Making a Coaster

Cut the squares to size. Transfer the patterns to the blanks using a hot tool with a laser print or graphite transfer paper. Strop your knife.

I use simple three-corner chips with straight edges to carve these scenes. Refer to the photos to keep track of where the deepest part of the chip should be.

Apply several light coats of acrylic spray finish or apply an oil finish, such as walnut, tung, or boiled linseed oil.

TIP

Warming Up

Carve several chips on a practice board before you start the project. This helps to ensure that your hand position is correct and your knife is sharp. Draw your own practice board or buy a preprinted board.

MATERIALS

• Basswood, at least 1/4″ (6mm) thick: 4″ (10.2cm) square

• Graphite transfer paper (optional)

• Finish, such as clear acrylic spray, walnut, tung, or boiled linseed oil

TOOLS

• Chip-carving knife

• Hot tool (to transfer pattern, optional)

• Paintbrushes

Roman Chernikov is a software engineer who has been carving as a hobby since 2013. He lives near San Francisco and attends the Santa Clara Valley Carvers Club. For more of his work, visit readNtry.com.

Getting Started

While a birch burl can be difficult to carve, it would be the most durable and crack-resistant material for a cup. Because burls are hard to find, I carve my cups from regular birch. Softer varieties of maple, as well as alder, willow, or even tulip poplar, will also work. Make sure that the piece you choose is from one side of the center of a log. Do not have any pith (the very center of the tree) in the blank, or the cup will crack. Orient the blank so the bottom of the cup is toward the center of the log. I usually use green wood for this and keep the blank in a plastic bag between carving sessions to keep it from drying out until I finish carving. Then, I keep the cup in a paper bag to allow it to dry slowly. Using this technique, I have never had a cup crack.

Trace the pattern onto the blank and rough out the cup. I roughed out this blank on a band saw, but I have also roughed out several with an axe and bush saw. Then, draw a centerline on the blank. Sketch the inside hollow of the cup. Note that this project can be carved with a pocketknife, but using additional tools (if available) makes it easier.

Roughing Out The Shape

Step 1 

Hollow the inside of the cup. You can use a variety of tools to hollow the inside of the cup. While a pocketknife will work, a bent knife is easier. To speed up the hollowing, use a drill with a Forstner bit or use a variety of straight and bent gouges.

Shape the outside of the cup. Sketch the shape onto the outside and remove the excess wood with a knife or gouge. I turn the cup over and carve down against a firm solid surface (not your leg).

Refining the Project

Step 3

Refine the cup. Smooth the inside of the rim with a knife to make it comfortable for your lips. Then, smooth and flatten the bottom to make sure the cup doesn’t tip when you set it down.

Rough out the handle. Sketch the handle shape onto the blank. Then, rough it out with a knife.

Refine the handle. Carve a small groove on the top of the handle for your thumb. Test the grip to make sure it’s comfortable as you hold it, and adjust it as needed.

Finish carving the rim. Smooth the underside of the lip, and angle it slightly to create a comfortable surface for your lower lip. Then, round the top to make it comfortable for your top lip.

Add the details. I carved a small groove around the bottom to dress up the cup a bit. I also drilled a hole in the handle for a hanging cord. But you could also let the wood dry thoroughly (as described above), and then make it an ongoing project to decorate the cup on the trail. Just be sure to sign and date it!

Finishing the Wooden Cup

I’ve finished several wooden utensils and cups by boiling them in beeswax (outside on a camp stove). None of the objects I have treated this way have ever cracked, even when used with extremely hot fluids. You could also saturate the cup with flax seed oil, mineral oil, or walnut oil, which are all food-grade oils and will not turn rancid like many vegetable oils.
For decorative cups, use your choice of finish.

MATERIALS

• Birch, 2 1/2″ (64mm) thick: 3 1/2″ x 6″ (8.9cm x 15.2cm)

• Finish, such as beeswax, flax seed oil, mineral oil, or walnut oil

TOOLS

• Band saw or axe and bush saw

• Drill with Forstner bit (optional)

• Knives: carving, hooked

• Gouges (optional): assorted deep and shallow, short bent

• Camp stove (optional)

Rick Wiebe lives in Westbank, B.C., Canada, with his wife of 45 years. He spends the colder months in the warmer parts of the U.S. He has been carving for 60 years and has spread his enthusiasm to children and adults in classes and demonstrations in many venues. He is the author of Adventures in Fan Carving and Whittling Flutes and Whistles, as well as several magazine articles. 

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Kelly the Clown

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Simple Dinosaur

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This Nordic-inspired piece is a study in creating dynamism with a single knife

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Magnolia Blossoms

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By Rosanna Coyne

Carving a Common Kingfisher

Create the base for this bird with a real twig

By Wouter de Bruijn 

Tiny Carved Gnomes

Complete this simple, customizable figure in one sitting—and then make a whole army of them!

By David Young 

Happy-Go-Lucky Turtle

Roll into summer with this little reptile

By Ken Kuhar 

Carving a Flower Barrette 

This relief carved accent holds a lot of hair

By Ivan Govaerts 

Five-Point Whimsey 

Whittle a double star in just five working steps

By Garth Burgon 

Stylized Whale

Carve this languid leviathan with just a few simple details

By Parn Aniwat 

Classic Rosette Relief 

Hone your carving skills on this traditional Tudor-style relief

By Lucy Fox 

Mini Detective 

Take a bite out of crime with this small but powerful carve

By Karen Scalin 

Scuttling Crab

This sweet crustacean will make you want to don your flip-flops and retreat to the beach

By Evgeny Vilkov

Snorkeling Gnome

Channel beachy vibes with this vacation-ready caricature

By Matt Kincade

Mr. Vacation 

This advanced carve is a one-way trip to paradise

By Wayne Laramore

The Dynamic Trio 

Woodburn a charming farm scene using just one tip

By Don Stephenson

Old-World Plaque

Clean chip carved lines and a quilt-like pattern give the perfect balance of classic and modern

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Paint Notes

• Wheels and handle: lamb black (1)
• Metal pull handle bars: Quaker gray (2)
• Suitcase body: tomato red (1) shaded with black plum (1)
• Belt: cocoa (1) shaded with burnt sienna (1)
• Buckle: antique gold (1)
• Tag: antique white (2)
• Sticker: primary yellow (1) and lamb black (1)

1 Americana®   

2 Ceramcoat® 

• Basswood, 1″ (2.5cm) thick: 1 1/2″ x 2 3/8″ (3.8cm x 6cm)

• Acrylic paints, such as Americana®: antique gold, black plum, burnt sienna, cocoa, lamp black, primary yellow, tomato red; such as Ceramcoat®: antique white, Quaker gray

• Detail knife

Wayne Laramore Wayne was elected into the CCA in 2016 and resides in Sparta, Ill., with his wife Pat. He is a father of two and grandfather of four. See more of Wayne’s work at laramorewoodcarving.com. 

Carving

For the log, round the sides and corners with the knife. Draw the holes with a pencil and then add stop cuts along the lines. Carefully carve toward the stop cuts at an angle from the inside of the holes, and then smooth the edges created along the lines with the tip of the knife. Use a 1/4” (6mm) 60° V-tool to carve the texture lines for the bark. For the stump, first shape the block into a cylinder by removing hard corners on each vertical side. Then taper the slope of the sides of the block to make the top smaller than the base, referring to the pattern. Follow the same process as above to carve the holes, opening toward the bottom of the stump, and use the same V-tool to create the bark texture lines.

Painting and Finishing 

Paint the entire log/stump with camel. Do not oil the carvings first and do not water down the paint. Next, paint the holes with a mixture of pure black and a drop or two of vintage white. When dry, cover the entire carving with undiluted antiquing solution and wipe off with a paper towel or soft rag, being careful to leave plenty of antiquing solution in the crevices. Finally, paint the eyes in the holes, using vintage white for the eye whites and pure black for the eyeballs. A toothpick or a small embossing tool tip works well for this part.

• Basswood, 1 3/16″ (3cm) thick: log, 5/8″ x 4″ (1.6cm x 10.2cm)

• Basswood, 1 3/8″ (3.5cm) square: stump, 1 7/16″ (3.7cm) long

• Pencil or pen

• Clean rags

• Acrylic paints, such as FolkArt®: camel, pure black, vintage white 

• Antiquing medium, such as FolkArt®

• Carving knife

• V-tool: 1/4″ (6mm) 60°

• Small toothpick or embossing tool 

David Young has been woodcarving since 2019. He lives in Holt, Michigan with his wife and three kids. You can find more of his work on Instagram where he goes by @dywoodcarving. 

Carving the Bear

I carve most of this caricature bear with a knife, but I use a couple of V-tools to outline the clothes, shoes, and hat. I use a 1/8″ (3mm) #11 micro veiner to carve the eyes.

I paint most of this piece with thin washes of acrylic paint. I usually thin 1 part paint with 3 parts water to create a light coat that you can see the wood grain through. I apply the paint with circular blending strokes to keep it even. Use unthinned paint for the eyes, buttons, and stars. To make the stars, load a toothpick tip with paint and dot the wood. Then, drag the paint out from the center of the dot to make a five-pointed star. You can practice on scrap wood, but stars don’t need to be perfect.

To antique the carving, fill a large jar with linseed oil and add a 1″ (25mm)-long ribbon of raw umber oil paint. Mix thoroughly, and then dip the carving into the jar from the top and the bottom. Allow the excess stain to drip off, and wipe away any remaining stain with paper towels. (The stain-soaked paper towels are a fire hazard.) Allow the stain to dry overnight.

MATERIALS:

• Basswood, 2 1/2″ (64mm) thick: 3″ x 6″
(76mm x 152mm)

• Acrylic paint: coffee bean brown, white, tangerine orange, black, charcoal black, burnt umber, opaque red, navy blue, bright yellow

• Boiled linseed oil

• Raw umber oil paint

TOOLS:

• Band saw

• Carving knife

• Detail knife

• V-tools: 5/32″ (4mm),
5/16″ (8mm), 3/8″ (10mm)

• #11 micro-veiner:
1/8″ (3mm)

• Paintbrushes: spotter, #2 shader, #4 shader,
#6 shader

• Toothpicks

Mike Shipley of Dora, Mo., owns OCCTools with his wife, Sherry. The author of several books, Mike is also a popular carving instructor. For more of his work, visit www.occtools.com.

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Friendly Field Mouse

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Get additional patterns of Betty Padden’s mouse project below!

Circle of Chips

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Volute Ladle

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Stylized Sharks

Whittle two classic ocean predators in one sitting

By Tom Hindes

Materials

• Basswood, 1 3/4″ (4.5cm) thick:
2 3/4″ (7cm) square
• Wood glue
• Acrylic paints, such as Ceramcoat:
black, black cherry, cardinal red, dark goldenrod, white
• Wire: 20 gauge
• Toothpick

Tools