We are so plesed to have Barbara Mann, from Tallahassee, Florida, with us again this year teaching cypress knee and golf ball face carving. She will have clean, ready-to-carve cypress knees from 10 to 20 inches tall available for $8 to $25. To participate in her class you will need to purchase one of her beautiful knees or golf balls. The cypress knees lend themselves to such figures as wood spirits, Old World Santas., traditional Santas, wizards, elves, sorceresses, green men, animals, etc., and are limited only by your imagination. You can choose one of her cypress knees for a particular figure you want to do, or choose a knee you like and let the shape of the knee suggest the figure.  Barbara will help you find  the figure in the knee if you wish. We use knives, gouges and V-tools, and all tools need to be sharp, as cypress knees are fairly soft.  Hair, beards, and mustaches can be carved with a small gouge or V-tool, or woodburned for a different look.

Barbara will have a woodburner available.  A small cypress knee can be carved in a day, while the larger knees may take an additional half or full day to complete. Completed knees look best when sanded with the 220 gold, cloth-backed  sandpaper and then finished. They can be painted with acrylics or  oils, or lacquered, or finished with tung oil only. The instructor will have examples of different figures and styles and finishes.

Barbara will also have ready-to-carve golf balls in several colors available.  All the hard work of cutting the cover and removing half the cover is done.  Two methods of displaying the finished golf balls will be available.  Golf balls are carved with a knife, but a small gouge and V-tool are very helpful.   These faces are creative and fun, and often can be done in about an hour by an experienced carver. They take a little longer for new carvers. This will be a good half-day or fill-in project during the roundup. Barbara can be contacted at carvermann@yahoo.com.

Barbara has been carving for 38 years and been teaching carving for 33 years. She is a returning instructor for both the Michigan Wood Carvers Roundup and the Suwannee River Roundup. She has also taught at the Southeastern Woodcarving School and John C. Campbell Folk School.  She is a co-founder of the Tallahassee woodcarving club, Capital City Carvers, and regularly teaches workshops for the club and for the Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science.  She is frequently called upon for woodcarving demonstrations.  Her carvings have been shown in galleries in Tallahassee, Havana, and Quincy, Florida. She can be contacted at carvermann@yahoo.com
 
 

Updated 12/26/07