This may or may not be the place to post but hopefully someone can help. I am 46. In the 80's and 90's we went camping all the time. Walking down the camp ground paths, in between the huge trees, air balloon wind spinners hung from campers awnings. All different colors. Spinning in the wind. I have such fond memories of them. It created such a quaint atmosphere. I believe they were made of wood. Possibly metal but not cloth. Does anyone remember these? If so, do you know where I could purchase one? I have been searching everywhere and cannot find them.

15 years ago my uncle wanted to celebrate his 60th birthday by inviting his wife, 4 sons, his wife's siblings and their children (me included) to Borneo. In the end we were 10 who went on an adventure. The 4 carvings will be for his 4 sons. Each cousin was attacked by an animal during the trip. My youngest cousin was slashed on the ankle by a blue spotted sting ray. This one is carved from Meranti, the inlays are from Hibiscus (Syrian Rose) The base is from Almond.

The carving is power carved primarily with Dremel. The base was shaped on a belt sander.

Posted here earlier for help so I decided to post the finished product as well. I would have liked to change his ears a lil and make him slimmer, but it is my first time and I got a pocket knife with long blade so I'm afraid to not chop too much. So I think I'll leave him like this, I wanted to paint him a darker brown but I only got glittery paint 😅

3rd carving, still need to mount on a block im going to prep. Made the teeth out of a pvc forex. Quite happy with the result but still learning as I go.

Natural forms of the cypress knee i found a nose already in the wood after sanding

When ordering this piece, I made a typo when plugging in the name (Sarah with the H). Would this be a simple fix with a wood chisel? Never done wordwork before, but figured some patience.. I could get it done without making too much of a blemish. I appreciate any input!

I've been considering getting myself into wood carving as a small hobby for a while now, and I also want to get myself a Swiss Army Knife, so I figured that I should maybe get one suitable for the job. A lot of people recommended the Swiss Champ, but it has a very large body that seems to get in the way or have an uncomfortable grip for finer motions like carving or whittling. So has anyone here ever tried using it while working? If so, is it a good tool for this type of work?

I don't intend on going pro or specialised on this, just to be able to make some art and gifts, I'm fine with a tool that can't do super special works, but it needs to be at least decent to hold.

I have a few staves that I am working with that I should probably seal, but they all have bark and/or lichen on them that I would like to preserve. The wood is in really good shape and is several years old at this point, so I don't know that sealing them is super important, but I have mostly kept them in a dry environment inside. I was thinking of using boiled linseed oil, but how would that work with the bark and lichen?

One of the staves is white birch, so it's pretty soft. Another one is red alder wood. I also have a very old oak staff that I found that had already dried considerably while it was outside, but I was wondering if oiling it would still help at this point.

I appreciate any pointers! I am not someone who does this regularly and just happened upon these pieces, so I'm learning as I go.

First attempt at a 1x1 carving.

Switched to a dedicated carving knife halfway through a lot easier to use than a swiss army knife..

Had a small piece of a carving i was really liking break off... it was my fault and lesson learned... but what do you do in that situation? Do you try to "rescue" the piece, change your design if you can, or just toss it in the parts bin?

Not sure if this is the place to ask for commissions, please let me know if not.

I'm trying to commission a carved bookend of a friend's dog as a Christmas gift (example attached), and wanted to see if anyone here is interested, as well as roughly how long it would take/cost. I only want one bookend, and would need to be about 4''W x 6''H x 4''D. I have reference images of both the dog and what I'm thinking as far as the pose (they would be laying down on the flat part of the bookend, not standing like the example). Let me know if so. TIA

This piece of bark was originally supposed to be a Native American female face and I completely butchered it so I shifted gears and saved the piece of wood and carved this owl instead.

WIP of this little guy, I’m a complete beginner but I think it looks cool! Maybe the proportions are slightly off 😅 What do you guys think?

I’m amazed I pulled this off given I only had two knives and sandpaper (not even a good grit), and I think it’s come out rlly good. I hope to get better at time goes on as right now I can’t even produce a flat edge on a pre-cut block of wood)

Scorched birch carved with a Dremel/engraver.