Five-Day Bare Bones Woodcarving Classes
The Bare Bones Woodcarving Class will give the beginner carving enthusiast a solid foundation in woodcarving. You don't have to be a physical giant to handle woodcarving tools; it's all in the technique. Learning the fundamentals of woodcarving is like watching a tennis pro who has trained his tennis volley to be both effortless and graceful. Woodcarving can be effortless and graceful too. This is the romance of the skill.
We will Study and Explore the Following:
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WOOD CARVING TOOLS: Learn how to redesign and sharpen your tool edge so that you have better control and a more versatile woodcarving chisel. I will show you how to sharpen with the proficiency that was used in the European apprenticship programs. I also incorporate some Japanese sharpening theory because the training of their hand sensitivity is an integral part of their apprenticeship. Sharp tools that easily bite into the wood and do not skate are an important ingredient for woodcarving with intent.
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WOOD CARVING TECHNIQUE: Learn how to handle your carving tools in the wood; from roughing out the beginnings of your project to the final delicate detailing . I teach an approach I call the "cradle position" and it is an integral part of good hand technique. Wood carving is a skill that incorporates the body to better assist your hand control of the gouges. It is like a baseball pitcher throwing you a ball. You swing with the bat and use your body to step into the hit. The same is true in woodcarving, you use your body strength and weight for the cutting action.
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ART OF SEEING: Learn the mechanical steps in the process of carving. Often I hear my new students say what I call the beginner's mantra... "What do I do next?" There are mechanical steps to seeing what is the next action in your project. I also work with an approach perspective I call visual mapping. It is an activity, same as using a map, that helps you to move through the progressive steps of your carving project. It is teachable and gaining this skill is critical for the beginner's eye.
DESIGN SKILLS: Learn how to design your wood carving projects using references that many of the great artists used. There are many basic tools and mechanical steps to designing that are unknown to the novice woodcarver. This approach to building your design will expand your imagination and the steps to creating your own projects will start to come more easily to you.
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TRADE SECRETS: Finally, among many other things, you will learn about finishing and building contrast in your piece, a necessity to having a striking, attractive look. You will learn alot of trade secrets in these woodcarving classes that were thoughtfully passed down to me from my European teachers.
This wood carving class will give you the skills to add creative, personal details to all your wood working projects. It is a chance for the woodworking student to take his or her skills to the next level. 
The class and workshop formats are three or five days in length. Calvo Woodcarving School located in Gloucester, Massachusetts is a convenient commute from Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York and New York City areas. Check woodcarving schedule page for dates and prices. For more description info click on: The Bare Bones of Wood Carving Article. This wood carving workshop will give you skills that will put you on a whole new level. You will be pleased with your new found woodcarving abilities.
Intermediate Techniques Wood Carving Class
Here is an opportunity to develop your woodcarving skills by becoming more aware of technique and design through progressively more challenging skills. Great carving is not built on strength or how fast you can carve like a racing car driver. Mature carving is built on learning the subtleties of the skill. We will be working with a more advanced woodcarving project and we will build on the fundamentals that you learned in my beginners’ course. Each of you will be working from a plaster cast to help guide you to the finish line. Among many things, we will work more with the mechanics of your hand technique focusing on intentional controlled cuts. Also, like two vines that weave up a trellis, we will continue to train your eyes in aspects of visual mapping or what I like to call the mantra of the beginner woodcarver “What do I do next?” This course will focus on the next set of techniques that are key for you to unlock a new door in becoming more advanced in woodcarving.
Weekly Wood Carving Classes on Wednesdays
For those of you local enough here is an opportunity to learn your woodcarving skills on a week by week basis. We will be following the Bare Bones format at a casual pace. The main difference is that you will be able to work on your projects at home as well. This is a unique opportunity to learn next to a skilled master carver. Classes will begin on Wednesday July 9, 2008 from 6:30 - 9:30. The cost of the class is $40 and you can sign up for ten week sessions. We are on the commuter MBTA rail line from Boston. Call for more info!
Two-Day Forging Wood Carving Tools
My German wood carving teacher, Frederick Brunner, forged all his own woodcarving tools. He was not only an able artist but he was also an expert mechanic in the woodcarving field as well. He proudly showed me one day the first tool he had ever forged that he used into his eighties. 
Both Brunner and his protege taught me the skill of forging tools which was part of the woodcarver's professional arsenal in the old days. There is absolutely nothing more satisfying than carving wood with a tool that you have made. Learning how to forge your own wood carving tools will complete your skills. This is a excellent forum for the study and understanding of good tool design necessary for the control needed in wood carving. You will treasure your hand forged tools and they will become the favorites of your collection. Guaranteed.
Two-Day Clay Modeling for the Woodcarver
Woodcarving is an exercise that takes away wood from the outside and moves progressively inward towards your finish project. 
Clay modeling is an exercise that works from the opposite perspective; it builds clay on from the inside-out to the finish project. What you have in between these two disciplines is the study of three-dimension. I was trained in this manner in my apprenticeship to build my abilities in the skill of seeing. I guarantee that working with clay will heighten your confidence and strenghten your woodcarving skills dramatically. We will work from a simple geometrical study cast of the human form which will give you the opportunity to explore the principles of balance, composition and proportions.
The Mona Lisa Smile • One-Day Design Class
The Greeks did it. The Romans did it. Even the American Shakers used it. The artists from the Renaissance explored it, and the Egyptians admired it. What is it about Leonardo DaVinci’s painting of the Mona Lisa 
that attracts millions of people to stand in front of it every year? The whole answer can be found in one word: BEAUTY. We all make beautiful objects out of wood simply because we admire beauty. Here is a weekend class where we will study just that. The Greeks explored a principle they called the Golden Ratio. It is found all around us in nature and in the art of all civilizations. Also known as the Divine Proportion, the Renaissance craftsman continued to study it and built upon the idea as well. It is even found in the design and fabrication of early American furniture. The bottom line is that no matter where you look, there it is.
In this course we will improve our designing skill by learning how to build ideas and compositions. There are lots of tricks of the trade. But the real fireworks is that each of you will actually make a Golden Ratio caliper. This Golden Ratio caliper will connect you to the entire history of apprenticeship in the study of design. It is the art of studying the anatomy of beautiful things. It is a course geared to the beginner as well as to the more seasoned woodworker. You will walk away with a more educated eye in design. More important, you will have in your toolbox of skills more enthusiasm for creating beautiful designs and the steps of how to get there with your upcoming woodworking projects. This wood carving design class is a two-day workshop.
Bring David Calvo Carving School to Your Area
Here is an opportunity to bring David Calvo and the Bare Bones of Woodcarving to your workshop in your town and state. If you can generate enough interest it might be a more economical approach. Call for more details regarding shop needs, group size and costs.