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Club Officers President Bob Hallstrom Committees December Program CHRISTMAS PARTY BREAKFAST took place on Wednesday, December 16th at our usual meeting place- ( the KenRock Center) Scheduled for 9:00 A.M., a majority of the attendees were in the rather chilly hall closer to 8:30. As usual, Bernie Budzynski and his crew did a magnificent job. There was more than enough food, in fact, there were more than 30 'doggy bags'. The CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST PARTY was a full breakfast - catered by Bernie, his wife Barb, Helen Lundquist, Dona Wisner, and others. Just like last year, we had a variety of fruits, delectable scrambled egg & sausage casseroles; just right sliced ham, juices, coffee, rolls, breads, and this year we even had pies, cookies and cakes! I counted 72 in attendance - but with all those people getting up to talk, get more food and coffee, I could be off by more than of five or six .. Those in attendance were almost equally split between men and women- perhaps a few more men. As is our tradition, there was an opportunity to sell or barter some of your excess "stuff' which included wood, bark, tools and carving things. Buy, sell, trade, or give away, whatever, as long as it was gone from the original owner. This year, it took a new direction called "Blanket swap." Gordy Moscinski conducted it. Speaking of Gordy, he announced that our web site is now complete including a history of the club - just click on the history button. Novem ber ProgramLeah Crull and Karen Weber, two physical therapists from Orthopedic Rehab Specialists of Rockford,, presented a great program on "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome." They used a plastic take-apart hand and detailed literature to explain how the carpal tunnel transverse ligament works; what happens when it goes bad; and how the problem is fixed with surgery and exercise. Many questions. Much group discussion. The presentation finished with a discussion on how the whole business is related to woodcarving. This part included a handout on "What to look for when selecting or modifying hand tools to provide a better fit with the user." Octo ber Program press on picture to make it larger
In the photo, Jim is explaining how he applies French Oil Finish (a mixture including shellac and alcohol). He uses three or four coats of the product, rubbing each in thoroughly, and letting it dry for 30 or 40 minutes between coats. Jim explained this makes a friendly finish that can be easily repaired if it’s scratched or scraped. For objects that are going to get hard use, Jim will apply three or four coats of gloss urethane to develop a hard, durable coating. He sands between coats with wet/dry sandpaper. The final coat is of satin finish urethane that gets covered with wax. He uses Min-Wax applied with either a cloth or 0000 steel wool. Special hint: since many solvent-based finishing products will lose their solvency when exposed to air, Jim likes to buy in plastic bottles when possible. He squeezes the air out of the container between uses. This minimizes the reactivity of the product with air, because there isn’t much air in the container to react with! September ProgramDon Stansfield passed out the pumpkin/high hat cutouts, and helped us all get started carving them. These are for the Pins For Kids program. Easy and fun. You could almost finsh one completely in the hour or so we had. August ProgramClub member Dolores Cascio and her friend, Diane Mender, put on a very interesting program on watercolor art. They had brought many of their watercolor pictures, and they explained the "how and why" of each one. While Diane and Dolores were showing and explaining their watercolor pictures, Diane’s very attractive granddaughter was posing for us to sketch. Afterward there was a brisk question & answering session. Well received by the large crowd in attendance. July Program There was no entertainment program this month. June Program“Out Of My Tree” chain saw carving by Rick Kruse, 108 Adams, Ridott, IL, 815-232-0018, Rick was a most interesting speaker. He brought in a whole bunch of his carvings to illustrate different points of his presentation.
Mr. Kruse is a truly affable daffer - he invites anyone interested to come on over to his place in Ridott for a visit.
May Program Judy Stemwedel put on a really interesting program on the "Art of Gourding." Judy is an active member of the American Gourd Society, and is considered, therefore to be a "gourder."She had a whole table full of different examples of her work with gourds. Big ones, little ones, round ones, and crooked ones. One of her personal favorites is a gourd about the size of a large muskmelon. She likes it because of some unusual and attractive crooked cracks that had happened to the gourd while it was growing in the field. She explained that she was here because she had been in one of Gordy Moscinski’s woodburning classes at CLR. (Or, as she prefers to call it "Pyrography.") When He found out about Judy’s experiences in gourding, he talked her into bringing a gourd program to our Club.Because she has had less than limited success growing her own gourds, she buys mostly from Jack Schandelmeier’s Gourd & Grain Farm out by Durand. She buys "raw" gourds that are dried but not cleaned.
Judy explained the steps and precautions needed to take a gourd from the raw state into condition ready for the artist. Tedious, but not a complicated job. An interesting fact about gourds is that those grown around here are considered "northern grown," and have a thinner but harder shell than gourds grown in warmer climates like Alabama or Arizona.
April Program Gordy Moscinski conducted a class in feather making. How to carve, paint, and burn-in details of feathers. An assortment of blanks were furnished - carvers chose the one feather style they wanted to do. Then, went back to their seats and carved the feather. Gordy had one whole row of tables set up with wood burners. After we carved our feathers, we all took turns burning in the fine details. Then, there was another row of tables all set up with paints and paint brushes for us to finish our feather. At each step of the way, Gordy was there to advise and guide us. Many of the members had a head start, because they had previously taken Gordy’s woodburning class at Rock Valley CLR. For many of us, this Wednesday morning feather class was our first experience with woodburning, and some of us didn’t even know what questions to ask.It was really interesting, and folks agreed that it would be nice to have a bit more time on the project. Even if it were only one more hour. Especially, if you wanted to do the feathers as pretty as Gordy does them. Didn’t finish painting your feather? Go to the Internet: www.blackhawkcarving.com. You will find color pictures and the complete recipes for paints used on each of the different feathers that Gordy had us carve in the class on April 15. March Program Sculptor Jack Kromer, proprietor of Kromer Rocking Horses, told us about how he got started in carving and what led him to create hand-carved heirloom-quality rocking horses. Along the way, he has carved, sculpted clay, and created commercial items that are cast in aluminum. Bad weather prevented him bringing along one of his rocking horses for the program, but he did bring along pictures and a saddle. The saddles on Kromer Rocking Horses are actual, fully-functional, Western-style leather saddles, just scaled down from standard saddles. Jack has them custom-made by a saddle maker in Pecatonica, Illinois . The saddle seems odd, being so tiny. It is about the size you would use on a large dog. Remarkable. A finished horse stands about 48" high, from floor to top of the head, and is about 60" long because of the rockers. The rockers themselves are made by a cabinet maker in Savanna, Illinois. While conventional rocking horse rockers are usually sawn out of one piece of wood, Kromer horses have laminated rockers ... very rugged, and obviously built to last many lifetimes. The body is a glue-up of 8-quarter wood. It can be black walnut or cherry or whatever the customer wishes. The head is carved separate from the body and then attached with a floating mortise and tenon. Carving is done mostly with chisels and mallet. While a certain amount of sanding is done to facilitate painting, Jack leaves most of the tool marks on. He wants there to be no question about this being carved by hand. It takes about a month to complete a Kromer rocking horse, and they sell for up to $5,000 each, depending on the size of the horse and the wood used. Jack Kromer is in Lanark, Illinois. He divides his carving time between a couple of places. Phone numbers are 815-541-7315 and 815-244-9904. His web site is www.kromerart.com. During the winter, he mostly carves ducks and birds. Febr uary ProgramClub Member Art Peters gave a lively presentation on the Ash Borer Problem facing our ash trees. He had pictures, as well as some actual samples of the larva and the damaged tree wood. A question and answer session followed Art’s presentation. January Program The program for January was the Quarterly Group Carving Project. This time it we were to carve a small pin of a Wood Spirit. Don Stansfield brought and passed out cut-outs of a small maple leaf. He also provided a drawing, a multiple-step instruction sheet, a colored picture suggesting colors, and pins for the backside of our carvings. There is to be a contest to choose the "best" pin at a future business meeting. Don announced that Bob Hallstrom will be the judge, and pick the "President’s Choice."
Pictures of the Show in 2009 Press on picture to make it larger
Spherical Carving Challenge 2009 An open carving category is available for anyone attending the August 16, 2008 Wood Carving Show. This event's purpose is to place extraordinary emphasis on originality, creativity, and carving skill. The intent is to provide a tough challenge for anyone to create an original design that ignores the traditional designs recognized in carving magazines and carving class patterns. The entries shall be displayed with the traditional competition entries and judged by the same judges. Awards of ribbons and cash will be given for first, second, and third places. This challenge is open to all carvers. The requirements are as follows: 1. Must be an original of any subject matter and carving
style. Awards and cash prizes will be given as follows: First Place (Blue
Ribbon) $50.00
These are pictures of the show in Chip Chats Magazine January-February 2010
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