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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Thinkin of the past today.

My past, mostly.  I've been trying to get a little whittling in regularly, daily is unfortunately too much to ask for.  Mostly been making little roses, promised a couple dozen for the holidays, and the little snowmen as in my last post.  (I'm really enjoying my latest knife- forged blade and a curly maple handle)

But I digress from my original digression.  Someone asked if I knew where to find a pattern I have used in the past, its a little reindeer that I based my tutorial on- you'll find my version on the left.  The original was by Will Hayden; Will has taken his website down for health reasons, his blog remains but has no additions since Oct 2011, I think it was.  Will was one of several friends I never met, people who helped and encouraged me in the early days of my whittling.  I may not have improved, but they helped me enjoy the work.  Will was particularly inspiring, quick to answer my emails, treated me like he knew me all along.  As time has passed I realized he did know me, the same way I know the newbies to the craft coming along now- its a lot like looking in the mirror.  I can only wish to be as inspirational.

Will's not the only one on my mind- others are flitting through as I type this, and my mind was on my Mom today.  I had finished painting a couple roses and was washing out my paint brush, can't begin to tell you all how many times I watched her do that.   She made a million Christmas ornaments, maybe more.  She wasn't a whittler so much as a woodburner- the term pyrographer was not in common usage at the time.  She did do some carvings, mostly relief, very realistic.  I can only remember three, I have one, sis has one, and I have no idea where the other is.  That's how Mom was, she did whatever the hell crossed her mind to do.  Painted, oils and acrylics, metal etching, pen & ink, whatever.  A local NBC exec asked for a rendering of the NBC peacock- anybody remember that?  She did that in pen & India ink.  She asked about the shading on the feathers, they gave her the answer in pixels, basically, though we did not know the term then.  Translation was dots per inch, she made sure each tail feather has the correct number of dots per inch, one dot at a time.  I was awed, and at the same time I expected no less from her.  'That's how she rolled'.  I hope she's looks in on me and maybe smiles a little at the pile of chips on the floor, I suspect I bore her by not trying new mediums, and I know she has a frown for me over the dishes in the sink.....

 Pay it forward my friends- that's what Mom wants.

BfloBif