Intro to Carving – Mary May will give an overview of her professional experience, reviewed the basics of woodcarving tools, workpiece holding methods, gouge sharpening techniques, project wood types, as well as key carving strokes and processes. She completes the session with a short example of a shallow carving project, and recommendations for surface finishing of the completed work.
Mary is a carver of great renown in the woodworking community, having started carving in 1991. Her education started in Minneapolis where she studied with master woodcarver Konstantinos Papadakis. After working and studying with him for three (3) years she had opportunities to study in Greece, England, and Malaysia, acquiring knowledge from a variety of master carvers from around the world. Her work has evolved over the years, from being mainly shop-focused and completing carvings that go on custom furniture, fireplaces, sculptures, and antique furniture reproductions, to a variety of opportunities to share her work through teaching.
Her home studio is near Charleston, SC. She has taught at virtually all the top-level woodworking schools, supported countless guild and woodworking organizations, hosted meetings, and operates a superb online School of Traditional Woodcarving. This school offers many levels of instruction via online videos of many different projects, and includes several free beginner lessons. Included are recommendations of tool and material suppliers. (www.marymaycarving.com/carvingschool) This site also has galleries of Mary’s wonderful work of many different varieties. Mary has recently completed her first book, Carving the Acanthus Leaf Book, with more info on the blog site.
