This week, I wanted to share a story from our recent Platinum member webinar that reminded me just how often chip carving inspiration pops up in the most unexpected places. I started the session talking about some of the surprise challenges I faced while working on this month’s project. After demonstrating a few tricky cuts, there was still
time left—so I decided to try something new that's been on my mind: a Dala horse pattern.
For those not familiar, a Dala horse is a Scandinavian figure traditionally carved and painted in a decorative style called rosemaling. Last holiday season, my mom gave me a Dala horse ornament as inspiration for a future project. The ornament itself was laser-cut and etched, but I found the pattern translated surprisingly well to chip carving.
I didn’t have the time to cut out the horse shape, so I carved the design onto a square board for a trial run, adding a tail, mane, and a few new accents for variety. The result? Not only was I happy with how it turned out, but the group immediately started brainstorming new ideas—like personalizing the pattern with kids’ names or exploring more Scandinavian motifs.
While the webinar may have
started out talking about unexpected challenges, it finished with a good reminder that chip carving projects and patterns can be found in unexpected places!
What unexpected item provided inspiration for one of your chip carving projects?
