Woodcarver youth a chip off the old block
Every time Tom Ball sees a kid start carving, he knows his hobby is in good hands.
While the majority of woodcarvers may be retired folks with plenty of time on their hands, he’s seeing more youths join the ranks of the Niagara Woodcarvers Association.
Plenty of their work was on display at the club’s 38th annual show and competition held over the weekend at Heartland Forest.
“It’s a hobby that everybody associates with old age,” says Ball, the club’s vice-president. “That’s unfortunate, because we have kids carving every Monday night.
“It’s something a little bit different. It’s creative and it’s relatively inexpensive.”
With a chunk of wood, a $30 knife and some veteran coaching, anyone can jump into woodcarving, says Ball. The annual competition attracts several hundred people and about 25 to 30 carvers every year. The work is judged in 23 categories, including birds of prey, woodburning and fantasy/mythical.
Judges look for creativity, visual impact, complexity of design and surface finish of each piece. First place in each category earned $25, while best in show won $200.
The show is also the place to buy tools, instruction manuals and supplies.
It’s not only the club’s biggest show of the year, it’s their only one, says Ball. “I think we’re holding our own.” One of the keys is to not get frustrated by early results, he says.
When he started, Ball was flustered by a mistake. Club president Barrie Casement told him: “What are you worried about? It’s a piece of wood?”
“If you make mistakes, you keep them,” says Ball. “You can look back and say, ‘Why did I do that? Oh, because I was doing this.’”