Thread: G'Day - I'm new

Hi Featherwood and welcome,
I have only dabbled in the occasional bit of woodcarving but I am fascinated by it. Mostly I turn wood.
I love your carvings! They look to be well carved and well finished too!
Another fascination of mine is birds!
The little wren is particularly cute.
I also really like the way you have combined different timbers and textures together. The eagle works particularly well, I think.
How much do you charge for your sculptures?
Congratulations on your excellent work.

Go for it Featherwood, either market or gallery or both, I wish you every success. It is better sitting in a gallery being seen than sitting in a cardboard box at home.

Hi Steck
Thank you for your nice welcome. Yes, I've been a bird lover all my life. I live in the bush so I'm surrounded by them. They are my bush telegraph so to speak, they tell me when there are snakes around, wedges around even foxes with their alarm calls. I've got to know them all. I think they are pretty cool! I watch them from my carving shed window while I'm working. I adore them all. Sorry, starting to get off the beaten track.
Price has always been a problem for me but I guess the simple ones like the sandpiper and wren maybe.........I don't know...$45. Mushrooms are small so maybe.....$25 bigger one's closer to the hundred mark and more complex ones one hundred+ ??????? Not real sure, I always struggle with putting a value on my work. I try not to be greedy and I don't want to rip people off. What do you think I should ask? Would love to know. I have sold carvings in galleries and they have sold for hundreds but thats the gallery market I suppose. Markets I think is where I am heading as you may have read from my previous threads........more human, more real and more down to earth.

Thanks Schaf
Yep, your right. Had to dust some of them off the other day before I could take the photo's for the forum.

Hi Featherwood,
Love your work, you have some lovely pieces there, good photography too. I can't advise you much on selling as I have only been carving less than a year but you do spend a lot of time making these pieces with the skills you have, you should never feel like your ripping people off, they should be glad to pay for a quality hand carved product. Perhaps do a little certificate of authenticity as an extra touch. Set your prices a little higher because you can always come down a bit but it's hard to go up. Good luck, your work deserves to be out there on display in peoples homes.

Hi Robthechisel
Gee you fellas come up with some great names. Thank you for the nice words, I feel honoured to talk with so many wonderful carvers/wood workers. Thanks for the great advice and the certificate sounds like a nice touch!

G'day Featherwood. I have gone back and had another look at your photo's. They are great and such a lovely finish, they look very warm and inviting.

Thank you Schaf for you great encouragement.
I'm still trying to master the art of navigating my way around this forum. I found your carvings - they are all brilliant and especially adore the "archer", I think the golf balls are cool too!

Hi Featherwood.
You do gallery quality works in the "minimalist" style that I strive for. Well done.
I'd like to get there some day. Beautiful, handsome pieces.

Hi Robson Valley
Thank you for the nice compliment. Yes, it has taken me a while to get to this point, every carving I do I learn more and more. So I carve more and more, I love it!

Very nice work, the fair curves and sensitive stylisation of the designs are beautifully carved and finished. You have received lots of good advice on marketing. My only suggestion would be to start a blog featuring your stylised carvings.

A blog costs nothing to set up and it is as easily done using 'Blogger', as posting here. It may or may not produce any sales but it costs nothing and if you print out some 'business cards' with the blog address, you can give them to anyone interested and they can see your work. Good photos are necessary to show the work well, but you can do that already!

It's also a good way to show work in progress including your thought processes as you work, your reasons for working in this way etc. This might even, in time, stand in lieu of those statements and credentials that some galleries seem to require. Your work in progress will also provide inspiration and useful information to fellow carvers. I always find being able to 'look over the shoulder' of other carvers etc immensely helpful.

www.whimsicalwood.com

www.whimsicalwood.blogspot.com

Hi David,
Thank you for the great advice and compliments. Yes I think it would be a great idea but I'm not sure whether I'm brave enough for that yet! I am quite computer illiterate, one of my sons helped me put my photo's on the forum which I took with my phone. This forum has actually been quite over whelming for me. I am trying very hard though to understand all the internet can do.

I visited your website & blog and found it jaw dropping! It was just fantastic. Wow! What a good idea a blog is. All this has opened my eyes to the world of the internet.

Thanks again.
Featherwood