| DIY People: Wood Carving with Glass and Marking Pens |
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"The one thing about wood carving is that if you make a mistake," David Byrd laughs, "just make your carving smaller."
David has been carving for 25 years, which is enough time to make at least a few projects smaller than originally planned.
"Mistakes happen, you just adjust and move on. You can't take a hobby that is so much fun and so relaxing too seriously."
David doesn't take his carvings seriously, just his craft. He picked up a penknife a quarter-century ago and has been creating ever since. Now retired, this DIYer carves everything from wooden bowls to greeting cards.
"I use greeting cards (figure A) to inspire and keep me sharp. I chose cards that I like at the store and then replicate them in wood at home while watching TV at night."
When we visited David, he was carving a quail (figure B). "This is a relatively easy bird to carve. I'm carving it in bass wood because it's soft and has very little grain."
Once David has gotten down to the final cut, he takes a piece of broken window glass and uses that to smooth out the wood (figure C). David recalls seeing farmers using broken glass to smooth axe handles when he was just a child, and thought it could work well in his carvings.
David also likes using bass wood because it takes paint well. "I use acrylic paints and marking pens, and the bass wood is perfect for that," he says.
"I had to experiment with the markers to see how far it would bleed into the wood. I had to practice with them to make sure the bleeding would only go a certain distance and then stop. That's certainly a different way to stain wood, but it works really well, giving the carvings almost an aged appearance to them."
David's advice to would-be carvers is to practice.
"Like any craft, it takes practice and patience. Not every piece will be perfect, and you need to just accept that. But, it's an art that you can learn on your own, and have the satisfaction, of knowing you accomplished it yourself."
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