maybe not art but...
 

Not exactly art but I got bored one day. So...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2294/...cedc03.jpg?v=0

In a week or two I had my own little forest going complete with bears, trees, a few mushrooms and a fish. There's a bird in there somewhere but I never could get the claws down so I think it went in the burn barrel.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2009/...674380.jpg?v=0

Who says that's not art? I think that's amazing, I'd be a little scared to use a chainsaw myself!

call it art, and it's art!

those look cool

That's art alright,some nice sculptures.

Neat!

I remember these. :)

Perhaps I should have said "maybe not good art..."

Here's one of my dog, Bo, checking them out. Might not be able to see it by the look on his face but that day he kept looking at me like "This! This is what you were making all that noise for?" I should piss on everyone of these."

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2203/...77b30d.jpg?v=0

Here's Bo enjoying the shade next to my Costco pool:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/...b12c1c.jpg?v=0

Man, my mind must be shot. I don't remember sharing these with very many people.

There's something odd about that tree growing out of the concrete like that...

Ya know some days I wish it were concrete. The sand gets everywhere all the freaking time. If a "Norte" rolls in I spend at least two day trying to get the sand out of the house. I asked my friend, Jorge, how far you have to move away from the beach to not have the sand be a problem. He said "Merida," basically 30 miles from the beach.

And yes I know people who've spent all winter shoveling snow are not going to be very sympathetic.

:lol:

god, it is sand...I'm such an idiot

That sand does almost blend into the concrete in that pic.

I'm assuming you're not whittling there :p I'm curious as to what tools you use to do that?

Yeah, that's art. At least, that's what the guy at our local Farmer's Market who sells pieces like that for hundreds of bucks would say. :-)

Seriously, sounds like a fun hobby. It would be neat to be walking around in the woods and come across one of those bears somewhere.

Mostly chainsaws. In the top pic with the single bear you can see the tip of the chainsaw I used. It's laying on the concrete. The tip on a carving bar is really pointed as where the tip on a normal chainsaw bar is rounded. I used a 4 1/2 inch grinder with various disks to finish of pieces.

You know I was up getting wood one day and saw a stump left by the loggers. I did a really quick standing fish. Couple weeks later I went back for more wood and it was gone. I also did an old mans face in another stump, really large stump on a hill above a trail. The last time I went up there it was still where almost watching over anyone who walked down that trail.

Dude, those rule. I see people at the fair or swap meets making these, and I've always been amazed. Sell 'em and make some $$$.

It'd be really cool if you sawed the initials "T.F.P." on one of those.

Wow, these are awesome! You could totally sell those--though I'm not sure what the market is in Mexico for that sort of thing. As you know, they're very popular here. Very cool, Tully, thanks for sharing these.

Well I'm in Mexico and my chainsaw's in Oregon. I have my grinder with me, if I get bored I'll see what I can do. Wood really scarce down here, but I was thinking about trying a parrot, maybe just the head since I never did get claws that looked right. If nothing else I'll carve "TFP Rocks" on a plank.

I sold some of them. I had an on-line Christmas wreath business for a while. To show some friends and family what I was doing I added a little link, with no prices, just showing the bears. I got several people asking to buy them. Shipping just ran so high it wasn't really feasible. But I did send couple out. Some guy in Texas gave me $250 for a tiny bear on a swing. I think he paid about $75 to ship it too.

My neighbor had a garage sale one weekend and I was out carving. I must have sold twenty of those little trees, ten fish and a three or four bears that weekend. His wife was pissed when I wouldn't split some of the profits with them. Said they paid to advertise the sale so I should pay them. I offered to pay 50% of the ads- "no, I want 25% of your sales." Umm, no I don't think so. But thanks for playing have a nice day.

i love that huge bear. theres a guy im my town that makes a bit of money selling thoose

Those are really nice, I'd say it's art. It takes a lot of imagination, effort and patience to carve wood. I've tried before, though not with a chainsaw, and I know the time it takes.

I think they look great as is, but if you wanted to get a little more fine detail in them with a couple of finer tools such as wood carving knives, a sander, I think then for sure you could totally make good business out of them.

I used a sanding disk on my grinder to do the fur on the bears and spines on the fishes. But you're right they are rustic and could be more detailed. I did a standing fish for a guy that wanted to put it in his living room. I sanded it down really smooth and then took a propane torch to the surface. The process really brought out the detail in the wood gain. Right before I moved I bought a small "dremel" type tool at Costco and started working on putting more details into the eyes etc...

Here's a standing bear I burn and sanded, one of my first attempts. Lots of out of place looking lines, but you can see how the burning and sanding makes the grain stand out. BTW- the eyes are from a bag of 100 marbles I bought for about $2.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/...48bd17.jpg?v=0

It takes time and patients. Time I got, patients not so much. Notice the many, many half finished pieces. If I ever start doing it again I think I'm going to have to make a commitment to myself to start a piece, finish a piece.

But yes, you can make money doing this. The trees I did took less then 5-10 mins. each and were selling for $20 no problem.

Those are fantastic! I suppose part of the fondness for them stems from the fact that my nickname among friends is Bear Cub.

20$ are you kidding me? That is way too cheap for the amount of work you have to put in. Don't sell yourself short there. I like the burned effect, makes it more unique!

Yeah, price goes with location. I figured $20 for 5mins work was reasonable. The only people that pissed me off were ones that showed up and said "will you take $10 for it?" Look you don't like my work, don't buy it. Wasn't about the money.


Well, I stole the burning idea. Was driving home from fishing one day and had a flat on my boat trailer. The only wide spot in the road had a guy set up selling and carving bears. I changed the tire and watched him. When he finished a bear he went into his camper and brought out a propane torch and proceeded to burn the crap out of it. WTF! Originally I thought he wasn't happy with that particular piece. Nope, he burned the surface then took a wire brush to it. Looked totally different. So I went home and fired up the chainsaw and then my own torch. The result is what you see. I think that's one of the first pieces I burned, wasn't the last.

I found the fur on the bears didn't really make the grain of the wood stand out, but on a fish with a smooth surface the effect was dramatic. I'll have to see if my friend in Bay City can e-mail me a pix of the one I did for him.

SO COOL!!! These require plenty of time and energy. I bet that fish is awesome!

keep up the good work!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/...48bd17.jpg?v=0

Now this is awesome! My grandma would love this. If you can ship one of these to Utah I'm willing to pay a lot more than 20!

Modesty is a virtue, but c'mon man. How many other people you know that can do this?

Dude, those are cool :)