Starting with a piece of bark until it is a whimsical house

I normally don’t take many ‘‘work in progress’’ photos of my cottonwood bark carvings as I have been doing these for over 10 years and once I start a piece, I simply don’t want to stop to take photos. I made an exception for one piece recently to show my approach on Instagram as well as here.

Before I write about this specific work in progress piece I would like to say a bit about my general attitude to the cottonwood bark carving. When I started doing the very first houses I would concentrate on one part of the to be carving and finish it fully with all the details before moving on to another part. I would get some idea to my head and was worried to forget about it. But then I started working on the general shape first, already deciding where what would be in the end. I would even do multiple houses/castles all at once sometimes. I call these ‘‘roughs’’ because that is the messiest part of the work and once I have one of these it is like having a half prepared meal in the fridge. I carve mostly at home so it is enjoyable to take one of these ‘‘roughs’’ and immediately start working on the details, it is a very clean work with only tiny chips and shavings spreading around me at that point.

I would be often asked questions such as if ‘‘the wood speaks to me’’ or if ‘‘I can see things in the wood’’ but it is simpler than that. The cottonwood bark has its unique properties, starting with the already formed shape to the cracks and dry spots that must be either completely left alone or completely carved away. When I take a piece of bark, I simply check for those spots and then decide what shape and what details could fit there. Only when I want to carve something very specific I would look for a very specific chunk but I never expect it to speak to me (I have never smoked weed in my life after all), I would just look for something that could hold the shape I need. This is very important if I want to have a long ladder on the front of the carving or if I want to carve a heart inside (in the ‘‘ball in a cage’’ style).

This carving was done in a 17’’ piece of cottonwood bark from British Columbia. I start working on the shapes with a large chisel/gouge and as I said this is where I already refine the final shape. Then I use a large knife to refine the shape even better by cleaning up spots unreachable with the large gouge and by adding steps and ladders. If I do a ladder, I just make the rough shape of it but leave carving it to the very end because that is generally the most fragile part.

Before I start carving any details I use both rough and fine sand paper to smooth the whole piece around.

There are usually a few spots I want to reshape after I am done with the sanding. I use the same knife and a small (flat) gouge for that. This is when I fully clean up the steps in this particular carving. I use v-tool to refine the stones (or bricks) but the detail lines on the door are made with a knife as I like these very fine. All the tools used are seen in the photographs except a stylus used for the tiny holes on the top of the house.

I hope this post will help somebody else to create their own whimsical house!