Whittling with Chris Lubkemann...A Unique Slant on Woodcarving
Information on Chris Lubkemann's carvings, books, demonstrations and programs
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While I have a fair amount of experience with wood and a pocketknife, I definitely am in the novice/beginner category with this computer stuff. So...here's hoping that folks who come to my site, at least for a while, will be charitable and patient and put up with some stumbling and bumbling on my part. Hopefully before too long I'll have photos, videos, and information up and running in a reasonable way!
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Chris Lubkemann lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and is the "resident woodcarver" at the Amish Farm and House, a well-known and popular educational venue located on Route 30, just east of Lancaster, tucked just behind a bustling concentration of 21st century business and commerce. While the farm is open year reound, seven days a week, Chris's shop operates April through October, Monday through Saturday. While he is often at his shop during the months of November through March, those are the months when he is available for outside programs, shows, and workshops.
More information about the Amish Farm and House can be found on www.amishfarmandhouse.com.
This "unique slant on whittling" has been demonstrated on a number of television programs, as well as before countless live audiences in North America, Europe, and Asia -- in schools, service clubs, youth organizations, church groups, retirement communities, conventions, city parks, prisons, and even on buses, boats, trains, and airplanes!
The basic raw material for the type of carving Chris does is absolutely free, and the main tool needed is a two-bladed pocketknife, something that many people already own. The fundamentals of the branch carving concept can be picked up in an hour or two, and many first-time carvers have had the pleasant experience of seeing a decent project emerge from a little branch on their very first try!
Roosters of all shapes and size have for many years been the "mascots" and "stars" of branch carving, as well as the primary figures Chris uses to teach people to carve. While the rooster is not necessarily the easiest of the branch projects,
making a rooster from a forked branch exposes the learner to most of the basic strokes and techniques essential to doing a whole range of figures and projects that can be whittled from twigs and branches. Among the other things Chris carves are pheasants, herons, roadrunners, eagles, songbirds, hens, baby chicks, ducks, various animal heads, spoons, pickle forks, letter openers, walking sticks, backscratchers, canes, lamps, miniature trees, flowers, canoes and rowboats (miniature ones to be sure!), and a variety of off-the-wall critters that Dr. Seuss himself would have been proud of! Most of these projects are pictured or illustrated in one or another of Chris's books or in columns and articles he has written in CHIP CHATS (1993-2005), the bi-monthly magazine of the National Wood Carvers Association, or in WOOD-
CARVING ILLUSTRATED, the quarterly magazine published by Fox Chapel Publishing.
Fox Chapel Publishing is also the publisher of Chris's four most recent books:
WHITTLING TWIGS AND BRANCHES (200+ photos and 70 drawings)
THE LITTLE BOOK OF WHITTLING (19 projects, 380 photos)
TREE CRAFT: 35 Rustic Wood Projects That Bring The Outdoors In
BIG BOOK OF WHITTLE FUN (31 projects, a sequel to THE LITTLE BOOK OF WHITTLING)
Fox Chapel's website: www.FoxChapelPublishing.com
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TO SEE THE CARVING DEMONSTRATION CHRIS DID ON THE DIY NETWORK, GO TO THE AMISH FARM AND HOUSE WEBSITE AND CLICK ON TO THE "RESIDENT ARTISANS" PAGE. UNDER THE PICTURE OF CHRIS IN HIS SHOP IS A DIRECT LINK TO THE "BRANCH ROOSTER" EPISODE THAT SHOWS FROM START TO FINISH HOW TO CARVE A ROOSTER FROM A FORKED BRANCH. www.amishfarmandhouse.com
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BELOW: One of my sources of wood -- trees in northern New Jersey uprooted by Hurricane Sandy. An extremely tough situation for lots of folks...but we did mangae to squeeze some "lemonade" from some of the "lemons" that were scattered all over the landscape.
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Chris Lubkemann lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and is the "resident woodcarver" at the Amish Farm and House, a well-known and popular educational venue located on Route 30, just east of Lancaster, tucked just behind a bustling concentration of 21st century business and commerce. While the farm is open year reound, seven days a week, Chris's shop operates April through October, Monday through Saturday. While he is often at his shop during the months of November through March, those are the months when he is available for outside programs, shows, and workshops.
More information about the Amish Farm and House can be found on www.amishfarmandhouse.com.
This "unique slant on whittling" has been demonstrated on a number of television programs, as well as before countless live audiences in North America, Europe, and Asia -- in schools, service clubs, youth organizations, church groups, retirement communities, conventions, city parks, prisons, and even on buses, boats, trains, and airplanes!
The basic raw material for the type of carving Chris does is absolutely free, and the main tool needed is a two-bladed pocketknife, something that many people already own. The fundamentals of the branch carving concept can be picked up in an hour or two, and many first-time carvers have had the pleasant experience of seeing a decent project emerge from a little branch on their very first try!
Roosters of all shapes and size have for many years been the "mascots" and "stars" of branch carving, as well as the primary figures Chris uses to teach people to carve. While the rooster is not necessarily the easiest of the branch projects,
making a rooster from a forked branch exposes the learner to most of the basic strokes and techniques essential to doing a whole range of figures and projects that can be whittled from twigs and branches. Among the other things Chris carves are pheasants, herons, roadrunners, eagles, songbirds, hens, baby chicks, ducks, various animal heads, spoons, pickle forks, letter openers, walking sticks, backscratchers, canes, lamps, miniature trees, flowers, canoes and rowboats (miniature ones to be sure!), and a variety of off-the-wall critters that Dr. Seuss himself would have been proud of! Most of these projects are pictured or illustrated in one or another of Chris's books or in columns and articles he has written in CHIP CHATS (1993-2005), the bi-monthly magazine of the National Wood Carvers Association, or in WOOD-
CARVING ILLUSTRATED, the quarterly magazine published by Fox Chapel Publishing.
Fox Chapel Publishing is also the publisher of Chris's four most recent books:
WHITTLING TWIGS AND BRANCHES (200+ photos and 70 drawings)
THE LITTLE BOOK OF WHITTLING (19 projects, 380 photos)
TREE CRAFT: 35 Rustic Wood Projects That Bring The Outdoors In
BIG BOOK OF WHITTLE FUN (31 projects, a sequel to THE LITTLE BOOK OF WHITTLING)
Fox Chapel's website: www.FoxChapelPublishing.com
***************************************************************************************
TO SEE THE CARVING DEMONSTRATION CHRIS DID ON THE DIY NETWORK, GO TO THE AMISH FARM AND HOUSE WEBSITE AND CLICK ON TO THE "RESIDENT ARTISANS" PAGE. UNDER THE PICTURE OF CHRIS IN HIS SHOP IS A DIRECT LINK TO THE "BRANCH ROOSTER" EPISODE THAT SHOWS FROM START TO FINISH HOW TO CARVE A ROOSTER FROM A FORKED BRANCH. www.amishfarmandhouse.com
**************************************************************************************************
BELOW: One of my sources of wood -- trees in northern New Jersey uprooted by Hurricane Sandy. An extremely tough situation for lots of folks...but we did mangae to squeeze some "lemonade" from some of the "lemons" that were scattered all over the landscape.
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Copyright . Ernest C. Lubkemann, Jr.. All rights reserved.
