,
April 15, 2026
CALCARVER FEBRUARY MARCH 2026
,
April 15, 2026
CALCARVER FEBRUARY MARCH 2026
CALCARVER FEBRUARY MARCH 2026
Mary-Leigh Doyle on April 15, 2026 at 5:28 am
President’s Challenge
A FEW GREAT EXAMPLES
An aspen mallet, small branch carved ornamentally, caragana mice, pallet wood key chains, diamond willow wisemen, broken golf club duck (above).
Fallen tree roots as a hand and a bear, pallet wood spoon and bunny, crazy character assembled from a combination of 2 x4’s, 2 x 6’s, baseboards, masonite and scrap bass, bark carving characters and an intricate village (below).
THE ALL NEW AND EXCITING PRESIDENT’S CHALLENGE HAS BEEN SET
President’s Message
START DIGGING, SCROUNGING AND EXPLORING! Each of us is being asked to challenge ourselves with this one. We are being asked to FIND the wood we will carve.
As always we may carve whatever we would like. Characters, walking sticks, birds, villages, faces, yes… even chess sets. Anything. BUT you must find the wood.
It can be natural or refined. It can be from your own backyard, the beach, a drive in the country or your own back alley.
The only stipulation is that your work must be at least 60% found wood. Examples on the next page.
Judging will take place at the Christmas party in December 2026.
Something of Interest: Jonas Olsen
Artist, woodworker, sculptor, teacher
Thomas Dambo hails from Odense, Denmark. Often called the world’s leading recycling artist having he has produced large scale sculptures made entirely from discarded materials. His giant trolls are among his most famous works. In fact More than 170 of them have been built from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, from forests to deserts.
One would never guess that on a small island called Senja, in Northern Norway. a young man living in a wood cabin is creating exquisitely fine, sophisticated wood sculpture fit for a king. That man is Jonas Olsen. He is as young and humble as his work is beautiful. He describes himself this way, “My name is Jonas Olsen and I am guy who likes to make stuff in different kinds of ways.” It is an understatement of huge proportions.
He recalls his creative childhood and the multiple artistic pursuits in his younger life as “drawing, fly tying, painting, building models, carving swords (to fight off other children) and in general constructing things out of everything I could get my hands on. I have also always had a very vivid imagination and I often get clear mental images of ideas for future projects.”
He began to actively focus on woodcarving in 2015 at the age of 22 and quickly realized he wanted to “make something” of it meaning a career.
Getting started: setting his mind to moving forward making a business of his passion he set about making very saleable wooden pendants. Small and affordable it seemed like a good place to start. Again in his own words “The first 100 pendants I made where looking pretty bad, I must be honest, but eventually I found my own style and from that, I have been able to make many beautiful different pendants and a few sculptures as well.”
His pendants are certainly no longer “bad” but have become very beautiful.
He is a power carver using many of the same small rotary tools we have in our own shop and plunge routers, angle grinders and a wonderful rotary sanding system.
Olsen is still a very young man, just 33 years of age, but his work is more beautiful and sophisticated than many more experienced and mature carvers might achieve in a lifetime.
He says “My dream is to one day make a living out of my artwork.” With his talent and determination he should most certainly succeed.
Jonas generously shares the plans and instructions on how to make his pendants on line with the one condition that you make them as a personal project or gift and not commercially. To that end he has posted multiple instructional videos on his YouTube channel that are as entertaining as they are instructional. In fact he is rated as one of Norway’s Top 20 YouTubers! Be sure to check him out at https://www.youtube.com/c/jonasolsenwoodcraft.
LET’S HAVE SOME FUN
And you all know that means food!
This will be a carvers only event as we will follow up our potluck sandwiches and salads with a full regular carving night. This is a great opportunity to get to know your fellow carvers better and catch up on all the latest tips techniques and even gossip. There is no cost to this event but there will be a sign up sheet at the next two meetings to let us know what you would like to bring or you can contact Mary-Leigh by email to let us know what you would like to bring. Please RSVP with her as well by March 31.
Calcarver Family Album: A Random Sampling of Life in the Calgary Carver’s Club
Jeff is determined to carve an entire zoo
Jeff is determined to carve an entire zoo
Help me serve you better
Send me your news and your photos! With your help, the newsletter will only get better. Please send me info on your events, news, and photos so that in upcoming issues, I can support you and keep the club updated.
If you have an idea for a story or a great article to share, send me those too.
Send your ads to create a classifieds section with woodworking supplies and equipment for sale.
I appreciate your help. Contact me here!
CALCARVER FEBRUARY MARCH 2026
Mary-Leigh Doyle on April 15, 2026 at 5:28 amPresident’s Challenge
A FEW GREAT EXAMPLES
An aspen mallet, small branch carved ornamentally, caragana mice, pallet wood key chains, diamond willow wisemen, broken golf club duck (above).
Fallen tree roots as a hand and a bear, pallet wood spoon and bunny, crazy character assembled from a combination of 2 x4’s, 2 x 6’s, baseboards, masonite and scrap bass, bark carving characters and an intricate village (below).
THE ALL NEW AND EXCITING PRESIDENT’S CHALLENGE HAS BEEN SET
President’s Message
START DIGGING, SCROUNGING AND EXPLORING! Each of us is being asked to challenge ourselves with this one. We are being asked to FIND the wood we will carve.
As always we may carve whatever we would like. Characters, walking sticks, birds, villages, faces, yes… even chess sets. Anything. BUT you must find the wood.
It can be natural or refined. It can be from your own backyard, the beach, a drive in the country or your own back alley.
The only stipulation is that your work must be at least 60% found wood. Examples on the next page.
Judging will take place at the Christmas party in December 2026.
Something of Interest: Jonas Olsen
Artist, woodworker, sculptor, teacher
Thomas Dambo hails from Odense, Denmark. Often called the world’s leading recycling artist having he has produced large scale sculptures made entirely from discarded materials. His giant trolls are among his most famous works. In fact More than 170 of them have been built from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, from forests to deserts.
One would never guess that on a small island called Senja, in Northern Norway. a young man living in a wood cabin is creating exquisitely fine, sophisticated wood sculpture fit for a king. That man is Jonas Olsen. He is as young and humble as his work is beautiful. He describes himself this way, “My name is Jonas Olsen and I am guy who likes to make stuff in different kinds of ways.” It is an understatement of huge proportions.
He recalls his creative childhood and the multiple artistic pursuits in his younger life as “drawing, fly tying, painting, building models, carving swords (to fight off other children) and in general constructing things out of everything I could get my hands on. I have also always had a very vivid imagination and I often get clear mental images of ideas for future projects.”
He began to actively focus on woodcarving in 2015 at the age of 22 and quickly realized he wanted to “make something” of it meaning a career.
Getting started: setting his mind to moving forward making a business of his passion he set about making very saleable wooden pendants. Small and affordable it seemed like a good place to start. Again in his own words “The first 100 pendants I made where looking pretty bad, I must be honest, but eventually I found my own style and from that, I have been able to make many beautiful different pendants and a few sculptures as well.”
His pendants are certainly no longer “bad” but have become very beautiful.
He is a power carver using many of the same small rotary tools we have in our own shop and plunge routers, angle grinders and a wonderful rotary sanding system.
Olsen is still a very young man, just 33 years of age, but his work is more beautiful and sophisticated than many more experienced and mature carvers might achieve in a lifetime.
He says “My dream is to one day make a living out of my artwork.” With his talent and determination he should most certainly succeed.
Jonas generously shares the plans and instructions on how to make his pendants on line with the one condition that you make them as a personal project or gift and not commercially. To that end he has posted multiple instructional videos on his YouTube channel that are as entertaining as they are instructional. In fact he is rated as one of Norway’s Top 20 YouTubers! Be sure to check him out at https://www.youtube.com/c/jonasolsenwoodcraft.
LET’S HAVE SOME FUN
And you all know that means food!
This will be a carvers only event as we will follow up our potluck sandwiches and salads with a full regular carving night. This is a great opportunity to get to know your fellow carvers better and catch up on all the latest tips techniques and even gossip. There is no cost to this event but there will be a sign up sheet at the next two meetings to let us know what you would like to bring or you can contact Mary-Leigh by email to let us know what you would like to bring. Please RSVP with her as well by March 31.
Calcarver Family Album: A Random Sampling of Life in the Calgary Carver’s Club
Jeff is determined to carve an entire zoo
Jeff is determined to carve an entire zoo
Help me serve you better
Send me your news and your photos! With your help, the newsletter will only get better. Please send me info on your events, news, and photos so that in upcoming issues, I can support you and keep the club updated.
If you have an idea for a story or a great article to share, send me those too.
Send your ads to create a classifieds section with woodworking supplies and equipment for sale.
I appreciate your help. Contact me here!