Chipin' Wood

Chipin’ Wood

HANDMADE WITH PRIDE

About the Artist

After retiring from 30+ years in Information Technology, Rogene found a new passion in art. She enjoys working in her Arizona studio drawing with charcoal and colored pencils and painting in acrylics. In 2020, she discovered wood carving and wood working, which has become her new medium of choice. Rogene said, “it’s been fun and challenging to move from a two to three dimensional mediums. I also love that I apply my drawing and painting skills to complete some of the wood carvings and finishing a piece of hand crafted furniture. I created Chipin’ Wood to share my work and wood carving & wood working information with others who may be interested.”

Artisan Process

Picture of Watchful Santa ornament drying — Carved

Rogene starts by choosing a block of wood appropriate to the shape and scale of her intended design. Employing rotary tools, gouges and knifes of various sizes, she then reduces the wood to an approximate shape, which she refines with a variety of tools like veiners and v-tools. When the detailed work is complete, she smoothes the surfaces with different grains of sandpaper. Lastly, to enhance and preserve the sculpture, she stains it walnut or linseed oil, paints, and then coats it in varnish. The final step is a coat of feed n wax, which should continue to be used to maintain the wood from drying over time.

Her wood carving tools include the following: a bandsaw, special carving knife used to cut and pare the wood; a gouge with a curved cutting edge used for making hollows and curves; a specialist gouge called a veiner, with a U-shaped edge; a straight-edge chisel used for lines; as well as various mallets and hammers.