Ornament Ideas and a call for alternative Wine Bottle Holder Uses
Howdy !
I have a couple of topics to cover in this week’s newsletter and one assignment! First, I wanted to pass along a few ideas that Platinum members shared in this month’s Platinum Member webinar. I thought they were very creative and relevant to the season.
One of the members showed the ornaments he’d
carved and explained that they would be for grandkids, nieces, nephews, etc. He added the year to this year’s design and explained that he would also be adding each child’s picture to the back of their ornament so that they would have a reminder of what they looked like at that time. I can see those ornaments starting a lot of conversations in the future!
Another member mentioned she carved names on the back of her ornaments so she could use them as tags for her presents.
That’s a neat way to get two presents at the same time! Who wouldn’t like that?
It was enjoyable seeing all of the projects and techniques that were shared.
The second topic deals with a couple of emails I received related to this month’s project. In one email I was asked:
“have you considered trying to connect the top part (above the bottle hole) with the rest of the carving (below the hole)? Because right now, while the two
parts are individually beautiful, they look independent.”
I like the look of the current pattern, but it’s a good observation. I had originally thought of adding a line from each edge to connect the top and bottom but decided it wouldn’t add much, if anything, to the design so I left it as is. The email has got me thinking again about different ways to connect the top and bottom, so stay tuned for anything I may come up with. Or share your ideas with
me!
Finally, I had the following request in response to the Wine bottle Holder project:
“I live in a retirement center where nobody has space for a wine holder and my friends are not interested in one. A few years ago I turned one into a center piece by adding some styrofoam and a few flowers. What other ideas do you or others have for the use of wine holders.”
I have a few ideas I’ve already shared with the email’s author, but I’d like to hear what ideas you have! Have you found other unique ways to utilize the wine bottle holder?
Please send them to me and I’ll forward them on and share them in next week’s newsletter.
What other ways have you utilized the Wine Bottle Holder?
There are 14 carving days until Christmas. Attached are pictures of some of this years gifts for grand-kids and great-grand-kids. Front and back. The wire form cubes are impossible to make and are credited to M.C. Escher the Dutch graphic artist active in the first
three quarters of the 20th century. I find his work fascinating.
Our art museum had an exhibition of his work. While wandering through the exhibits, I wondered if I could chip carve the impossible cube. I think the results are pretty good. Although the drawn versions are better these do represent Escher’s work pretty well.
The two triangles are Penrose Triangles. Another “impossible” construct. I don’t think I transferred the
idea to chip carving as well so I only did two.
This project was a great opportunity to practice different borders and work on lettering. The ornament shapes were carved from bandsaw blanks. They will be finished with spray lacquer just as soon as I can get out to the garage.
Scott
I like the Escher carvings, very creative! I also like the ornament shape, too. The variety of patterns with the names is well done. I can tell you had a lot of fun carving all of these ornaments.
Very nice work! Everyone will be excited to go home with one of these hand-carved treasures.👍
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