Trying to Fit Whittling into a Busy Schedule

After a summer of laziness and not whittling much, I'm now dealing with a semester of heavy homework and little to no time to whittle (the only time I get a full night's sleep is on the weekends). So  the specialty hall where I'm living is doing a fundraiser, I decide to cram in as much whittling as I can. I planned, despite my horrendous schedule, to carve four wands, two dice, three necklaces, and a rune set.

All that I completed was a necklace and a die. 

So I was far from my goal, but you know what? I made awesome things. I whittled, and that's good enough for me. Now let me show you these wonderful things:

This involved a wood tile, a necklace, and an earring hook. My first step was use my woodburning pen to etch out the tree design on the wooden tile, then so the second step of drilling a hole in the top where I could put the earring hook through. Between those steps, acrylic sealer was applied. After the earring hook was sent through the hole, I used pliers to bend the tip upward so that it formed a loop. The pliers were then used to separate the top circle so that I could put it on the necklace, completing the whole craft. It sold for $2 at the fundraiser. 

This die simply involved a wood block, a sanding pad, my woodburning pen, and the acrylic sealer. This is a very simple craft that a lot of beginning whittlers can do, especially when they need to whip up a quick one in time for a fundraiser. All that was needed was sanding down the edges and rounding them out to make it easy for the die to roll. Then, woodburn the dots on each face. When finished, apply sealer and you have a nice, simple, and fun craft. This sold for $1.

So despite my busy schedule, I managed to make two things and help out my hallway. And yesterday, I completed another die, which I gave to my mother, and am working on another necklace for my friend since today is her birthday. As for the things that were not completed, they're now on my ever-growing list of projects. I'm excited to do the rune set, but that will have to wait until a holiday break or be a slow process. 

More Finished Projects!!!

Even with exams and all that mess that comes with the end of a semester, I still managed to get some projects finished, which pleases me greatly.

Yes, I finished the sushi, and my friend LOVED them. She even squealed, which was very amusing. They're based on California rolls with Laura's flair with avocado, mushrooms, red peppers, crab meat, and cream cheese (all colored with acrylic paint).



And I also completed another wand. But alas, I forgot to take a picture of the final result, so all the only photo I do have is this one where I compared it to the first wand. Obviously, I like sticks of that length. <_< ? I made this wand for a professor who has left, and so this was my way of showing how much I appreciate her. The difference between this pic and the final result isn't much. It's pretty much the shape of Shoshana's wand (the one with the trees and leaves) without decorations and lighter. The reason I chose not to add decorations was because I liked the idea of letting her determine what she wants on it because it's her wand. With Shoshana, it was giving her a new perspective. With Charlotte (the professor), it's giving her another surface on which to expand her ideas. There's a long brown line down the side of the shaft which you can't see in the photo, but I chose not to cover that up because it also shows how she's scarred, but that doesn't take away from her overall beautiful person. Yes, I am Augustus Waters (from The Fault in Our Stars) in the fact that I see everything in metaphor.

This one was quite a thrill to do. So, Shoshana, the friend I made the first wand for, is a huge fan of Star Trek and collects earrings. What I have failed to notice, however, was the combination of these things. I fixed that. This is the first project that didn't involve a piece of wood that I found somewhere in the forest. Both pieces were bought at Michael's and only needed some sanding to smooth out the edges. After that, I traced out the emblems and used a woodburning pen to darken it. Then I used acrylic paint to color it, then finished it off with fixative. Shoshana loved them and I hope she will wear them the next time she dons her Uhura dress.


Now that summer has started, I'm hoping to get moving on more projects and completing those that I've been working on for a while. I'm still working on the thyrsus, as well as a cane for my friend, Naomi, and a wand from a stick that another friend found and thought I could do something with it--I don't know who it's for yet, but it will be amazing.

Getting Back in the Habit

So with the start of a new semester, things have been a little too busy for my whittling.

Am I okay with this? No.

Result? I've been starting on more than one project at a time, which is BAD! The more projects I start at once, the less that get completed. Right now, I'm balancing sushi, a thyrsus, two wands, and a cane. And I'm behind schedule from my list of projects...I knew that line-up was ambitious. But nevertheless, I just need to figure out what's more important right now to work on (thyrsus and wand #1). Sushi and wand #2 will have to wait until Spring Break since it requires paint and the wand is the one I left at home. Hopefully, between family stuff, friend stuff, personal stuff, and homework stuff, I can fit whittling stuff in there somewhere. Depending on what I get done over Break, I'll have to re-organize my project line-up and reassign deadlines. Hopefully, much will get done, but we'll have to see first.

Sappy Mistakes

Most of today was spent cleaning my room, which is mess of objects and wood shavings. I did, however, do some whittling by cutting down a limb to wand-size. The sickly-sweet fruity smell should have been my first clue that this might not have been a good limb to use. No, I had to get the wood all in my saw and cut two pieces of bark off before I realized that I was dealing with a soft wood filled with sap and getting it on my knife.

Great. <_<

After some scrubbing and giving up for now on trying to clean the saw, I threw the branch out. That was depressing because it looked perfect for a wand. Well, that was my firsthand experience with trying to work with soft woods. Never, ever again...

What Did I Bring Into My Room Now???

I did it again. I brought another fallen branch into my room with the idea that it would be perfect for any huge projects in the future (cane, perhaps?). However, this branch proved to be a lot more difficult than the last one, starting with the fact that it was bigger than the last branch, which took up almost the whole floor span.

There was first the manner of carrying it in. I tried the back entrance to my dorm, which leads to staircase going straight up to my room, but the branch was too long to fit into the hallway without setting off the alarm first, so then I had to carry the whole thing around the building and to the front where the main doors are open for five seconds whenever someone is getting in. Getting it in that way was only one of the two easy parts of having that thing.

Next came getting it up to the third floor by way of the center staircase. After attempting to do it alone and failing miserably, two people from the specialty hall passed by and offered to help. Thank the Universe. So we carried it up stairs, holding it as vertically as we could until we reached the third floor. Getting it into my hallway was the second easy part since that only required turning the thing around and having one of the people keep the door open.

I am still surprised that we somehow got the entire thing into my room. That required careful turning and much patience. Remember the first branch and its length. Yeah, this branch had to have one end propped against the fridge while the other end had to rest against the top bookshelf. It was that big.

Now came the hardest thing of all: sawing. I spent a very nice (oh, there's that sarcasm again!) time sawing it in two places to make it small enough to lean against my wall rather than lay across the floor. If I don't get muscles from three P.E. courses, I'll certainly get it from sawing.

Now the bug problem. I haven't found ants yet, but I've found two spiders and littler bugs that I can't identify. I'll take a hairdryer to it again and see what that does. Hopefully the heat will kill them.

You're a whittler when you bring huge branches into your room with your thought process being "I can use this for something!" and are willing to put up with the problems of insects for the love of your hobby. That's dedication right there. :D

Skipping Steps With Awesome Results



I skipped the step of carving and painted the outside black. I was eager to see what it would look like since it wouldn't be sanded. Looks epic if you ask me, but then again, I'm the whittler, so my opinion is biased. XD Anyway, today I'm going to start carving the interior designs. Not sure how to carve, much less sketch the rice, but one thing at a time.

Project 2 Status: Initiated

With Project 1 finished and delivered, it is now time to begin Project 2: Sushi Rolls. This is in appreciation of a cook at the cafeteria who everyone loves, especially me, and who may be leaving sometime this semester. Thus, I want to create something that will show her that I appreciate everything she has done, especially the sushi.

 

 

I began with a good small chunk of wood whose ends needed to trimmed off to make smooth flat surfaces. After a good (oh excuse me, the sarcasm is dripping from my lip) time sawing and some good (there, the sarcasm is gone) stripping, this is what it looked like. Since sushi is never that big, this was a good opportunity to saw the piece in half and create two sushi pieces instead of one...

 

...which resulted in this. I am going to base the designs off of my friend's sushi rolls, which contain red peppers, mushrooms, and some green vegetable of whose name I do not know (the whole roll is like a California roll in basic structure). Since the outer part of the sushi is the seaweed, and seaweed has texture, I am not going to sand the sides. The carving of rice and vegetables on the tops and bottoms will most likely be the trickiest part, so I better equip myself with plenty of patience for this project. Nonetheless, I am very excited thus far, especially since I don't have to saw anymore.

Project 1 Status: Complete!

 

Done! Here is the finished product of my whittling. I love how the Acrylic Sealer left a nice gloss on it, and darkened the wood a small shade.

 

Red Oak, thirteen and a half inches, core of the four elements, unyielding.

 

I was going to add a constellation on top of the wand to give the impression of the night sky, but after sketching it, it looked unfitting, so I left it as it is.

 

I used a shirt piece, a ribbon, and twist tie to wrap it. Looks tacky, but it works. At least the ribbon and twist tie helped keep the ends down so that they couldn't expose the wand.

 

So after a month of hard work and dedication, the wand has been completed on schedule and my friend loved it. I even got to do the Ollivander shpeel. Now we just have to make sure she doesn't go around trying to cast unforgivable curses on people. X) Wouldn't work anyway; the wand was designed to create, not destroy.

Wonderful Night for Whittling

Whittling, string lights on, listening to "Whittling You Little Lights." Perfect. <3

It Helps to Know The Type of Wood

After some research, my friend and I found out that the wand is red oak, which is useful to know not only because I as a whittler should at least know my woods if I'm going to work with them, but also because I can be super awesome when I explain the wand upon delivery in an Ollivander tone:

"Red Oak, thirteen and a half inches, core of snow."

Yes, I put snow in the core. Not only that, but I will also add a touch of wind (accomplished by holding the wand downwind), some ground (a.k.a. dirt), and some fire (needle over flame then inserting it in wand; will be done outdoors). With all four elements, it's going to be a pretty powerful wand. That, and the description should actually be:

"Red Oak, thirteen and a half inches, core of elements."

Hopefully after this process and applying the sealer, the whole thing should be finished no later than the end of the week. I am so excited!!! 8D

Caution: Adopted Branches May Contain Ants

So some time ago, I brought a huge fallen branch into my room because it was big and represented numerous possibilities of use. Not long after, I started noticing a wee bit of an ant problem, yet I knew the branch was behind it. I endured it for a while, simply killing off any ant I saw and thinking it would go away soon. Tonight, I have seen enough ants on that branch to make a mini army. First, I tried asking people via Facebook if someone possessed any bug spray before I got an outrageous idea. Being the crazy person that I am, I chose this idea over the bug spray and prayed no one was around to ask questions.

I put the branch (by now sawed into two parts) in the shower.

I chose to wash the ants off of the branch and pray the wood would not rot from this. Thankfully, no one else was in the bathroom, therefore no explaining was needed, especially to an RA.

What's the point of telling this? Well, mostly to show how insane I am, but more about the craziest ways I approach a problem because you know what? In my world, things work, and an ant-infested branch is no exception. So we'll see for the next couple days whether it worked or not. It should, considering I let the water run all over the two parts for a good minute or two. I seriously hope the wood does not rot from that.

Almost Done

 

So I sketched and carved out the leaf design. The core wood is a lot easier to carve than the outer wood, and because I have this habit of forgetting tools I need, this was carved with my assisted-opening knife, with which I worried a friend because I was holding it by the blade in order to achieve accuracy. Thankfully, accuracy was achieved and no skin was damaged. Afterwards, I filled in two leaves with black ink before realizing that I preferred the leaves to not be colored. Sigh. So for two hours last night, I slaughtered my eyesight by sanding, cutting, and picking out every spot of ink on those two leaves. Thank the Universe it was only two because I might have gone blind if there had been more.

 

So with the leaves carved and fixed, and the handle re-inked, I am starting to think that this wand may be done. Yet maybe not because I don't quite feel satisfied with it. Minor adjustments may occur before I finally give it to my friend. I may pencil in the leaves just to see what they would look like colored in a lighter shade (that, and pencil is easy to erase later). Plus, I might sand down the tip a little more. Oh, the joys of being unsatisfied. <_<

You're a Whittler When...

 

...you bring in every good-looking stick you find and your first thought is "I can make something out of this." Thus there's a pile of sticks on your floor for later projects and you fondly refer to them as "Firewood."

 

 

...some of those said sticks are actual branches that you just couldn't resist bringing in. (FYI: The white branch is going to be the thyrsus.)

 

...your floor is covered with wood shavings and sawdust because it's too cold to whittle outside. I'm definitely vacuuming today.

Line-Up of Projects

1) My friend's wand, of course. Belated Christmas gift. Estimated Deadline: first week of February.

2) A sushi roll for my favorite worker at the cafeteria. I want to make her something to show how much I appreciate her, especially when she makes sushi. Estimated Deadline: Mid-February.

3) Thyrsus for the Classics Department. A contribution by bringing in an ancient element from Dionysus festivals. Will come very much in handy during our next induction into the honor society. Estimated Deadline: before spring break.

4) Another friend's wand. This was going to be created at the same time with Friend 1's wand, but I forgot both wands at home. Confession: the wand I'm making now is actually a second attempt at Friend 1's wand because the first attempt started not turning out so well. The reason I'm not restarting the second wand is because hers has a specialized tip that the wand forgotten at home started to have and I don't think I can recreate that. ED: after spring break.

5) A joke for my friends. As this is a family-oriented page, let's just say it's an college humor item. ED: before summer.

6) Friend 3's wand. When I showed this friend the first wand, she asked me to make her a wand, to which I enthusiastically agreed because hey, whittling is fun! ED: midsummer.

7) A cane for myself. Dude, I have always wanted a cane to have around and look all fancy. I will be looking forward to this. ED: midsummer.

8) A cane for Friend #5. He has a cane, but it's also nice when your friend makes one for you. ED: end of summer.

9) Sonic Screwdriver for Friend #4. It was an idea I mentioned that I am eager to fulfill. ED: end of summer - first month of school.

10) Wands for all four of my nieces. This is getting into ambitious territory, but I love my nieces to death and they would be ecstatic to have their own wands, so why not? ED: between first month of school to Christmas.

This is pretty much a whole year of  projects. I am quite excited and cautious at the same time because I know where my ambition leads sometimes and the path isn't always pretty. But I'll just take it cut by cut and see how successfully I can do all of this.

My Tools

 

First and foremost, this is my best friend when I whittle. I once forgot this knife and left it at home, thus had to use different blades. None of them quite got the job done like this one, so I am never repeating that accident ever again. I love using this one because it's small, easy to handle, and has a razor-sharp blade that I swear gets sharpened instead of dulled from the whittling. I love how deftly it can cut when I'm being gentle while also being able to really cut a chunk of wood off.

 

 

This is my second best friend, the sanding pad. I got this at Michael's Art Store for around $5 and haven't regretted the purchase. I like to use it because not only does it get the job done and makes the wood silky smooth, but it also has two sides for medium and fine sanding. Plus, it's washable, reusable, and fits my hand so that it's as easy to handle as my knife.

 

This is my tool for when there is a branch stump or other type of excess wood that needs to be removed. It's not quite as easy to handle; it tends to break the rhythm of sawing when it hits a difficult part as well as hits the wood and create a small denture, but it definitely does what it is needed to do.

 

This is what I will use when I finish my projects. I bought for around $10 at Wal-Mart (it's been a couple months so I could be wrong about the price). The sealer will give the wood nice shiny coat and protect the wood a little bit from damage. At least I hope it will.

 

 

Now we're getting into specific tools for the wand. This is the ink I used to fill in the trees ($4, Wal-Mart) and may possibly use for the leaves.

 

If not that ink, then maybe this one. This came from a whole Earth provisions store for $5. The funny thing is that I got because I couldn't resist the thrill of telling people that I have Dragon's Blood Ink. I got it solely for the title because I'm a nerd.

 

This is what I used with the ink and it's the reason I have ink in the first place. Every writer should have a quill in my opinion because quills are elegant and just plain cool. And in my case, great for filling in carvings with their super slim nib.

 

Finally, this was one of the tools I used to carve out the trees. As you might be able to tell, the tip broke off, so I'll have to get another one because this actually belongs to my parents. Oops.

 

And when the X-Acto starts, the needle finishes. I use it deepen the carvings without tearing the sides of the cuts like the X-Acto is prone to do.



First Project: Wand

 

So this is a wand that I am creating for a friend of mine. It was supposed to be finished by Christmas, but again, business got in the way, so it's a belated gift. My original design was going to be a lightsaber, since she's a Star Wars fan, however, halfway through, I realized that doing a lightsaber would be too ordinary. It would look awesome, but it's nothing new. My thought: "Give her something new to see."

 

So my plan changed to a tree-themed wand. First I stripped the stick of the outer bark, sanded, cut off excess wood, then sketched a tree design in the hilt. The hardest part was trying to keep pieces of the wood from breaking off while carving two lines close to each other. Another plan changed when I wanted to try woodburning for the design. Problems: I don't have woodburning materials other than a needle and a lighter, and the dorms do not allow the use of lighters indoors; to use said materials, I would have to hold the lighter down for a really long time while holding the needle over the flame to get it hot enough to burn the wood; with a tiny needle and a large design, I would go through fifty lighters before that process was done. So what do I do instead? Ink. I used my quill with it's very narrow tip with black ink to fill in the carvings. Simple shortcut that only took about an hour.

 

That being done, it was time to work on the shaft. My two options were to keep some of the outer layered wood, or sand/ whittle it down to the core, and really make it more wand-shaped. I decided to sand/ whittle it because the tip was shaved down to the core and some friends of mine told me that it made my wand look like a manhood...shaving it is, then!

 

My plan now is to continue sanding it to get an even color, then carve in the leaf designs. They're going to look like they're blowing in the wind, and I may fill them in with red or black.

Introduction/ Dedication

This blog was inspired by a friend of mine who uses a blog to showcase her knitting projects. Rather than knitting, I have recently taken up whittling, which for those of who don't know what that is, it's basic woodcarving. I've been at for a couple months now, although due to end-of-year business and a small accident on my part, I have yet to finish the project I've been working on, but that will change very, very soon.

Not only do I whittle, but I've been a writer for quite a few years now. Along with whittling projects, I will post some writings that I think are good enough to be shared, and are also finished. Due to sheer laziness, I haven't been writing much as of late, which is a very bad thing. This blog will also change that.

Before anything is shown, I would first like to dedicate this blog to my knitting friends. You are all amazing people and I can't wait to knit with you again...once I re-learn how to knit. :)

Happy Whittling/ Writing/ Knitting! XD