---- Chris Pye: WOODCARVING - NEWSLETTER ---- June 2005 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com "Dedicated to the teaching, learning and love of woodcarving" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is an opt-in newsletter and you should only be receiving it because you requested it from the website, or were sent it by a friend. Subscribe or Unsubscribe easily on the home page here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/ or using the link at the end of the newsletter. ****Back issues here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/intro/pastnews.html including zipfiles for 2001, 2002 & 2003, 2004 newsletters ============================================================ Hello Everyone! If you enjoy this newsletter and it's helped with your carving, please pass it on or recommend it to other carvers. Thanks! CONTENTS: 1. The Glitch That Wasn't... 2. Quick Carving Questions 1) Hot Glue Gun? 3. Learning to Carve II Part 3: 'Passion!' Website Bookmarks at the end. List of Slipstones Woodcarving Manuals Teaching Dates ________________________________________ 1. THE GLITCH THAT WASN'T... ________________________________________ Want to know how this newsletter works? And what happened with last month's that caused me to panic needlessly? No? Please skip this section... I think a lot of you see me on my computer writing an email and sending it to a huge cc list with something like Microsoft Outlook. I did this to start with when there was only one of you - thanks, mum. However, as numbers rose, Outlook soon clenched. Now there are nearly 4000 of you it would probably need the pc equivalent of an enema to get it moving. So I use what's called a "cgi script". You can tell I know a lot about these things when I say it's a little cyber-widget thing in the bowels of the website itself that mails out to each and everyone one of you who puts their name in the "subscribe me!" box. (Your names by the way are entirely hidden and secret - even I don't know who you are!) Cutting to the chase - I subscribe myself in the box to get a copy - just to see if the mailing has really worked. It's tempting to run with the bowel analogy but imagine my horror when I saw a newsletter with no line breaks! Vainly muttering "Don't panic, don't panic", I mailed out an apology - with yet more missing line breaks! What I didn't know was that it was only MY "internal" email that had the problem - some glitch that has yet to be explained. I now have a way of testing with an "external" email address so, fingers crossed, I shouldn't be fooled again... The one really good thing that came out of it for me was how many of you wrote to say the newsletter was fine and keep up the good work. THANK YOU! Please bear in mind that I do all this webstuff myself without help and for nothing - at the end of the day I'm just a woodcarver! - so I really appreciate your patience and support when things aren't quite right. Also, do remember that you can always find a fresh copy of this or previous newsletters using the link above, or the one on the home page of the website. ________________________________________ 2. QUICK CARVING QUESTIONS ________________________________________ **** QUESTION 1: HOT GLUE GUN? **** "Do you find a use for a hot glue gun?" **** ANSWER **** Yes, indeed. I mainly use it for 'tacking' - in other words holding something temporarily in place. For example: a length of moulding or a board to be lettered; or a small unit of carving, using hot glue rather than the glue and paper method of mounting. The hot glue has little penetration and a few dabs around the edge are all that is needed. I like the speed at which I can temporarily fix things. Hot glue is no good for 'real' joints. Hot glue guns are really quite cheap and I find it good to have one to hand. Another example: I recently needed to carve a snail shell. I found an empty one in the garden, filled it with hot glue and poked in a long skewer. When set - a minute or two, I could mount the shell in any position to study and copy. Normally the cold glue breaks and peels away easily. Use the least possible to do what you want. However I have used a hot knife to severe the joint, and I've heard of carvers popping the piece in the freezer for a bit. ________________________________________________ 2. NEW SERIES: LEARNING TO CARVE II Part 3: 'Passion!' ________________________________________________ A short series of articles touching on the more non-physical aspects of carving which, to my mind, are just as important in how well or joyfully people carve - or IF they carve at all! 3. PASSION! What drives us to do ANYTHING? For me, it's my emotions. Thinking is like my steering wheel and gives me direction, but the actual power, the engine that drives, is my feelings; my emotions, my 'desire'. I'm simplifying here of course because the two work hand in hand, and feed (and feed off) each other, but I'm sure you recognise my experience here. It's pretty obvious - you only have to look at a teenager to see the rational/emotional elements in action: There might be big rational reasons why my teenage son should, say, get up before lunchtime. But will he? Yeah, right. Truly, for some, the longest journey in the day is from the bed to the floor. But when he has something he intensely desires to do one morning, he has no problem hit that floor running! It depends on the level at which we work and the demands we are making on ourselves, but carving is physically and mentally hard work. Sometimes I feel as if I've sat an exam for 8 hours. There is great joy to be had, truly, and the rewards can certainly fire you but, more often than not, there's a lot of graft before those rewards come. Getting down to work, sticking at it, going that extra mile and more does mean harnessing some strong feeling, some EMOTIONAL 'reason' - it is this I call passion. I have seen beginners at carving with talent that leaves me standing with my mouth open but who have no interest, no passion for it. It's a disappointing waste! And they don't get far really. I have seen other students with a (relatively) small amount of talent but deeply passionate about their carving. It's wonderful to see them stuck into what they are doing and making (perhaps) slow but sure carving progress. I love this passion when I see it and I'd go so far as to say passion divides carving students into those WITH and those WITHOUT, and with a spectrum in between. Where would you say YOU fall? I'm not making a value judgment here - we all have lives so full of many things and carving might be only one passing interest. That's fine. And I'm not even able to say how you can gain a real passion for woodcarving if it hasn't arisen. My point is that when students tell me they really want to be good carvers but can't harness any strong desire to carve - with all that involves, from drawing to benchtime - they I know they are going to have trouble fulfilling that aim. Rationally some part of them wants it, but emotionally they are still in bed! Next month: Learning by Doing ================================================= That's all for this month! Joy and success in your carving! Chris Pye ------------------------- PS: One for the bench: "Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully. "Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever." "And he has Brain." "Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain." There was a long silence. "I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything." ~ A.A. Milne ____________________________________________________________ SOME WEBSITE BOOKMARKS ____________________________________________________________ ----------------- SLIPSTONES WOODCARVING MANUALS Help yourself! Full list and details: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/index.html * Quick Carving Questions - 1 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq1.html (Sponsored by Tools for Working Wood: http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/) * Quick Carving Questions - 2 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq2.html (Sponsored by Classic Hand Tools: http://www.classichandtools.com/) * Quick Carving Questions - 3 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq3.html (Sponsored by Preferred Edge Carving Knives & Supplies: http://www.preferrededge.ca/) * Quick Carving Questions - 4 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq4.html (Sponsored by The Japan Woodworker: http://www.japanwoodworker.com/) * The Accomplished V Tool 1 - Free evaluation copy http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/v1.html * Learning to Carve - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/learncarving.html * A Guide to Safe Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/safecarving.html * Mistakes and Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/mistakes.html * Fundamentals of Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/fundamentals.html *Slicing, And The Value Of The Inside Bevel With The Chris Pye #2 1/2 Finishing Gouges From Ashley Iles - Free pdf http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/slicing.html ----------------- TEACHING * UK (1-TO-1 PERSONAL TUITION) Full details here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/tuition/t_custom.html Single day: £150 3 days: £360 5 days: £495 Lunch included. Local B&Bs in a very beautiful part of England... * USA (CENTER FOR FURNITURE CRAFTSMANSHIP, MAINE) 2005 http://www.woodschool.org/ June 20 - 24 Ornamental Carving (Mouldings) June 27 - July 1 Relief Carving July 4 - July 8 Carving Tutorial * CANADA (ROSEWOOD STUDIO, ALMONTE, ONTARIO) 2005 http://www.rosewoodstudio.com Sep 12 - Sep 16 Relief Carving I (Beginners) Sep 19 - Sep 23 Relief Carving II (Advanced) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright (c) Chris Pye 2005 Chris@chrispye-woodcarving.com ----------------------- -----------------------