Welcome to Wood Carvings Unique! This is dedicated to all aspects of wood carvings and the wood carvers that make it happen!

Wood Carving is a very creative process.

Carving has been around since mans creation and to some degree even before. God Himself is the most creative being ever. He formed Adam from the earth or from clay. Clay is a media the carver at times uses before the finished piece is begun. We are His creation and like unto Him in our own creative abilities. We are limited only by our own imagination. Wood Carving has a wide range of media choices. Clay, wax, stone, ivory and bone and of course wood and others. Wood carving being the most pursued.

Carving, as with many hobbies, can be expensive but it can begin with very basic tools that can produce very nice pieces. You can even make your own tools as I did when I was young with no expendable income for hobbies. Carving is not limited by gender by any means. There are many great lady carvers. Nor are we limited by age. It can be a lifetime pursuit or be developed late in life. A person’s physical strength or health has little to do with the quality of work that can be produced. It can even be a family affair as with my father and I.

Many believe carving is a folk art or a second rate art form. Bronzes are considered by most to be a much higher art form. I ask is this true? In Bronze art you normally begin with a wax creation and the finished bronze is cast from that. In wax if you make a mistake, no problem just melt a little wax back onto the work and recarv the mistake until you get what you want.

In other forms of carvings there are little to no second chances. If you make a mistake you either live with it or throw the piece away and start again. The great granite and marble sculptures are to me about the epitome of true art. Even in paintings or clay moldings you can erase your mistakes and do them over.

To me carving, a media that cannot be renewed is the truest form of art. You must be more careful and deliberate in what you do, giving careful considerations to you’re next cut or hammer blow. With wood and Ivory and other unforgiving media you also have to consider the grain, something that does not apply to wax or clay.

Now I have never created a bronze art piece even though I would love to one day, I do consider fine bronzes beautiful and I have several myself. All art is a creative process that is limited only by ones imagination. The world over there is at least a little bit of an artist in each of us. After all we are created in His likeness. Be creative and start carving.

I welcome input and questions. Feel free to contact me anytime, and join our Wood Carvers Forum, too!

Al Pryor

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