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As a woodcarver, it seems as though many thoughts
can go through my mind while I am carving. I will be carving one
item and at the same time be thinking of the next project in which I
would like to create. One of my woodcarving brainstorms this year
was to carve some Emporia Spirits in celebration of Emporia's 150 years. Emporia
has very successfully preserved their
Museums, Memorials and History. I chose four important people that represent
the
history of Emporia
the past 150
years. I chose the Veteran, as Emporia is the birthplace of
Veterans' Day,
the Educator as
The National Teachers Hall of Fame was founded
in Emporia and
Emporia State University plays a very
important part in educating our future teachers. ESU was chosen as one
of the top four model programs in Teacher Education in the nation.
(The other three universities were University of Virginia,
Stanford University and Avilla College.) I chose
the Railroad Worker, as Emporia is known as the
"Railroad Town".
Emporia has been and remains to be known as a transportation crossroads.
It is on the mainlines of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.
Then I chose the
Rancher/Farmer, as Emporia was primarily an agricultural
area in and around the
Flint Hills
.
Nearly all the farmers in the Flint Hills also raise livestock, while
nearly all the ranchers in the region also raise crops.
Probably the most historical person from Emporia was
William Allen White.
However, I do not choose to carve
"real people".
Unlike the
cottonwood bark (which is easy to carve) and bass wood (which is a very
forgiving wood), I chose to carve the sesquicentennial spirits in
cottonwood as that is the state tree of Kansas. It is a very
fibrous and difficult
wood and takes much time to carve.
I had often wondered what it would
be like to make a mold of my woodcarvings. I knew I could not
carve very many of the Emporia Spirits because they would have been so time
consuming, due to the hard wood, which would make them so costly to
purchase them. I then decided that this would be my plan this time - to
make molds of each one. This was a new experience and a very
challenging experience. Perhaps I will not do this again as I
like the individuality of each finished product. I found that molding
carvings is not my style. |
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