Rochester Woodcarvers
September - October 2005 Newsletter
Meetings: 9am - 11am on the 3rd Saturday of each month (Sept - April)
May - the meeting is a picnic - look for details below
Redeemer Lutheran Church, 9th Street and 7th Avenue SE, Rochester, MN

From the President:
My name is Wayne Hendrickson and I took over as President of the Rochester Woodcarvers Club, following in the footsteps of Trent Busch the President the past two years.   I live in Kasson with my wife, Genny, a nurse at St Mary's Hospital, and started coming to the woodcarver meetings about 5 years ago.    After coming to a couple of meetings I decided to try carving so bought a knife, a book, a couple of figure blanks and started to carve.    I was able to get something that looked like a person but had a very hard time getting the faces to look very good and the knife also seemed to find skin every so often to change the color of the wood I was trying to carve.   I told Genny that if I am going to keep carving I need to take a class so signed up for a 5 day class in the summer of 2001 at the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah with Harley Refsal & worked out well since our youngest daughter was a student at Luther College living in apartment right across the street from the museum.   Harley, plus the tips from other students in the class, really helped and got me inspired to get me involved in this hobby.   It took at least a year before I finally felt comfortable bringing something for Show & Tell as was amazed at the carvings other members would show each month and thought hopefully some day I can do something like that.

With the help of our board members, the librarians, newsletter and web site editors, we will try to keep bring interesting programs and information for our members.  Please let us know if you have any suggestions for programs for future meetings.   Don't forget to work on your ornaments for Festival of the Trees and bring them to Dennis Tooley before the November meeting so the club will have a good representation at the Festival again this year and also be sure to bring some of your work for the Show and Tell each month.

2005 – 2006   Meeting Dates and Program Topics:

• September 17 - Intarsia Art by Ivan Amman
• October 15 - Slim's Woodshed and Museum by Slim Maroushek
• November 19 - Woodcarving video and book production by Ev Ellenwood
• December 17 - Gary Froiland/family and the Christmas Party
• January 21 – Turning Wood by Lyle Solem
• February 18 - open
• March 18 - open
• March 25-26 - 30th Annual Woodcarver's Show - 4H Building, Olmsted County Fairgrounds
• April 15 - Auction and Interest Stations
• May 20 - Spring Picnic - Oxbow County Park
  5731 County Rd 105 NW
  Byron, MN 55920
  (507) 775-2451
  11:00am to 1:00pm, Potluck lunch at noon

Reports

Treasury Report – Bev Stupca
Balance                      $2582
Newsletter Expense $106
Library Expense        $30

Dues – please pay if you haven’t paid yet

Library Report – David Ridge
2 new magazines
Few new books
We will be getting Chip Chats again
See brochure for new books available

2005 Olmsted Fair
Went well, Nice Display
We need to think of ways to advertise
Public more interested in display when they see names they recognize
Need more participation from club members
10 members displayed carvings this year/8 members carved

Community Ed Classes this Fall

• Beginning Woodcarving
• Carve In
• Acanthus Class
• Santa Class

RWC Show 2005
Chip Chats Article about 2005 Show in July/August 2005 Issue
Tom Severson showed examples of possible flyers for next show

2005 Festival of Trees Theme – “All God’s Creatures”

• Base of Birdhouses
• Set-up November 21 ~8am – noon
  
• Try to bring ornaments to next meeting or bring to Dennis Tooley’s house by Nov 18
• Ornaments will be displayed at Nov 19 meeting

Announcements / Events

• Waldorf this summer – Laverne Schettl has attended for 12 years, this year she carved a Mallard
• Branson, Missouri – Ev Ellenwood guest carver, Ev commented that there were a lot of good carvers there!
• Nancy Borson – North House Folk School at Grand Marais, MinnesotaCarver/Teacher (Vesterheim)
• Gerald Ekern died

Show and Tell – September 17, 2005
Ed Vitse                     Bait Shop
Cheryl Jones              Bark House, Tennis Player, Sea Man
Howard Reiss            Bird House w/ Copper Top
Randy Kinnick           Breadboard, Sign
Nick Poleschuck       Emu Egg w/ Alphabets, Goose Egg w/Goose Flying over Govt Center
Sharon Roble            3 Leaf Bowls, 3 Shell Bowls
Steve Murray             “Can you hear me now?” Man (Won First Place at the Fair)
Bruce Murray             Tools in Handle

Program, September 17, 2005

Today’s Speaker: Ivan Amman – Intarsia

Ancient Art Forms included – Painting, Gilding, Carving, and Intarsia
Intarsia was an expensive art to support and difficult to make a living at

Required:

• Special woods
• Time for cutting
• Forming patterns
• Didn’t use many tints

Ivan doesn’t use any paint or stains
Intarsia Book – Judy Gail Roberts - Ivan bought book in 1996, but didn’t want to work with so many pieces, but his wife encouraged him.
Ivan now creates about 50 pieces a year

A Few Tips:

• Min Wax brings out color of wood (take excess off w/ towel)
• Brightens and brings out color of wood
• Aspen turns yellow w/ Min Wax
• Ivan seals wood before he uses Min Wax
• Uses different kinds of wood to get different colors
• Ivan uses a Delta Scroll Saw w/ little band and fine blade
• Osage Orange – turns brown over time, doesn’t hold color
• Purple Heart seems to hold color
• Any varnish will have yellow tint, but water-base varnish is colorless
• Water-base varnish not as good for UV and direct sunlight
• Power Sander – all pieces sanded on same sander down to 1500 grit
• Use plywood or wood pieces (depending on visibility) to lift pieces for 3D effect
• Uses ¾” wood – more wood for shaping
• Uses ¼” plywood for risers
• Use respirator or vacuum to help protect yourself against the wood dust
• Ivan saves every little piece of wood – it might come in handy some time

Reports

Library Report  - Bob Nowicki
Dick Harper donated 4 books to the library

Newsletter – Remember to tell Tom Pike if you have changed your e-mail address lately or if you want a hard copy still mailed to you.

Education

• Beginner class taught by Ev and club helpers has 14 members
• Santa class taught by Trent has 4 members
• Acanthus class taught by Randy is full
• Carve In class is still open to members

Announcements

• Ev Ellenwood gave a sharpening presentation at the Viking Woodcarvers
• Bob Nowicki shared his experiences touring Germany and Oberammergau this summer.
• Trent told about a Wood Sculpturing Show available on digital cable
• Wayne shared his recent experience at the Norsk Høstfest in Minot
• Wayne presented Trent Busch with a plaque thanking Trent for his last four years of RWC service as Vice-President and President.
• Our good friend and carver, George Jones, died on Oct.17, 2005 at his home. George was past president of the RWC and one of the earliest members.  He contributed much to the club including teaching woodcarving at the Senior Center and surrounding communities.

Festival of Trees
Ornaments are starting to come in representing "All of God's Creatures", which is the theme for this year's Carver's Tree for the Festival of Trees.  The base, which is basically a large birdhouse, has been made by Lavern and Myron Schettl.  Steve Murray is creating the topper which will be a carving of St. Francis of Assisi.  Howard Riess and Ed Vitse have each created a birdhouse to be placed under the tree.  If you have already contributed your ornaments, thank you. 

Those who are still working on ornaments, please get them to Dennis Tooley (922 13th St. S.E., Rochester) before November 18. 

All ornaments plus the base will be on display at the November 19th club meeting.  We will be assembling and decorating the tree on Monday, November 21. 

The Festival of Trees has their official opening gala on Tuesday, November 22, and is then open to the public through Thanksgiving weekend.  The Festival of Trees is a fundraiser for Hiawatha Homes, Inc, an agency providing home like living settings for persons who are Developmentally Disabled and/or handicapped.   Plan to attend the festival and see the finished product that you have helped create.  The committee comprised of, Jill Loveday, Tom Pike, Laurie Reed, Karen Reilly, Robert Ricks, Lavern Schettl, Dennis Tooley and Kathy Ward, thank you for your assistance and support.

Show-n-Tell

Nancy Borson            Carved Garden Markers
Dennis Tooley           Old Fisherman (North House class), Pheasant Relief Carving
John Ahman               Santa Face ornament
Gary Kolb                   Owl & Butterfly ornaments
Sharon Roble            2 Bird House with birds ornaments
Bob Kittley                 Arizona pictures of Bob’s new hobby - painting

Program October 15, 2005

Today’s Speaker  - Slim Maroushek
Slim gave an interesting talk on how he got interested in carving and his childhood association with the Bily brothers of Spillville, Iowa.

Slim’s Woodshed in Harmony, MN is a combination carving museum, carving classroom, and gift/tool/wood shop.  The carving museum contains about 2300 carvings collected from around the world with 670 pieces donated by an avid collector and world traveler.  Over 120 carvings make up the 2 circus displays at the museum.  Slim is involved in large projects such as the Farmer-Dog-Apples chainsaw carving on Highway 52 north of Chatfield and the Hobo Camp in Harmony.  Slim encourages youngsters to start carving in soap.

There will be another Summer Workshop in 2006 (June 4 – 7) with 15 teachers at the Woodshed.  If any of the RWC members are interested in teaching a class at the Woodshed contact Slim.

Email: slims_ws@means.net Website: www.slimswoodshed.com Phone: 507-866-3114

History of the Bily Brothers:  Frank and Joseph Bily
Beginning in 1913 they employed the idle hours of long winter days and evenings with their skills of woodcarving.  Being farmers and carpenters, they carved only as a hobby while still doing their regular chores and maintaining the farm.  In 1915 and 1916 they built the Apostle Clock from which the 12 apostles appear on the hour.  During the period of 1923 to 1927 they added their masterpiece to The American Pioneer History Clock.  A memorial clock to Charles Lindberg was carved in 1928.  They continued adding more clocks to the collection, including models of the world’s smallest church near Festina, and the Little Brown Church at Nashua.  In these beautiful artistic timepieces, the brothers used woods from a number of foreign countries as well as walnut, butternut, maple, and oak from America.  Joseph and Frank died in 1964 and 1965 respectively.