CLUB NEWS WRAP-UP

*It is appropriate to once again recognize Gordy Moscinski and Ray Olson, the two guys probably most responsible for putting together what we now enjoy as The Blackhawk Woodcarving Club. Thanks guys!

*Another "Thank you" goes out to the folks who have helped put this new publication together. 

In no special order: Jim Griparis, Roger Benedict, Larry Christenson, Gordy Moscinski, Elaine Terrell, John Wacker, and Bob Hallstrom.

They brought in sample newsletters from other clubs to give insight on what might be done here. And also gave some helpful criticism. Really quite enlightening.

*Annual dues have been raised to $20.00 a year in order to help cover increased costs of postage, annual Show charges, and other miscellaneous expenses. Not to mention the rent money for our carving hall.

The Show was originally intended as a money-raising project for the club, but, the net margin is getting pretty thin.

New dues rate is in effect and payable January 1, overdue February 1.

*The new club officers are:

Bob Hallstrom, President; Don Stansfield, Vice President; Gary Lundquist, Secretary; and John Wacker, Treasurer. They are listed at the end of this newsletter along with their phone numbers and current committee chair people.

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

*Don Stansfield had a really nice article about our club's August 2007 Annual Show & Competition in the January-February issue of Chip Chats Magazine.

The article featured three-and-a- half pages of full-color pictures of winning carvings. Don set these off with a description of our show, and names of the winners in each category.

Apparently the magazine wanted to change the spelling of Rich Andersen's name. They spelled it - sOn instead of correctly: -sEn. No, he is not a Dane.

Chip Chats is the bi-monthly publication of the National Wood Carvers Association, 7424 Miami Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45243. Membership is $14 a year, and includes a subscription to the magazine. If you have never seen this fine publication, ask an officer if you can borrow a copy. It's a great place to get ideas, and from other carvers work.

Chip Chats has a long list of coming events in the last few pages of the magazine. They list up-coming woodcarving events by month & date, city & state, and include data on place, times, contact phone, fees, and often a short description. In the January-February issue, they list activities as far out as October, 2008.

This information can be nice to have if you want to do some "woodcarving stuff while on a vacation trip. Just look ahead on the trip to see where you'll be at what date, and check to see if there's an event near that time and place.

*Wednesday carving sessions are getting bigger and bigger. Great turnouts mean we have to set up six tables now, instead of only the four we used to have. You could call it a monster gathering, but folks don't like to be called monsters.

*Rich Andersen went to The Woodcraft Shop in Bettendorf, Iowa, a week or so ago, and came home with three extra copies of their new catalog. Ask Rich soon if you want one of these copies. The store is family-owned, and operated by Carol and Larry Yudis and son, Chris. Nice folks with which to do business.

*Tom Backer, as you may remember, had a pacemaker installed in his chest a couple of months ago at a local hospital. Apparently, there was some confusion, and they thought the wrong piece of equipment had been installed.

On January 22 Tom went to the University of Wisconsin Hospital to have experts there check out the problem.

Tom is back home and doing OK. A modest change in medicine is all for now.

*Tony DeVita is recovering from a rather horrendous experience of having a cataract removed from his right eye. If you talk to Tony about it, he’ll tell you that the surgery was a bit different from what others in the club have experience. At press time, Tony is coming along well.

*On January 16, Wednesday morning carving session, our eminent relief carver, Roger Benedict stabbed himself with a gouge. I guess you would say he gouged. He bled pretty well, thanks to the blood thinner he has been taking since his heart surgery last year.

Fortunately fro Rog, two of our newest members were handy to come to his rescue. Roseley Wesley carries a well equipped first aid kit, and Marj Simonds is a nurse. He got some really first class first aid.

Especially warm welcome to our new friends who have joined the Blackhawk Woodcarvers since the last recognition.

*Marj Simonds - She has other responsibilities scheduled that conflict with our meetings on Tuesday nights… but she makes Wednesday carving sessions OK.

*Bernie Budzynski and his wife Barb were at the Christmas Party. Bernie is also a regular Wednesday morning carver.

*Rosalie Wesley - comes all the way from Leaf River to carve with the club every Wednesday. She promises to make the business meetings, too, when driving weather is better.

*Nick Scheuer came to us last fall, but just now is getting around to regular attendance, Nick has been a woodcarver since the late 1970’s – mostly song birds. He has been a member of carving clubs in both Michigan City, Indiana, and Minneapolis, Minnesota

*Gary Lundquist was in Moscinski’s carving class last fall, and joined in September. He’s not only a new member, but has already teen elected as Club Secretary. Congrats, Gary!

*This is the tree stump Indian under construction last summer at the Winnebago County Fairgrounds after some of our club members chopped and chiseled and chainsawed him.

Click on tree stump picture to make it larger.

Believe it or not, this tree stump was calculated to be at least 3,500 pounds of standing timber when they started to chop away at it. He still stands about ten feet tall, but probably has lost more than half his weight. He looks pretty much the same this winter. Work will start again this spring when weather gets friendly enough.

Members shown in the picture are Tony DeVita on the scaffold, Gale Terrell at the right side, and Bob Matthews, who is almost hidden behind the right side of the statue. Only his tusch is showing.

*Rich Anderson brought in a scale model of a skid loader. He has a commission to build several scale model construction machines. The next is to be a 21" road grader. Amazing – the important parts all move realistically. Hydraulic rams go up and down, the bucket tips, and wheels roll nicely. Great.

*Gale Terrell made a wooden cage to hold a small rubber ball his grandson had left behind at Gale’s place. Maybe the boy will not forget the ball next time.

A second piece ... Gale was so impressed by the program on "Bandsaw Boxes" at our November meeting that he built one, too. Amazingly close fit in the saw kerfs. Nice work.

*Gordy Moscinski showed some "found" items: a cane handle with a carved dog's head ... press under the dog's chin, and the mouth opens.

He also had an eight-inch wooden statue of a hollow old man. Put burning incense inside the guy and the smoke comes out the statue's open mouth. (Supposed to make smoke rings.)

And a shoe box of feathered Christmas ornaments, birds mostly. These he offered to anyone who might want them .. one or all.

*Gordon Moscinski brought in one of the Santas he carved before Christmas on a contract deal for the folks on his dentist's office staff. They had asked if he ever sold any of his carvings, because they were interested in buying. Gordy brought in several pieces of his work to show the variety ... four of the folks chose this Santa. Gordy was a bit surprised at their choice, but happy to get the orders.

Click on Santa picture to make it larger.

Gordy finds this particular piece amusing, because it is so simple to carve. Only four inches tall. No eyes. No hands. No feet. Super, simple, yet intriguing.

Minutes from December were read. No additions or corrections. Report stands approved as read.

 No additions or corrections. Report approved as read.

Tod Wisner announced intentions to have newsletter written, printed, and mailed by the first of the month.

*By-laws have been re-written as suggested by the new officers. An amendment to delete the phrase, "affiliated ..." was suggested and accepted. It was moved by Roger Benedict and seconded by Rich Andersen that the By Laws be accepted as amended.

*Jim Griparis and Larry Christensen reported on the possible quilt project for the Center For Sight & Hearing. Their visit to the building provided several beneficial insights.

There is a spot over the fireplace in a large octagonal meeting room that would be nice for the carved Quilt under consideration. Jim had made scale drawings of two different possible configurations for the quilt.

There were suggestions from the Center as to possible subjects for the individual quilt squares. These suggestions were well received by the club members.

There seemed to be general agreement to proceed with the project. The discussion went on into details that were somewhat premature at this point. Tod Wisner moved and Roger Benedict seconded that the club accept the invitation of the Center, and go ahead with the project. After a good point of discussion from Rich Andersen, it was decided to table the project until we had more information.

Jim and Larry were asked to return to the Center and come back with more information.

* NEW BUSINESS *

*A request went out for possible projects to help raise money at the Show. Perhaps a common project like the "watch dog" of two years ago.

*Bob Hallstrom put forth the idea of everybody carving some Christmas trinkets, or ornaments that could be given to kids in Rockford hospitals. The idea was well accepted by the members.

*Our club from time to time is asked to take on a special carving project. We have not always known exactly how to respond to such requests. However, recent business meeting discussions have resulted in a (more or less agreeable) way of negotiating a fee for such projects in the future. Got a comment or question? Talk to President Bob Hallstrom.

*Tom Block presented a truly engrossing and lively program on Tuesday night, January 15. Tom and his wife, Barbara, are "lighthouse collectors." They have traveled all over the North American continent and Puerto Rico to take pictures of lighthouses.

Tom's over-size full-color photo prints were breath-taking. The program was educational as well as beautiful.

We learned some lighthouse history. For example, the first one in North America was built in 1716 on Rooster Island in Boston Harbor. At the end of the War for Independence, the retreating British forces burned it down. It wasn't until 1783 that they finally got a replacement built.

*February 19- decision on the quilt carving project for the Center For Sight & Hearing - program: Orville Roan will tell about his Intarsia work.

*March 18- program: Roger Benedict will present a slide show of old and forgotten farm silos he has seen around Illinois and Wisconsin.

*April 15 -

*May 20 -

*June 17-

*July 15 - committees report on final preparations for Annual Carving Show

*August 16 - SHOW TIME !

*August 19 - Show re-cap

*September 16 -

*October 21 -

*November 18 - Select Carver of the Year and Nomination of officers

*December 16 - Election of Officers and Christmas Party & Swap

August 16, 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Tebala Shrine Temple
7910 Newburg Rd., Rockford

SETUP Friday afternoon
Chair & Committee - recruited in February
Rules & applications - published in May
Special Show events - TBA
Food, etc. - TBA

*These are listings of events for the next few months and close to home.

*Keep your ears open for news of a special Gordy Moscinski class for building a Native American wooden flute. Tentatively, this is planned to run concurrently (but in another part of the room) with our Wednesday morning carving sessions for a couple of weeks. See page 5

*Roger Benedict's class on relief carving at Rock Valley College CLR is full and over-flowing. Sixteen people. Wow!

*Gordy Moscinski is teaching "Introduction to Woodcarving" again this spring. Gordy has been teaching this class both spring and fall for several years. This is also at Rock Valley College CLR. (That stands for Center for Learning in Retirement.)

*Attached here is a special sheet on how to sharpen a knife. This material is copyrighted, and reproduced here by special permission from the good folks at Pine-wood Forge.

Pine-wood Forge makes the famous Harley Refsal knives. When they ship a knife, they always include a copy of these sharpening instructions. While they were originally written for the Harley knife, they work just as well for other knives. They are concise and clear, with some good line drawings to illustrate important ideas.

* The classes listed below have been copied from other publications, and may or may not be filled. Be sure to check for yourself We have no reasonable way of knowing any details other than those shown.

*February 2-3, Cedar Rapids, IA - Cedar Valley Woodcarvers' Art of Woodcarving show and competition at Longbranch Hotel and Convention Center, 90 Twixt Town Rd, NE; Saturday 9-5, Sunday 10-4. Free admission. Maurie Vandewalle 319-377-6520

*February 27,28,29 - Bettendorf, IA. The Woodcraft Shop sponsors Harley Refsal teaching Scandinavian flat plane caricature carving. (:00 to 5:00. $ 100 plus cost of cutouts @ $9-$ 15 each. The Woodcraft Shop, 2724 State Street, Bettendorf, Iowa, 52722, 800-397-2278.

* February 29, March 1,2 - Harley Refsal is teaching a another section of the class at The Woodcraft Shop. Same place, same prices, no repeats, please.

*February 9-10, Chicago School of Woodcarving. Wayne Barton is teaching "Beginning Chip Carving." 773-275-1170.

*March 16, Greenfield (Milwaukee) WI. Badger State Carvers host annual show and sale at Mount Cannel Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, 5700 West Layton Ave; 11:00 to 4:00. Free admission and parking. Contact Richard Wawrzyniak 414-476-8754.

*March 29-30, Plover, WI. Eighth annual competition sponsored by Wisconsin River Woodcarvers, 434 5^th Ave, Stevens Point, WI, 54481.

*April 12-13, Bettendorf, IA, Gen Grayling teaches a class in pyrography. Lessons will be graded to individual skill level. 9:00 to 5:00, $100. The Woodcraft Shop, 2724 State Street, Bettendorf, Iowa, 52722, 800-397-2278.

*April 12-13, Wheaton, IL "Artistry In Wood" at Cantigny Park 15151 Woodfield Rd. Sponsored by North Suburban Woodcarvers Club ($20 per year). Admission to park is $8,00 per vehicle. Jogn hackemer 415 West Benton Ave, Naperville, IL, 60540, 630-355-6589.

*April 26-27, Bettendorf, Iowa. 9:00 to 5:00, The Southwest comes to Bettendorf! Sara and Larry Cornwell will teach students to cut, carve, and decorate gourds with Southwest themes using Dremel or Fordham type tools as well as Woodburning. All supplies (and some tools) will be furnished. The Woodcraft Shop, 2724 State Street, Bettendorf, IA, 52722, 800-397-2278.

*April 27 – Appleton, WI, Mid-Wisconsin Chippers host annual show, competition, and sale, 9am to 4pm at (new location) Monarch Gardens, 2311 Spencer. Jayne Neuenfeldt, W10831 Everts Lane, New London, WI, 54961, 920-982-5582

*When we get any news on carving classes from other clubs or from vendors, that news will be passed along to you as quickly as the next newsletter.

The only rule is that the item MUST be related to carving.

*Native American Love Flute will be taught by Gordy Moscinski on February 20 and February 27 Wednesday mornings during regular carving time. 8:30 to 11:00. We will use a gouge either #8, #9, #10or a #11veiner about ¼" wide. Plus a knife or a skew. There will be spare gouges to borrow if you need one.