More info on the show

Hi again. At the NCWC meeting tonight I found out some additional information.

- The setup begins at 8:00am Saturday morning (Sept 19). Please lend a hand if you can. Once all the tables are set up, you can begin signing in your carvings for the show.

- We will be using our tables from Woodcraft, so we don't have to rent as many from The Ranch. Does someone have a truck that can be used to transport them to the show? The tables can be loaded at our September meeting (there will be plenty of help). They can be returned the following week.

- The carving contest will be on Sunday (Sept 20) at 2:00. It promises to be a fun event. Join in or just watch. Then you'll be able to pick up your carvings as the show comes to a close, and (of course) give a hand with the cleanup. If we get half of our club there for cleanup, we'll be done in 30 minutes.

See you all in 2 weeks.
-Paul

Summer is gone

Well, another summer has passed us by. I hope you took advantage of the warm weather to make some chips outside. That reminds me of a joke about carving around the campfire. Ask me about it sometime.

I suspect many of you are putting the finishing touches on your carvings to enter in the Northern Colorado Wood Carvers Show. It is coming up fast, the weekend of September 19 & 20 at The Ranch (Larimer County Fairgrounds). Don't forget about helping out with setup and cleanup. Plus we still could use a few more to help out at our club table. This year we will have our first ever "carving contest". Participants will have 60 minutes to create a carving. It's great fun to watch and even more to carve.

Our next meeting is September 15. We do not have a project scheduled. I thought we would spend the time working on any show projects that needed to be completed.

If you haven't seen it yet, we now have a Club Store on the web site. It features items with our new logo on it. Thanks again to Ed for his efforts with the logo and working with the designer.

Finally, we had some new members from our efforts at the Fair and Sculpture Show. Please take time to introduce yourself to someone new each month. We are planning to get two more tables to accommodate our increased numbers.

Keep those tools sharp,
Paul

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July Carvers.

I was successful in getting our domain switched over to the new web site a few weeks ago. You can now use http://www.LovelandCarvingClub.org.

If anyone else ordered wood from me, I have it. Please plan on picking it up at our next meeting.

The club will be have tables at the Larimer County Fair the first weekend in August and the Loveland Sculpture Invitational (behind Loveland High School) the second weekend in August. We will be finalizing a logo design and ordering a sign at our next meeting. Please bring logo ideas with you. I also believe we will be carving some cottonwood bark. It will be a busy meeting.

I'm hoping everyone is preparing entries for the Northern Colorado Woodcarvers Show this fall. I'd like to see our club's work well represented. We will also be looking for folks to be at our table during the event, to share info about our club. Please sign up for at least one time slot.

Make some chips,
Paul

April Meeting

At the meeting, everyone worked on their egg projects.

For the May meeting, please bring your own project to work on. There are still 3 openings in the Bishop's class, so if you are interested please ask about it at the May meeting. Also, for those of you who have already made a deposit for this class, please pay the remainder at the May meeting.

March Madness

At our March meeting, we made our own sharpening sticks, and a variety of very fine sandpaper was available for us to choose from. Paul demonstrated how to sharpen knives and various gouges.

At the April meeting, remember to bring $3 for a wooden egg and Tom Christen will assist people with the egg carving project: carve a butler, Santa or elephant from an egg! Or finish the one you started in February.

At our January 2009 meeting, we started the year with a bang! We welcomed new members and welcomed back members from last year. A few of you we haven't seen yet this year--and we miss you. We hope you can make it to our next meeting.

We collected annual dues, which is only $10 for a whole year of art, fun and excitement. Everyone who paid their dues in January was put into a drawing for a carving book, and Richard Whiting won! Congrats! New officers were elected. Paul Price was re-elected as President, and Alice Huff was re-elected as Treasurer. Angela Callow-Mosher was elected to be Class Organizer/Part-time Secretary, and Amie Conant was elected as Part-time Secretary.

The project for January's meeting was led by Larry Tepper. He helped all class participants in assembling a Poor Man's Vice. This turned out great--mine looks like a really cool alien lazer gun! (This was the bang! part.) I decided it would work better with a handle nut, as Larry had on his vice. I couldn't find any the right size in the Loveland/Fort Collins area, so I bought a couple online. If you want to purchase one, please let me or Angela know. They are $6.00.

At the February meeting, Tom Christen led the carving project--carving an elephant, or a butler, or a Santa from a wooden egg. He will continue this project in April, or help people start if they were not at the February meeting. Remember to bring $3 for an egg.

At the March meeting, Paul Price will show everyone how to make a sharpening stick/strop and will speak about the importance of keeping your tools sharp and how to do that.

As far as I know at this posting, there is still a couple of spots in both Stu Martin's class on March 20-22, (contact Chuck Solomon at 970 669-0970) and in Phil and Vicki Bishop's class scheduled for May 22-24, (contact Angela at 970 669-8636 or Alice Huffman at 970 635-2407). Taking classes from talented instructors is one of the best ways to gain skills as a woodcarver--and did I mention--They are so much fun!!!

Tom Christen is teaching the class about egg carvings (pictures shown below).

Loveland Club members will continue working on their egg carvings at the April club meeting.

Wood Carving of Western Masks withMark Gargac

Pictured here is the group that received training from Mark Gargac on wood carving western masks. They had a choice of three different masks. The class was held in Loveland Oct 31 - Nov 2nd 2008.

Club meeting for Tuesday, February 17, 2009:

• Please pay your 2009 dues ($10) if you have not already done so.
• Give Alice your current email address. We will try to send out newsletters this way (assuming we can get past the technology).
• Sign up for classes: Stu Martin and the Bishops (minimum of $50 deposit required)
• Sign ups for Paul's Face Carving class have begun at the Chilson Center. This class is 6 Thursdays in March and April. Cost is $58 + $5 for materials.
  
• This month's program: Tom will lead us in carving eggs. Please bring $3 per egg if you plan to carve.
• Next month's program: Paul will lead us in making a sharpening stick/strop, then talk about sharpening. The club will provide all materials.

We have several new members that have recently joined. Please take the time to introduce yourselves and welcome our new carving friends.

-Paul

January meeting

Hi carvers. I'm trying out this new blog. Amie should be adding her minutes shortly.

Wow, we had 5 new members tonight! We may need to buy a few more tables (a good problem to have).

Next meeting Tom will lead us in carving basswood eggs. Please bring $3 to cover the cost of the egg. March will be sharpening again (Paul) - we'll also make sharpening sticks (the club will cover these costs).

Don't forget to sign up for the Bishops and Stu Martin classes.

Happy carving,
Paul Price (president)

New blog

Here it is. The place to blog stuff for the Loveland Carving Club. Give it a try.

-Paul