A selection of mini totem poles

[rancid badger]

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I carved these over the winter/spring of 2005/06
They are nearly all carved from butts of Rowan saplings, which I coppiced to build a wild life observation screen for the F.C. at Chopwell Wood.
I found them incredibly satisfying to make, using my home made utility knife and a cheap, chip carving knife. A project like this does wonders for your knife handling skills, you find that as you become more confident, you add more and more detail and let your imagination run away.
Have a go at one, all you need is a 3/4 to1+1/4 inch diameter, reasonably straight stick of about 18 inches in length.
Happy Whittling!

 

[fred gordon]

I think these are a brilliant idea. Are the images based on 'real' totem images or are they your own creation? Strikes me they are the sort of thing I would want on my desk at work just to remind me there is life out there,

 

[rancid badger]

They are mostly based on whatever was dribbling through my mind as I sat carving! some of the images are very definitely American/Canadian First Nations People's inspired, while others, really are off the top of my head( I know; scary!).The only trouble is they attract the dust!
Cheers
R.B.:

 

[fred gordon]

Thanks RB. I love the little sprite guy in the front row.
I had some experience a couple of years ago with First nation people from the Squamish Nation. They came to Scotland and carved several Totem poles with local communities. We have one near here and it attracts a lot of attention. They also took local stories and used their symbolism to portray them. It worked really well and lots of school kids were involved.

 

[cariboo]

Great work! There is some Celtic stuff in there aye.

Do you have a story in your mind as your whittling? It looks like you might.

You probably know that about Pacific Northwest poles. Every image is important. Everything is told through stories.

I met a kind gentleman Robert Davidson at a Pow wow near Vancouver.

He is a Haida carver. A master. His son Ben and his brother Reg are all pretty amazing carvers as well.

Reg Davidson's site. http://http://iweb.tntech.edu/cventura/reg.htm

Robert's site. http://www.robertdavidson.ca

 

[Eric_Methven]

Blimey! They're brilliant :You_Rock_ Will you be flogging them at the festival?

Eric

 

[Hoodoo]

Super! An excellent bit of whittling! This is something I've been thinking about lately as well. I saw some about a month ago at the field museum in Chicago. They were nicely carved and all painted. Prices were fairly high too.

Impressive work!

 

[British Red]

They really are superb! Any chance of a close up photo of one?

I'll dust one for you

Red

 

[woodwalker]

They're are absolutely brilliant, very ornate and nicely put together.

I second Red's thoughts, any chance of some close ups on those poles?

woodwalker

 

[twisted firestarter]

I bow to your superior knife skills RB :notworthy

 

[rancid badger]

I'll try to sort out a few close ups this morning and then if time allows tonight, I'll post them. I really would urge you all to get hold of a small chip carving knife and whatever you use as your 'utility blade' and have a go. I carve them in the round, or, in other words from 'green' sticks, and yes some of them hold stories while others are more or less blatant copies.
The little 'pixie' at the front is the 'Spirit of Derwent Crags' its carved from a piece of cherry picked up along the crags which tower over the river Derwent and mounted ona a piece of laburnum, also foraged down there. This area has always had a spiritual feel for me as I have wandered round the wood and I find myself drawn back to these 120ft cliffs time and again, season after season. I'm very flattered that you lot like them, the answer for eric is: probably, maybe!
Thanks again,
R.B.
well here are the pics as promised:

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this is 'the spirit of Derwent Crags' carved from a piece of cherry found lying at the top of the crags.

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There is a bit of all sorts here! owls, demons, serpents etc.etc.

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just the bases of the same three poles.

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This is a love spoon? another good exercise, used crook knife and very small home made scorps for carving.

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This one was just a basic, birch spoon, then I went on one with the chip knife and some inner birch bark powder! there is supposed to be a lake with a canoe in the bowl!

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This is one of my ash bark containers, the 'thread' is spruce root.

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And finally! I thought you might be interested to see what the two 'sticks' were, they are in fact awls, used for making the bark containers and numerous other 'poking' tasks.

Well, I hope you all enjoy a bit of a closer look at some of my 'keeping myself sane' projects, and sincerely hope I can inspire some of you to have a go at similar things yourselves.
Happy whittling!
R.B.

 

[Eric_Methven]

After seeing your work I've decided to aquire some chip carving knives. I found these:

You know, they don't look too difficult to make. I recon I could make a set like these from an old hacksaw blade and just epoxy them into a handle with a short tang. What do you think?

Eric

 

[rancid badger]

Ah! now then, they look quite canny, very similar in fact to the single one I have. I tried making a chip knife in more or less the same way you suggest but found that even the larger ( 15mm ish) blades were a bit iffy, not really stiff enough. Ive been thinking about trying some 35mm bandsaw blade from work ( used for cutting steel) but missed the boat when the scrap bin was emptied early.

 

[British Red]

They are truly awesome mate - I'd love to see a walking staff done in a similar fashion!

Red

 

[fred gordon]

These things are really great. Best carving I've seen in ages. Many thanks RB for posting the spitit of Derwent Crags. He is just the bees knees for me. I like Reds idea of a stick. One of the reasons I was particulalry interested in the spirit was that I thought he would look good on a stick.

 

[JonnyP]

Beautiful work RB, thanks for sharing....

 

[jon r]

seriously nice work there RB. I'll be having a go at that one myself! Thanks for the inspiration. Do you draw the designs on before carving or do you just go for it?

Thanks

jon

 

[rancid badger]

usually just go for it

 

[Singeblister]

Very nice I like those a lot

 

[aelf]

fantastic - you have inspired me! going to have a go this weekend. Do you draw the designs first or just 'go with the flow'?