BTWC II

Photocopy handout for 2nd meeting

It has been some time since the occasion of the second meeting of the Bleeding Thumb Whittling Club, but we feel it cannot go unremarked upon. The sharp knives were out in force with members bringing some interesting models, including Mark's scooping blade from Mora, with which he crafted an excellent spoon.


This time the wood was excellent. Having cut their teeth cleaning green wood of its bark and other such rudiments of whittling, our members were now able to get involved with some German lime-wood. The staple of German figure carvers for centuries, lime is a medium hardness deciduous wood with a heady citric scent. Whilst somewhat prone to cleaving when cut close to the direction of the grain, when carved across the grain beautiful rich patterns are exposed. We now have a useful stockpile of lime-wood for upcoming meetings.

When the club was finished, we swept up and kept the aromatic chip shavings; one day, we will burn them in a ritual.

Burning

This monkey was whittled out of lime tree. I later burned it over a flame to give it a black, velvety surface. I´v had a hard time to decide weather to paint or not to paint my whittlings so this seemed like a good compromise. It was inspired by a part from Gustave Flaubert's 'Salammbo' where some drunken soldiers put trees on fire and try to cut off the trunks of elephants and eat their ivory:

"The trees behind them were still smoking; from their blackened branches the half-burned corpses of monkeys fell from time to time into the middle of the dishes. The drunken soldiers snored open-mouthed beside the dead bodies; and those who were not asleep hung their heads, dazzled by the light. The trampled earth was covered with pools of red. The elephants swung their bleeding trunks between the stakes of their pens."