Showing posts with label wood carving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wood carving. Show all posts

May 01, 2010

Poplar hiking stick

Poplar-59"- leather wrist strap - $50

SOLD



April 26, 2010

Cedar walking stick

cedar - 37" - $60

sold



April 05, 2010

An oak hiking stick

With the new week I am starting on the poplar series of hiking sticks. This oak hiking stick I finished last week. The piece came from my brother David. After the flooding a few months ago he brought me this oak stick. The stick had washed up on the banks of the Chattahoochee river in Heard county where he has some property leased for a hunting camp. He was near the river once it had begun to recede and picked it up, using it help balance himself as he picked through the tons of debris washed on shore. The hiking stick is 47" in height has three faces carved on it and a leather wrist strap run through. The price is $50 You can email me at crickhollowcarving@gmail.com or call me at 678-423-6541 if you are interested in purchasing it.



April 04, 2010

Poplar hiking sticks, a weekend sale, & easter... all at once....

This has indeed been a busy weekend. Last week I was working to build inventory for a sale we had on the Court Square in Newnan, our home town here in Georgia. Once again, many thanks go out to Earlene Scott for allowing us to set up shop for a few hours in front of her book store. We visit her most every Saturday after we eat breakfast on the Square, it has become part of a weekend routine that I enjoy doing with my kids because its one of the things I was fortunate enough to do with my parents when I was a child. Every time we walk through the doors of Scotts Bookstore I am instantly transported back to my childhood. Its good for the soul to visit with old friends, and to support local businesses.. Especially when they provide the excellent service you always find at Earlene's store. I was fortunate to meet a wood carver at the sale who does very impressive work. Michael C. Moore had a booth there and I found his work to be very inspiring, he is a tremendous talent.

When the sale was over we enjoyed some deep fried mushrooms at the Redneck Gourmet, on the other side of the Court Square. With the events in town over for the day we headed back out here to Crickhollow to get ready for egg coloring and food prep for Easter. My mother is in Charleston for the weekend with my sister, before she left she told us that she wanted me & all my brothers to get together at her place like we always do and have a fun time. We met up with my younger brother and his son and spent the afternoon visiting my two older brothers and then we colored eggs with our kids. Today we all met for a really good meal and egg hunt for the kids. We are very lucky in the aspect that most of us all live here around each other on Doc Perry Rd. So the festivities of the last two days could carry on until everyone was near the point of exhaustion and we were forced to head home when the kids heads began to droop from going as hard as they could for so long. So I decided to post a few pictures of some of the things I have seen and done over the past two days.


These are some pictures of a couple of poplar hiking sticks I made for the sale. The first one is 63" long with a hand grip carved in and leather wrist strap. I also carved a face on each one. I plan to do a line of this style, they seem to be fairly popular... The 63" hiking stick pictured first sales for $50. The second one shown here is 56", that one is on sale for $40





The 56" hiking stick...




These are a few shots from the sale on Saturday... The first one is a view of the wood carvings, note the poplar hiking sticks, Here you can get an idea of the height of each.



A few of the wands I made for the show, along with the Ouija board...



This is Kitty and her mother, they stopped by and picked up a couple of items when we first set up. Kitty's mother is in a local orchestra as a violinist and picked up a couple of wands saying, "Oh look.. conductor batons..." A use for the wands I had never thought of... Kitty picked up a snake walking stick for her brother & a keychain for her about to be sixteen year old son...



This is Dale, he does an impressive Snape.. He liked this wand... I hope it serves him well. and yes, when you click the link, thats me as mad eye moody...



Jaxon enjoys his first sale on the square!


Julie's jewelry is always a hit at the shows & this Saturday was no exception...



She just added a line of rings that has been a great hit...



One of the kids decided the Ouija board needed a planchette...



This little guy decided to take up a spot overlooking the table from the top of one of my walking sticks..



This is Paul, a friend from highschool who stopped by. He & his wife picked up a couple of sets of earrings & a key chain. He owns a local business.. check him out & give him a call if you need any work done!



The rest of the weekend was spent around here at Crickhollow, enjoying time with the family, riding the kawasaki mule, eating good food and enjoying life as it was meant to be spent...


Here James is practicing for marine corps sniper school...



Uncle David shows James how to operate the pressure washer



Once he got the hang of it he wanted to clean every inch of the tractor & driveway...



Here he is listening to his uncle Michael explain the finer pints of fence building... The outhouse was built by Michael on a lark... I still get a kick out of it...



He takes everything his uncles tell him to heart and always is ready to hear more..



coloring eggs the night before Easter...



This morning I found a few minutes to hit the woods and "shop" for some more poplar pieces for hiking sticks. It was very peaceful out there this early in the day.



The egg hunt went well & everyone had a great time.


Even Patrick emerged from his fifteen year old's video game stupor to enjoy the day..



the dogs got in on the egg hunt as well..



Here I am with my brothers. This is, from left to right, Michael, me, David, & Stuart..



James enjoyed everything this weekend & is currently passed out, sound asleep...



James and his cousin Silas inspecting every moving part of the kawasaki mule..


Silas loves going for rides with me, James, & his dad...



He almost fell asleep on the seat of the kawasaki waiting for the next ride...



One of the things I love about living here is the small town aspect of life. When we were at the sale there was a constant stream of family and friends that came by to talk, hangout, and see what we had. No one was pretentious or ill tempered all day long. Everyone you encountered was happy to see you and pleasant. Its life as it was meant to be lived, gathering in town on a Saturday just to be out and about enjoying life, good weather, good company and to pick up a few things that might be needed... This entire weekend served to remind me that I am a truly blessed person to be surrounded by such fine folk as this.

P.S.... Happy birthday to my mother.. Today she turned 24 again...

March 23, 2010

A stroll down memory lane and a walking stick

I went over my mother's place this evening to go through some old photographs. I was looking for pictures from barbecues. I just finished a couple of pieces based on these events. When I was very young my grandfather put on a huge barbecue every 4th of July. They were a week long event culminating in a huge meal for lunch on the fourth. The best part of these gatherings was always the night of the third. That's when all the meat was on and everyone would sit around the fire that my grandfather built to burn the hickory to use as coals to smoke the meat that was cooking. We would sit there all night and listen to my dad and his brothers tell stories from their childhood. The adventures they had around here were quite a story indeed. Over the years my grandfather became ill with diabetes and as he got older he decided in 1985 or 1986 that he wanted to have one last barbecue. It was the fall of the year and the only people that were there were family. I happened across some of those pictures. I happened across many pictures... So I decided to share them so that the people who read this blog could see the folks I always talk about... Along with some embarrassing shots of myself as a child...

I snapped these pictures with my camera as I sat on the floor of my mothers house going through a couple of big boxes of old photographs.. So in some you may see my finger or they may be blurry.. but nonetheless.. enjoy... I know I had one hell of a time growing up on Doc Perry Rd. I hope that these shots let you understand a bit of why I love this place so much...



This is my brother Michael stirring a huge pot of brunswick stew...


From right to left here are my grandfather Doc Perry, David my cousin, Donald my uncle and Peggy my cousin. My grandfather, David, and Donald have all passed on now, but I can still here them as plain as day...


My grandfather was full of wisdom, I miss him every day.


This is my grandmother, Zeddie. She was the best cook ever. She passed away a few years after Julie and I got married. Not one person went away from her house hungry. Her laughter still rings in my ears.


This is my father, grandfather & cousin getting the barbecue pit ready to use...


A picture of my father from the '50s cooking


My brother Michael, Skeeter Martin & my grandfather working on the stew


My uncle Donald and my grandfather checking the meat just before it was ready to come off the pit. His barbecue simply could not be beat.


My mother in the kitchen in the house working on what was brought up from the barbecue shed.


My grandfather was very particular about his stew.


My brother David by the barbecue pit.


My father with my nephew Danny... both napping on the swing on the front porch.


This is the fire that my grandfather would start long before the barbecue. In ealier years he would begin several days before the fourth and drag hickory up from the woods. He would burn the hickory on this rack that he built, as the coals fell through the grate we would use those long handled shovels he made to carry the hickory coals in from the fire to the pit in the shed. He would then instruct us on where to place the coals on the pit to get the best smoke on the meat. Here my father is digging out coals. The shovels had handles of hickory that Daddy Doc would make himself. Note the shovel leaning against the fire on the right...


My grandfather waits until the meat is ready before the preparation would begin. They would take the meat off the pit, chop it up, mix some with sauce he would make and leave some plain. His barbecue was astounding. The entire place around here would be filled with the smell of the smoke and meat. Again.. note the shovel in the background. My brother David had that shovel my grandfather made. I stopped by there to show him the walking stick I had worked on for my cousin, featured a couple of posts ago... He said, "You know... I have that shovel with the really long handle that we used to use down at the barbecue shed... You think you could make a couple of these walking sticks out of it?" I told him I would be honored to do it, as long as I could have one... So he dug it out of his garage and I took it home...


This is James in our front yard holding the shovel.


I was touched to see ash still embedded on the handle near the shovel head.


Here are the two finished pieces. Mine is the one on the right, David's the left... He took the top.




This the nail hole where my grandfather attached the shovel head.



This is the end of my walking stick that was inside the shovel... I didn't carve this at all.. I ever so lightly sanded it to clean it up.. But the carve marks are from my grandfather.. all his work.. I am so moved to own this...




What follows are a random collection of things and pictures I photographed while sitting on moms floor.. I had a great time. Julie had taken her to a party so James and I sat and looked through the box.. He kept asking me why I was crying..


This is my grandmothers pay stub from 1963.. 39 hours in at the mill for a net pay of $47 bucks...



My brother Stuart & myself..



Me at Daddy Doc & granny's for Christmas..



My father in his parents front yard



an old picture of me.. when I had hair..



My grandmother


My grandfather skinning a deer..


My father on a pony when he was little kid.. My mom told me that a guy would come around every so often with a pony for kids to get their picture taken on..


My mothers father. My other grandfather.. "Pa" West..


My father dancing at a birthday party for him & my cousin Colin.. Always the ham..


My parents on their wedding day


This picture seems to sum up my dad for me...


My dad & cousin Colin.. The two men I respect and admire most in life.


My dad holding James..


These were valentine cards my dad got in elementary school.. I got a real laugh reading these... They were all from the 40's


My dad deer hunting.. long johns, a camo hat, coffee and side arm...


My grandfather sitting on his front porch...


My Dad and his brother Thomas hanging out.. notice the prices on the stuff at the stand...


My grandfather in his front yard


my dad & his brothers staging a funeral for some reason.. they were always in trouble for doing things like this.. There was never a quiet moment..


Me at Christmas.. I wish I still had that GI Joe training center...


me sitting on the floor at my grandparents on Christmas eve


i'm about to dive into the pool in the back yard


me & my cousin Patrick on his birthday


Patrick with his steak birthday cake...


My dad & cousin Ken hard at it with the rock em sock em robots...


This was the year that I got this bad ass castle for Christmas... It was the greatest thing ever.. it was years before I found out it was once my brother Michaels... Notice the green licoln log pieces that I put around it.. I still have that lincoln log set... Michael is trying to tell about the castle and dad is getting on to me for mot listening...


It was a good evening to look through all these old pictures and remember where I came from.. It makes me realize how much this land and these people mean to me.