John Carlson

Someone playing my musical spoons at the Driftless Folk Fesival! In my spare time, I still chip away at my unfinished projects. #WoodCarving #SpoonCarving #MusicalInstruments

I remembered al tags, but forgot hashtags. I can't seem to edit posts to add them, so here they are in the comments. See if that helps, lol.
#WoodCarving #WoodSculpture #HandCraft

A honeysuckle bird, side view

A honeysuckle bird, front left view.

Honeysuckle bird top view

Honeysuckle bird bottom view

Another bird finished. This one is carved from the invasive honeysuckle that I helped to remove from a local nature center.

One white pine bird, two basswood spoons with chip carving and one butternut bird. All finished with walnut oil.

One white pine bird, two basswood spoons with chip carving and one butternut bird. All finished with walnut oil.

One white pine bird, two basswood spoons with chip carving and one butternut bird. All finished with walnut oil.

Two custom-made basswood spoons, hand carved with the letter A. Two more comforting-love birds, one from white pine and the other from butternut. All four are finished with walnut oil. #WoodCarving #ChipCarving completed today!

Cross with Chip Carving, purple and blue ribbons attached

The cross I carved won Best of Show in July

Chip carving on round basswood disk

Small cross with chip carving, english oak stain

Finished round ornament with chip carving

Four out of the eight ornament designs i completed.

I've been busy with work, woodcarving, clowning, farm chores, teaching classes, canoeing, and other stuff.
Under pressure, I have produced some of my best work though!
New #ChipCarving work

Five goslings huddled together , near four adult geese

The pile of goslings near mom, trying to rest and stay warm.

Five Toulouse goslings hatched out. it's fun to see them grow!

Eight round basswood ornaments. Chip carving in progress.

Eight round basswood ornaments. Chip carving in progress.

Sixteen #ChipCarving designs in progress, all based on six equal divisions of a circle.

My brother showed me this Picaso picture I created for him many years ago. I copied Picaso's peace dove sketch and signature, burned the lines and painted it with acrylic paint. This piece of pine had a natural horizon line. Doesn't have to be fancy to be cool. #Pyrography

Round chip-carved ornaments, or Rosettes. All of these are going to have carving on both sides. Basswood.

Progress before I created more unfinished projects! Haha.
#WoodCarving #ChipCarving

Hey, you made those stars look like chip carvings! Cool

Try it.
Set the compass to any radius you want. Draw a circle.
Draw a straight line across the circle, going through the center point.
From the intersection of the line and circle, place marks around the circle using the same radius as the circle. Connect the marks with lines.

Have you tried this yellow dye on eggs? I was about to harvest dandelion flowers to make dandelion Syrup, so it would be fun to try some home-made dye at the same time.

Five partially-completed chip carvings on basswood sheets. All based on six divisions of a circle. Knife, compass and pencil sitting on the table next to the carvings.

I did a demonstration on how to use a compass and ruler to divide up circles to make your own chip carving designs. All five of these rosettes started out with six equal divisions of a circle. It's easy to learn and creates great variation by dividing up the interiors.
#ChipCarving #WoodCarving

I wrapped up all my Spring classes. Now I sigh and breathe. This Spring, I taught three Pysanky workshops, three chip carving classes, led a kids articulated fish puppet workshop and used them in a Mayday parade, and attended a forty-hour Naturalist volunteer course.
Plus, diving a schoolbus daily.

A bird shape roughed out from a buckthorn log, sitting on a stump. Tools used: hand axe, bushcraft knife, camp saw, and baton.

The buckthorn bird sitting on a stump, in the rounding/shaping phase. My favorite small slöjd-style Knife sitting on the stump next to the bird.

Greenwood-bird carving, phase one: Rough out the blank from a log, using axe, knife and saw.
Phase two: use one knife to round and shape the bird.
#WoodCarving
These Buckthorn birds are especially cool to me, because I am carving these from an invasive tree that I helped clear from a local park.

Another successful Pysanky class today! Another seven new Pysanky creators for Ukraine!
#Pysanky #PysankyForUkraine
May Good prevail over Evil!

I doubt it too. When a country unfriends all it's allies, then it needs to be a self-sufficient silo of natural resources. Russia is warning that supporting Ukraine will lead to WW3, but in reality it's more likely a country like the U.S. is already headed down that road, as the aggressor.

Pulling a pysanka out of the dye bath

Melting the wax off at the end!

Drawing a design

My class setup, work in progress.

Pysanky class success! I had a wonderful time today with these lovely people creating #Pysanky #PysanyForUkraine

Jar with orange powder turned bright green after water was added. Packet sitting below jar for comparison.

Mixing up dyes is interesting and dangerous. Even taking all precautions, i still managed to get dye-powder specks on the table. Trying to wipe off, they became colored streaks!
Also, dye powder before adding water doesn't always look like the prepared dye. That did turn bright green!
#Pysanky

A clear plastic bin holding 23 pint-sized wide-mouthed canning jars. Four jars contain prepared mixtures of boiled distilled water, vinegar and dye powder from Ukrainian Eggcessories.

I'm preparing the new jars of dye for my pysanky class on Saturday!

Many years ago I saw one of Van Gogh's paintings in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the brush strokes were the first thing that struck me. It brought me closer to the painter. Very cool.

A swan observed through a thicket of branches.

A swan and mallard duck swim nearby each other

And today there is snow!

The day-before yesterday, I was excited to see the signs of Spring all around me. A pair of swans had returned to the little slough behind my workplace. Also a pair of mallard ducks were there swimming near the swans. Yesterday a snow storm, today it is winter again. #Nature

I love this cottonwood-bark owl carving! Nicely done!

A basswood cross,a work in progress, with hatchet-style knife and five pysanky.

Symbols are prayers

I finished Pysanka number four from the Ukrainian Design Book 1.
And I started another unfinished carving project. (LOL) The Rochester, MN woodcarving show is next weekend so I'd better get some more woodcarvings finished!
#ChipCarving #WoodCarving #Pysanky #PysankyForUkraine

Bag of 28 packets of egg dyes next to the color chart

The hollowed-out goose egg next to my sandwich, multi-grain bread, sitting on a red plate

Open sandwich, goose egg mixed with seasonings and chunks of ham, bread with mayo and yellow mustard. Shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese on top of the egg.

A very thick egg sandwich. I should have used only half of the goose egg!

I just received the packet of 28 new egg dyes from Ukrainian EggCessories in Canada. And today I received the first goose egg of the season from my Toulouse goose! Now I'm eating the most delicious egg-and-ham sandwich.
#Pysanky #PysankyForUkraine

I love this one!

Love prevails over Evil.
#Pysanky #PysankyForUkraine

Ukrainian Design Book 1, Pysanka 3, in progress, white chicken egg on a blue cusion on a book, with partially-waxed pencil lines

Symbols gym meaning, Flower - life, growth, love and Charity. Ram's horn - strength and leadership. Color Red - Happiness, hope or passion

A perfect activity for a blustery-winter-storm day. Pysanky Prayers for Ukraine!
#Pysanky #PysankyForUkraine

The New York Post is a right- wing tabloid, so i wouldn't put much stock in Johnson helping America. He's complicit. We'll see if this is just shock news or more a ploy to either normalize the new order or some other dubious distraction.