003 that was influenced by the severe wind storm through Rockford.  He accumulated blown and torn tree limbs from the storm that began his career.  He always begins with power tools and completes his sculpture with carving tools and sandpaper.  By trade he is a machinist, but by art he is a true wooden sculpture.
This month's guest speaker was an outstanding young man, who carves large abstract stylized carvings from tree trunks. His workmanship in detail and finishes were unbelievable. Everyone was wondering how a good-looking young man could be so articulate as well as an excellent artist in wood sculpting? He must be one of those people who have all their genes in the right order, as you would compare him to Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. It will be interesting to follow his career.

This year's show had a very good attendance---from the public, 356, and from the carvers, 32 displays. Our Vendors, Paul Miller, Horst Hart, and Gottlieb Brandi continued to provide excellent vendor booths for tools and carving resources. Larry Clark, who once again provided this service, took the official photos. Of course witnessing the large turnout from the Rockford folks makes us want to begin thinking about next year's show. Always, there are many people to thank behind the scenes, and specially thanks to the out of town carvers for their fine participation. We would never have a show success without the wide turnout of carvers. And finally, thanks to the Klehm Arboretum folks for use of their excellent facility and their continued interest in our annual show.

Two world famous Swedish artists, Vallien's, are exhibiting their cast glass art, that is stunning beyond belief-----worth every minute to take advantage of this opportunity. The artists, Ulrica Hydman-Vallien and Bertil Vallien have developed glass casting designs into an art form. This is the first time they have exhibited together in the USA, where as individually they have shown in the galleries of many USA metropolitan cities. Given the Swedish tradition in Rockford you may find this of high interest. Mark your calendar for a guided tour by Roger Benedict on Saturday, June 16^th beginning at 10:30 am.

May Meeting

Presentation was by Roger Benedict who led the group through a relief carving of a small building. Through a study of perspective drawing with hidden projection points, a simple method to carve buildings was taught. By simply visualizing buildings as an assortment of intersecting plane surfaces instead of walls and roofs, the wood removal is therefore easy to understand and fun to observe the building emerging from the wood. It was satisfying to see the how quickly many carvers pick-up on the idea. Remember that sharp tools make carving much easier.

April Meeting

Presentation was by Richard Andersen who gave an interesting talk on how to build a rocking horse. He explained how he made templates to get the right proportions for the horse. Also, his trail and error painting method was explained for achieving a realistic horse. A beautiful smaller rocking horse was shown that looked like the large horse. We learned that there is more than meets the eye to design and build a rocking horse-----good job, Rich.

The annual Gathering at Macktown is a strange, friendly gathering of Native Americans, trappers, fur traders, militia men, French voyageurs, frontiersmen, and a variety of camp followers. They all get together every year to recreate and re-enact life on the early American frontier. Specifically, as life was being lived during the times around 1830 to 1860 in Macktown, Illinois.

The event is amazing . . . everything is authentic . . . from the white ("tattle-tale gray") canvas tents in many sizes and shapes; to life-sized teepees and hogans of the Native Americans; to living conditions. Everyone lived in tents, grouped according to whatever role they were re-enacting. The Native Americans even had a sweat lodge! Everyone cooked over open wood fires, sometimes with only the crudest support for the food and kettles.