October 4, 2018 by carverdale

CCA Competition 2018

I thought I would share my winning entry for the Caricature Carvers of America (CCA) competition this year. The competition is closed to the public and all entries must be dropped off or mailed in. The details can be found at the link above. The link can also be used to view the winners from previous years and will show this year’s winners in the near future.

My entry was carved from a basswood roughout designed by Roger Stegall of Mayflower, Arkansas. I worked independently following my own idea of what could be found within the wood without adding and pieces.

September 23, 2018 by carverdale

Carving from a pattern

In March of 2015, ten students collaborated with Chris Hammack (CCA) to develop their own pattern for a figure to be carved from a 4X4X8 inch piece of basswood. Everyone had a very unique project. I was not one of those students but I was really attracted to the project developed by Chris and Willie Thornton. I asked Willie if I could make a copy of his pattern and brought it home to work on it. I refined it a little but kept the same concept. It was a challenge but I enjoyed working on it. Here are pictures of the progress.

This project has been recognized by the CCA with a Merit Award during the March 2017 Roundup Class. This award also encourages the recipient to enter the project in the annual CCA competition in August. Here’s the Merit Award and ribbon.

Here is the third place ribbon from the CCA Competition. The category was “Group Mixed” because of the ladybug and baby.

July 11, 2010 by carverdale

The Captain

While taking a weekend class in 2006 with the Bishops, Vicki told me about the new class projects she was designing. The one that really caught my interest was a pirate bust. I ordered one to be sent home when the roughouts were available. The plan was to prepare the surface for the one day class I would take with the Bishops in March. As I worked on the piece, I decided to do a little carving, too. Before I knew it I had finished carving. I painted and mounted the piece and it was ready to show to Vicki in March. She and Phil encouraged me to enter the piece at the 2007 Woodcarving Congress show in Davenport, Iowa. Much to my surprise and delight, I won 2 blue ribbons. The piece was entered in Group Q, Carvings from a Roughout. I received the first place award for that group and also for the Class (981 Humans). Here are some shots of the piece.

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