Now here is an interesting little piece of wood. Magnolia 5.75x3.5x2.25 $30.


















More of that teak flooring. A grape leaf spoon rest(5x4.25 $20)

I recall when around the age of 14 carving a small shark 5" out of teak my father got for me from a local boat yard. So many hours spent hand carving such a hard wood. Still have the shark, still not finished.

It was a beautiful day at the Spring Fling Moody Middle School event yesterday. All went well for the kick off to the market season. From here on out every weekend will be spent at the South of the James Market in the Forest Hill park, not to mention Bryan park on Tuesday 3-7.

Polar: 18x9x3.5 $100.

Kept myself in the shop the whole day. It was difficult to resist the urge to fish.

Persimmon: 15x5x2 $40













Cherry: 14x11x2.5 $80














Cherry:12x6x1.5 $30















Sycamore: 14x10x2 $60

Back to work!! We had a great 3 day get away before the markets really get going.








Knot to many bowls like this one. Cherry 12x7x1.5 $40.



















Maple spoon($20) and teak spoon rests($10)

Ohh boy this is some really nice maple. I e-mailed a recipient of one of these asking if she would like it darkened. Telling her my amazement of how much of a difference the character of the grain changes from added moisture during cure time. There is only a few days before the window of opportunity for darkening closes.

16x10x3 $80each.

The last pair of knobs for a bathroom cabinet. These match a light fixture hanging on the opposite wall.

You don't think I have just been laying around doing nothing do you? After a week of hammer swinging I finally got into the shop for a few days. A friend(Karen) asked me to carve up some kitchen cabinet door knobs. These were an enjoyable afternoon project. The wood is teak. Great stuff to work in small detail and still be durable. Of coarse some took a little longer to make so each will be priced by time.
heart $5, football $7, sun $10, umbrella $10, bird $15, rose $10, guitar $15, moon $10.



This is the last piece of the 3 maple I bagged a few weeks ago(16x8x3 $60). Once again I'm just to impatient. They were supposed to stay in the bag for 6 months.
















At last, cherry!!!(13x10x2.5 $60). Been waiting a long time for this stuff. Unfortunately I'll have to wait some more. The web site has really picked up and orders are on the books for maple.

I did work on a bowl in the morning and had to mark out vendor spots at 10 for the South of the James Market coming up on Sat. May 2nd.. By noon I was in Mechanicsville finishing off a floor installation. After such a hectic day Lillie was begging to go to the river. By the queens order, I took the little doggy to the South Anna off Rt. 33.
You can almost hear what she's thinking "why do you make me wear this stupid vest".













She just hates to sit still for to long and she refuses to fish.

Got the fever for the water, or what's in it. In checking inventory I found a lure(fly fishing) I made a few years back with the tail hair from Lillie. Hope to be in the shop carving up a couple of bowls today before flying on the river(if the weather is cooperative).

What a beautiful weekend. I was warned about having to cross the river a few times, but was not warned as to how deep and cold the water will be. Here is the first crossing for us. Each feeling a little apprehensive about walking through 34deg? fast moving water not to mention high gust winds. Somehow Ryan and I convinced Don to go first. After you get to the other side back on dry land it takes a minute for the feeling to come back to your legs, then it's back to get moving to see more and get to the campsite.


Here is about the midway point to where we set up camp. We traversed down and over at this junction.








This is a shot of our final destination for the day. Camp was the flat area to the upper right. I hunkered down and set up my tent strait ahead in the laurel out of the wind. The half moon shown bright that night as we sat around a warm fire whittling and tapping the toe's to the tunes from Don's harmonica.



The next day was a still cold morn. It makes a big difference to have a hot cup coffee to get the blood moving. We packed up and hit the trail by 10:45 and made it back to the car by 1:00. We could have made it sooner if I had not lost my right crock to the torrent river. I cannot thank Ryan enough for finding it just a little ways down.

Heading to the Mountains for a hike in/over night/hike out. The markets will be in full swing soon Tuesday(Bryan Park 3-7) Thursday(Crossroads Art Center 11-3) and Saturday( South of the James 9-1) So I'll take a trip now whilst I can. I would also like to be in the shop carving up some cherry. It was difficult to choose mountains? carve?, however with a little help from friends the right choice has been made. I'll talk about it on Monday.....

It's been said that to be a woodcarver you must have a lot of patience. I don't know about that. Just could not wait for spalting to occur in the maple that was bagged last Tuesday. The results were better bagging after final sanding. There was plenty of dark character before removing a 1/4" of material inside and out. This bowl(8x8x3 $40) is on of a pair from a center cut. There is also a 16x8x3 from the same slab waiting to be finished. A nice matching set.