10/10/2014

Wow!  it's Friday already.  Where did the week go?

I thought that I would give you some pictures of the process of my carving so we will begin with step one.  Go out into the forest and find tree limb.  

I use a lot of Juniper,  it's everywhere you look in Florida,or in Northeast Florida at least.   And often I can get it were people trow it out in their yard trash.

In this case my friend Kurtis and I went out into the woods and found a tree and just took one branch. I like to harvest responsibly and not damage the plants.

Then I start chipping away, sort of like this…

Then we start doing a little work with the Dremel tool and sander.  Of course I've been wearing my gloves the whole process even though you can't see him in these photos. I nearly cut off my pinky finger with the curved gouge last week, so I've learned a lot since I started this a month or so ago.

See how pale it looks, kind pink beautiful but pale.  That's because it has not been oiled yet.

Here is a shot of the bottom, I even left some of the park on this one. I really love the rustic look.

Then I submerged it in a bucket of orange oil, lemon oil, and beeswax. Once it soaks for a little while, I then put it in the sun.  That way it gets warm, which opens up the pores in the wood and lets the oil go deeper inside the wooden, not just sit on the top of the work.

And here you see the magic of oiling your wood.

It measures 7 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 1 inch deep. I am so in love with this little bowl Cedar is just so awesome.  

Then I thought I'd try something that's been in the back of my mind for a very long time.  

I had some cedar that have been cut some while back that was too thin for using with baskets.  So I decided to sand it up, cut it up, and try and make a necklace… Here it is. I may even keep this one for myself.

I stacked the two pieces of Cedar and I just love this thing. 

All of these pieces will be for sale tomorrow at the market, that would be the St. Augustine Old City market at the amphitheater on Anastasia Island.  Believe it or not I haven't touched a basket since last Saturday. I should probably get back to that…