Carving in the Rockies 2025
- instructors and class descriptions
Below you can find more information about this year's classes, instructors, class fees and any tools you may need.
Prayerful Angel - Al Vigil
TWO DAY CLASS :The Angel will be cut from a flat basswood board 3/4 " thick. Angel will be painted as time allows and extra, smaller angels will be available if you finish project early.
Material Fee: $8
Provided Materials: Basswood blank. Will have loaners of chisel or v tool if needed.
Tools Required: V-tool and a sharp bench knife with at least a 1" blade. Also, a chisel or a v-tool with at least a 1/4" flat side. Bring your own paint brushes.
Cribbage Board - Doug Reinhart
Chip Carved Cribbage Board with metal pegs. Students need basic chip carving skills. The design in pattern is repeated 3X. Depending on skill level, carver can finish at least one and then finish the project at home. Drilling peg holes will not be done in class, however, instruction and assistance are available.
Material Fee: $20
Provided Materials: 7" X 14" X 7/8" basswood blank with pre-printed pattern, * peg holes will not be pre-drilled. Six metal pegs with bag and game instructions.
Tools Required: Bring knives, especially chip carving and detail knife, strop or hone. Note: For those without drill press at home , I will be available to assist as needed.
Hatch A Bird - Rob Summers
A Basswood Goose Egg carved into a baby bird hatching out of it's shell and then painting it.
Material Fee: $10
Provided Materials: The basswood egg, paints and paint supplies provided.
Tools Required: A safety glove, sharp detail knife, several size V tools,gouges and 120& 220 grit sandpaper.
Pueblo in Bark - Polly White
Material Fee: $15
Relief carving in cottonwood bark of complete multi-level pueblo village with Kivas, ovens, ladders, and structural poles (Vigas). Turquoise inlay is optional.
Provided Materials: Bark provided.
Tools Required: Bench knife, V-tools, gouges, chisel tool.
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Shelf Sitting Gnome - Dave Tjarks
Give your books some company and carve a fun shelf-sitting Gnome for your home. Make it fun, make it serious, it's up to you.
Material Fee: $5
Provided Materials: Cutout provided.
Tools Required: Bench knife, V-tools, variety of gouges. Dockyard U-tool set if available. Safety glove
Face in Bark - Polly White
Carve a wood spirit/mountainman face in cottonwood bark
Material Fee: $15
Provided Materials: Bark provided.
Tools Required: Bench knife,V-tools,variety of gouges. Dockyard U-tool set if available.
Painting on Wood - Alice Geyer
Participants will learn Watercolour Pencil and decorative paint methods that enhance wood projects. Shading and highlighting, choosing colors and pencil application methods will be demonstrated.
Material Fee: $10
Provided Materials: All materials and tools will be provided including wood surfaces, pencils and paint.
Tools Required: No experience required .Both projects will be completed by students.
Dragonfly Relief - Joseph Sikora
Material Fee: $6
Relief carving & chip carving together to create a Dragonfly design in basswood
Provided Materials: Basswood blank.
Tools Required: Sharp detail knife, Chip knife, Gouges: #4 -10mm, #6- 5mm & 10mm and micro gouges.
Tiki Time - Dave Tjarks
We'll be creating your own Tiki working from an approx: 3'' X 12" block. In designing your personal tiki, we'll use a selection of design elements that you can mix and match to make your own design.
Material Fee: $10
Provided Materials: Design templates, graphite paper and tape to transfer .Wood blanks.
Tools Required: Bring your regular carving tools and knives, along with a pencil to embark on this journey.
Carved Chain - Al Vigil
Continuous Carved Chain out of a single piece of basswood,
Material Fee: $5
Provided Materials: Basswood blank.
Tools Required: A sharp bench knife, small 2mm gouge, detail knife and a Kevlar glove.
Shelfie Bird - Bob Zettler
Create Your Own Caricature " Shelfie" Bird. This class will focus on the designing & carving of your creation to sit on your shelf. Class picture is a representation of the creative possibilities. ( Staining/Glazing and finishing your creation is offered on Tuesday. This class is optional.)
Material Fee: $10
Provided Materials: Basswood Blank
Tools Required: A sharp knife, small hand gouges and a safety glove.
Sea Turtle Over the Reef - Steve Gurnett
TWO DAY CLASS: Join me for two days in carving this Sea Turtle, titled “Over the Reef”. Starting with a roughout, the student will carve and sand the turtle. They will add details with a wood burner and then apply a wood stain to the piece to complete the carving. They will mount the turtle onto a piece of manzanita root and attach it to a base. This class is tailored to intermediate and advanced carvers but if you consider yourself a beginner but have been carving for a while, you will still enjoy this class. The challenge for you will be to finish within the two days. Intermediate and advanced carvers will be beaten if they do not finish this project at the end of two days! At the end of this class you will leave with a beautiful stylized carving of a sea turtle and knowledge, tips and techniques for carving your own stylized and mounted carvings.
Material Fee: $30
Provided Materials: Turtle roughout, manzanita root, stain, sand paper, finish and base are all included in the materials cost ($30 sorry, there are a lot of materials with this project).
Tools Required: Carving knife, small u-gouges (3,5,7sweep), small v-tools. Wood burner. Bring one if you have it. I’ll bring a couple of my own if you need one to borrow.
Pyrography - Dan Noble
TWO DAY CLASS: Woodburned scene of a Cabin in the Woods . This is a special opportunity to learn the basic skills and the advanced nuances of pyrography from a very experienced instructor.
Material Fee: $10
Provided Materials: Blank and Pattern, will bring 2 extra woodburners at students request
Tools Required: Bring woodburner, tips preferred: shader, rounded tip skew & writing tip.
Medium Relief Carving in Six Steps - Tony Montoya
Create a medium relief carving of your own design by following six basic steps. If you want to break free from relying on someone else's patterns and learn how to draw and model your own designs, this is the class for you. Hands on guided instruction to design, layout, boast, model and finish a medium relief carving in butternut. The student should have some relief carving experience and have experience using long handle carving gouges as well as assorted palm gouges and carving knives.
Material Fee: $10
Provided Materials: 4 x 6 x .75” prepared hardwood carving blank, design and layout material, polymer clay, and instruction guide. The instructor will have an assortment of extra tools for the student to try out.
Tools Required: 1 long handled v-tool (approx. 10mm), 1 long handled gouge (approx. 10mm No.7), assorted long handle (preferred) or palm gouges of various sweeps and sizes, carvers bench hook, drawing tools (wooden pencil, eraser, straight edge, compass, etc.). A carver’s mallet is optional.
Stain/Glaze and Finish " Shelfie" Bird - Bob Zettler
Bob Zettler’s Monday carving class is a prerequisite. Students will be guided to Stain/Glaze and finish their own caricature “ Shelfie” bird. This class will focus on a technique using linseed oil and oil based paint to create a unique finish on the “ Shelfie” creations. Due to the nature of the products used, this class will need to be held outdoors. Be prepared to be flexible, weather could cause cancellation.
Material Fee: $10
Provided Materials: All paint supplies and brushes will be provided. A table will be provided outside and a tent if possible.
Tools Required: Bring an outdoor chair if you have one or you will need to bring out an indoor chair.
Crazy Chicken - Gerry Canavan
The low relief basswood yard bird can be an ornament or a refrigerator magnet. The legs are nails and we'll be drilling holes and using epoxy to attach them
Material Fee: $5
Provided Materials: I'll bring everything needed to complete the class and a page of chicken designs with some additional information. I'll have some extra tools I can lend out.
Tools Required: Bring some smaller knives and a knife with a curved blade if you have one. Small #8 gouges and #1 flats or skews such as dockyards, and tiny V tools will come in handy.
Chip Carving - Al Vigil
Students can select from various chip carving blanks, including coasters and ornaments.
Material Fee: $6
Provided Materials: Variety of blanks.
Tools Required: A sharp chip carving knife and a Kevlar glove.
