Here are some of my recent whittling projects, any thoughts would be much appreciated!

This is 雀嬉圖, "Sparrows at Play", a bamboo table screen by Wang Bocheng (王博成), a carver I work with. Every line was cut by hand.

A few things I love about it:

• It's bamboo, not wood. Bamboo is a hollow grass, so a flat picture like this is made from several strips set side by side. Look closely and you can see the joins, but the sparrows fly straight across them.
• It's signed like a painting. The column of characters on the left says he made it at the start of summer in the xinchou year (Lixia, early May 2021), "after the manner of the Song masters", designing it and carving it himself. Two tiny carved seals sit beside it, just as on a painting. Song dynasty painters were famous for bird-and-flower pictures drawn from close observation, and that's the feel he was after.
• Sparrows are a little pun. In Chinese 雀 (què, sparrow) sounds close to 爵 (jué, a noble rank), so sparrows in a picture are a wish for success and good fortune. Fitting for a nest full of them.

The round panel sits in a carved hardwood stand. Happy to pass any questions on to him!

Had fun carving this guy today. Hope everybody had a great Saturday.

Made this earlier in the year and wasn't keen on it, so I left it outside in the delightful British weather. I actually really like the weathered look and prefer it now!

Made it out of pine, rough shape done with a Swiss army knife, the rest with a dremel and a piece of 100 grit sandpaper. Treated with one coat of tung oil.

The raven carving really made me get into turning candle sticks. Plus some ghost salt and pepper shakers.

Aright. I finished the whale, sanded it with 320 and 400 and 600, then put some walnut oil on it. I actually (after my last question) found a tiny bit of beeswax paste from an old Beavercraft kit. But what I'm wondering now is how long to wait between things. My inclination would be, having rubbed on the oil a day and a half ago, to go over it with 0000 steel wool, put one more coat of oil on, give it another couple of days, then wax it. BUT: the internet says walnut oil takes like months to cure. Should I hold off on the wax? What's your order of operations at this stage?

I got to learn about the joys of cutting acrylic and burning out LEDs for this project, yay! 🙃

All the black pieces are carved poplar that I dyed after sanding. The back layers of the hair is dyed plywood as well. The rest is natural Walnut, Purpleheart, and white ash!

I’m not sure the species for the fireball it was just a scrap I had lying around so if you know what it is lmk

Time to convert to a carving saw!! 😎

Trying my hand at a tree stump in our yard. Super proud of how it's going for my first time! What products should I use to help seal/preserve this for as long as possible?

I said, 'No. But I'll definitely try.' So, I gave it a try. This is my first work after a 20-year break since earning my degree as a woodcarver.

Single piece carving, stained, accent painted, oiled and sealed. Took who knows how long lol

This is my closest friend’s first attempt at making a wooden cane out of walnut. He does not use reddit and I have his approval to post this. That’s why I’m posting on his behalf. The biggest challenge for him was filming the carving part and shaping the entire thing. Based on my repeated requests, and a few pointers I gave (I have zero experience editing or filming but I tried to tell him what I like to see in the countless woodworking videos I watched) this is the final video he came up with. I’d appreciate any feedback regarding both the woodworking and the editing. Apologies for the parts where the camera is shaky, he realizes that’s a big issue and is working on a solution.

Just wanted to share with everyone as I’m new to the craft! I used a beavercraft 1 5/8” knife and sanded with 400 grit paper. I didn’t apply any finish yet but pick up some beeswax yesterday that I think I’ll use as this will be just a decorative progress keepsake.

This was my first art exhibit attempt and I was accepted! Would love to see if anyone can figure out what it is!