Entry #5: The Challenge

Seriously, the only one problem that i am having at the moment is the knife that i am using, a dull box cutter. I found out about this when i made a cut and it came out really, really messed up. When i saw it i was so very, very upset because i was work on smoothing it for 2 hours and when i realized that my attempts of smoothing it was only making it worst. At least i somewhat got it to be smooth but it bothered me so much when it came out the way it did. I really, really want it to be smooth. Of course, my problem could be easily solved if i just find/buy a new knife but i haven't really found a knife that  fits comfortably in my hand so i can whittle for hours. Recently tried to fix this problem but really hard to find the perfect knife. I guess i'm just going to just order a beginner's whittling kit and pray that it's comfortable when i use it. o
Chipped, nasty cuts, ugly, ew, On the Floor of the Office Room. Personal photograph by author. 2014.

Entry #4: Update

What I have pretty much done since the beginning of all this was work on whittling projects and trying to work my way up to bigger projects. I was hoping that by the end of this project ( picture below ) that i would be able to start the final product. However, It pretty much depends on how well this project turns out. If it doesn't turn out clean then i will probably work on some more projects before i start on the final product. Some of the things i had finished was a sphere, a pyramid, and a snowman.

In the picture is a new project i started to work on, i was hoping to turn it into a wooden chain or an Indian head but its still a work in progress. The measurement on the side was suppose act as a guideline and tell me how deep i can cut into but i have been ignoring it. I need to start following it otherwise when i attempt cut again it'll look messy and gross. 

A Project in Progress, Whittling, In My Room. Personal photograph by author. 2014.

Entry #3: My Thoughts

Now that a month has past, I have to say that whittling is actually really hard to do because there have been so many times that i almost accidentally cut myself. The gloves help somewhat to protect you but, man, it is a pain when you try to carve a deeper cut because if your knife isn't sharp enough it pops out and it is unpredictable where the knife will go. Since the first entry, I've decided to make a totem pole as a final product and try to have people incorporate some of their ideas into it, like having them try to carve their favorite animal onto it. The hard part is finding a big enough log of tree to do this with. From my pitch i discovered that whittling is a stress reliever and it also helps take your mind off of other things. There have been many times i whittled for hours when i was upset and even if it seemed like i wasn't getting anywhere it was still fun. Hearing the other pitches didn't really give me much ideas but they were still very interesting and got me motivated to keep working on my project.

Hopefully my totem pole comes out this well.













"Haida Totem Pole." Flickr. Yahoo!, 7 May 2009. Web. 04 Feb. 2014.