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Eagle Heads

Figureheads get lots of attention in maritime museum exhibits. There are even museum collections of figureheads lost at sea. Often, the names of the ships they graced are unknown. If we knew, we could reconstruct a travelogue of all the ports they’d seen.

But many ships lacked figureheads. The old figure went overboard in a storm, or if the owners were Quakers, religious sentiments forbade a figurehead. In its place, a billet head—a bit of fancy carved scrollwork with a small bust or other ornament on top—was used.

While I love figureheads, I’ve never seen the business interest in carving them – much too restricted as a trade. Instead, I’ve carved small billet heads for the sort of small vessel that could sport them these days. Many of the ones I’ve carved hold up signs, grace entryways, or act as bookends. Billet heads are attractive and we can size them for smaller vessels, boats, or home use.

The photo above shows a sample of the billet heads I’ve carved. The green scroll was the first one I did. I simplified my version from a traditional design Jay Hanna carved. The three eagles are of my design but modeled on traditional 19th-century styles. My favorite is closest to the viewer. I carved it in western sugar pine and made the mounting element from mahogany.

The eyes on the eagles are the most essential part of the carving. The feathers look complex but are pretty simple. Get the eyes right, though, and the birdie seems to follow you about the room, casting a gimlet eye on your doings.
Better behave. They see everything you are doing – in jest or earnest.

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More on Tools

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a Drummer was not just a percussionist. A drummer was a traveling salesman who’d make the rounds with tools, clothes, or anything else you might wish to purchase but could not easily find at the small retail establishments in your town. Think no internet, no Walmart, and few large department stores.
Now think about trade carvers; that’s right, there were many of them. They designed and made patterns and signs and carved the furniture decorations one at a time. Anything to be cast, machined, or reproduced required making an original master, and the carver was the individual who did that. With a good number of craftspeople to serve, there were tool makers who catered to these specialists.

The photo shows a collection of tools I am using for some tight recess carving on the jib sails of the ship portrait I am working on. The tools are primarily tiny back bents and knuckle tools that will fit into tight recesses. There are only a few manufacturers of these today, and I don’t like the design of their tools. So I purchased, for short money, this batch of C. Maier tools. The company was in business from about 1880 to maybe 1928 in Newark, NJ. Most of the tools I’ve seen that they produced are like those I bought – back bents, knuckles, and fishtails – good tools for working in recesses or miniature work.

The ones I purchased were in amazingly good shape but well-used. The carver who owned them before me was likely not their original owner. They are good tools that have lasted through at least three owners.
Nowadays, I go to a tool retailer and order online, but when these tools showed up in their first owner’s shop, that was not possible. Without the World Wide Web or specialty tool stores, they might have mail-ordered from a catalog or had a visit from a Drummer who would have shown them the tools, let them handle them, and taken their order.

Special needs are why carvers wind up with racks of tools, not a sort of wild tool lust.

OK, I’m lying. It’s a necessity, but also tool lust…I need a twelve-step program.
Hi, I am Lou Carreras. I’m addicted to buying tools.

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Mastery

Yesterday, I spent a significant part of the day working on a carving of a large schooner. I based it on research I did for an earlier schooner built by the same yard around the same time in the late 19th century. 

I used skills acquired in the earlier carving to ease the work on the sails’ design. The sails on a vessel like this are most of what you see. So having their contours “look” right, not just be shaped “right,” is critical. After finishing the earlier carving, I spent time analyzing the degree of satisfaction I had with design execution. There were places where my techniques failed to give the correct effect on the jib sails. How I added the masts also looked like a very inadequate paste job – they needed to be proportioned correctly.

So, I figured out a better way to cut in the background around the jibs’ tack . They’ll look crisper in the carving, now. Next I’ll be experimenting with how the masts are tapered and colored ( very lightly). My skill set as a carver grew.

Now for the rant part of this post. Anyone who’s been involved in a quality control process or recognizes the term Kaizen will understand what I am about here. As an artist or crafter, I am not static. I don’t just have a standard job that I repeat infinitely. This is what I have against the concept of being a “Master.” The term carries more than a hint of being a survivor of a race to a pinnacle – a point of stasis. Stasis is precisely what I do not want in my work.

I recollect watching seventh and eighth-dan sensei (seventh and eighth-degree black belts in Japanese swordsmanship) gently pointing out flaws in kata to one another. Even at their degree of mastery, there was room for improvement. That’s the sort of mastery I aspire to – skill sets and concepts of working continually growing.

In art and craft, mastery is a moving target, which is healthy.

Daily writing prompt
What are you good at?
View all responses
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A Birchwood Bowl in process

Photographs help me remember steps and processes. Years ago, I used photography only to record the results. But pictures of the in-between stages were more than a bit helpful. One of the big reasons I say this is because there are some things that I only do rarely. Reminders are valuable.
I need to be a better journalist. I may or may not have a series of notes on processes, like how I finished a particular project five years ago. If I have not, then a photographic record helps to prompt memory. In the case of this bowl, I have a short series of shots.

Prominent in some of these photos is the gooseneck scraper. Why? Because a well-sharpened and burnished gooseneck is the most effective tool for removing the rough marks and scratches of earlier gouge and sanding work. The temptation is to sand it and forgo the scraping. However, the scraper saves labor and reduces the amount of sanding required.


In the above photo, the bowl has reached the stage where the interior, the most challenging place to finish on a small bowl, is almost done. I’ve given it a first coat of a food-safe varnish to see the grain of the soon-to-be-finished bowl. The finish also reveals the spots that are still rough.

I made this bowl from a piece of birch I found in my pile of firewood. It had nice grain and was deep and wide enough to create a pretty bowl. As firewood, I find birch only so-so. But I am always scouting the firewood for material that can be up-cycled into valuable things. Hopefully, someday, someone will prize the little bowl and find pleasure in running hands along its contours and gazing at the twists in the grain.

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The Woodcarver and the Sunk Cost Fallacy

If you studied economics, process engineering or are an enthusiast of popular psychology, you might have heard of the Sunk Cost Fallacy. It’s alive and well in woodcarving too. Sunk costs are costs you have paid and can’t get back. 

That’s fine if everything works out. But if the project just hasn’t been the success you wished for, the temptation is to keep trying to fix it. Sometimes it can’t be fixed. And that’s the sunk cost fallacy: The belief that just one more project revision will allow the Goony Bird Mk 29 to fly.

I knew the fallacy well. I called it “just one more cut.” The piece will work with one more cut to clean up that angle. Five cuts later, the chip carving is worse off than when I started. I was most familiar with it from chip carving because some of the balance and symmetry of a piece come from all cuts sharing similar geometry; if one facet is out of balance, the carving looks odd.

I saw it a lot more when I started teaching. I start my courses with chip carving to teach tool control and the importance of sharp tools. An occasional student could not stop cutting and adjusting. Rarely did any of this result in a saved piece of work. I described it to my students at WoodenBoat School as “just one more cut.”

Later, over dinner, an engineer in my class told me about the sunk cost fallacy. As I write this, I can think of an eagle I’ve carved that I’d love to take one more cut on. See, it’s pervasive.

Here’s some advice I’ve offered that applies well here:

  •  First, turn the carving bottom for the top; how bad is the perceived defect? 
  • Second, using a hand mirror, view the work from various perspectives; once again, how bad is the defect? 
  • Third, put down the tools and work on something else for the rest of the day. Come back later. 
  • Fourth, study the effect of the corrective cut before you do it. What are the chances of that cut fixing the problem? 
  • Fifth, when realizing you’ve wasted hours mulling over ten minutes of carving, throw the junk into the kindling bucket and do it right. It’s harder to do the further along the piece is; I’m not telling you that I have no struggles with this.

So, Robert Elliot, a colleague of mine who produces gorgeous Windsor chairs, once scolded me that we can’t just throw everything that had a mistake away. We have to learn how to fix errors. That’s the value of the first steps, knowing what we did wrong, thinking about how it can be fixed, and evaluating if it’s worth fixing. Hopefully, we will learn enough to avoid repeat errors and the frustration of endlessly falling into the sunk cost fallacy. 

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Zaida “sits” for her portrait

Although the steam yacht Zaida sits within the frame on the wall, it is not quite complete. More steel wool rubbing is needed on the oil-varnish finish, and the sails’ detailing needs recutting where final sanding is removed it. I also may gold leaf the filigree at the bow. But I needed a break from work and wanted to see how it looked hung the wall.

This is my second run at the Steam Yacht Zaida. I’ve used different techniques and am more satisfied with the outcome.
To be clear, I do not do scale models. This is neither flat art nor scale modeling. It’s very much in line with the 19th century Dioramas that sailors made of the vessels they served on.

Zaida was built in 1910 at the J.S. White yard In Cowes, England. I’ve shown her here as she appears in the builders drawing. The drawing suggested a seriously overrigged arrangement which included a square yard forward and the possibility of a large staysail amidships. I doubt she ever flew that much canvas since she is described as a twin-screw auxiliary schooner.
For this portrait, I’ve reduced the sail plan to something more modest for the deck division to handle. However, at 149 feet in length, she must have had a relatively large crew.

In 1916 Zaida became an auxiliary Patrol vessel in the Royal Navy, armed with six-pound guns. Unfortunately, she was sunk while on patrol near Alexandria that August.

What’s involved in making one of these portraits? First, research, then selective compression of what you will include, and then carving. Research may be as easy as using a builders illustration to figure out the lines for a small sailboat like a small sloop or catboat. But on a larger vessel, especially an older one, research may never yield the sort of completion you wish. For every ship for which a plan exists in a research library or online database, thousands exist only in grainy photos and magazine articles. Sometimes these are the most interesting.

background being leveled
The carving with some of the research material
carving mostly complete
final stages

After research, you must create a plan for the hull, sail, stacks, and other parts. Sometimes commercial parts exist, but other times it all must be fabricated. Then you can start carving, and in many ways, that is the easy part. The total number of hours? For Zaida, about five hours of research, five of design, and fourteen for carving. Finishing is about four hours. So Zaida required about twenty-eight to thirty hours total. Of course, all this varies depending upon the size, research required, and amount of carving and finishing.

A small sloop is relatively quick to do. And small sloops, catboats, and schooners make up most of the portraits. Something like Zaida is for stretching your skills.

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Paper and Scissors

I found the wood sitting in the shorts at my favorite hardwood dealer. It was very dark, heavy, and dense. It was mahogany but so dark and heavy that I felt it was a wayward piece of Dominican, not Honduran. It was just what I wanted.
I wanted to create a banner with a distinctive font, Barnhard Modern. I also wanted to give the banner a center and ends that undulate. The result was pleasing. At shows, people run their hands over the banner as a sensual experience, precisely what I wanted.

How do you do this? You must carve banner ends to appear delicate when viewed from a distance. But up close, there needs to be enough heft that they’ll stand up to the abuse they’ll get on a boat’s transom. For a show display, you have to compromise. People are way closer to the carving than they would be in another boat.

Many banners have curvature, but in most, the area which is lettered is flat. On MANDALAY, the field of the lettering undulates. So, the lettering does not stay in the same plane while laying it out or carving it. To experiment with this, I advise using wood no less than 8/4 in thickness. Any less will be too thin for the effect to work.

First, I carved the banner with all its curves and undulations. It’s essential to control your pleasure in removing wood. Easy. Remember that the effect comes from the smoothness of the curves and contours. Abrupt changes will ruin the look. Periodically take a break to place it in natural light. Turn it upside down and see if the movement of the wood flows.
For lettering, you have several options: Old School layout by hand; or New School computer layout in vinyl or paper. I chose a compromise between hand layout and computer layout on paper. The key to the paper template here is that the paper is flat, and the surface is not – hence the title: Paper & Scissors because cutting the paper will allow you to follow the undulating surface.
To follow the undulations, you slice the areas between the letters to get them to lay in the correct planes. As you layout, you also need to adjust the kerning ( distance between the letters). When completed, take the design into natural light, turn it upside down, and check to see if it still looks proportionate and balanced. I left this for a day and returned to it fresh the next morning; rested eyes see mistakes. I also find that taking photos on my phone reveals things my eyes sometimes miss.

After the layout was complete, the letter carving was like any other letter carving project. The finish is about eleven coats of Captain’s Z-Spar rubbed out after the first three priming coats and each succeeding one. The lettering I painted with One-Shot yellow sign paint. Two thin coats are better than a single thick covering.

Although gold leafing is an entirely separate topic, I advise that you do yourself an enormous favor and allow the varnish to cure before gold leafing. Remember that’s cure, not dry. Varnish manufacturers will tell you that varnish dries in twenty-four hours. But that is not the same as curing.

Gold leaf has a nasty tendency to stick to anything. But especially uncured varnish. I frequently allow a week or more for the varnish to cure; move on to another project, and come back later to apply gold leaf.

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Acorns to Oaks*

We all want to be instant experts. One of my sensei describes this in terms of the training montages that are standard fare in martial arts movies; the neophyte progresses from clumsy beginner to skilled pro in thirty seconds of cinematic snapshots. The rest of us suffer from dissatisfaction and disappointment from being less than optimal for much longer.
Not every time, but more frequently than I’d like, I get confronted with the unique. And, all of a sudden I am a neophyte once more. Incorporating new materials, using new types of paints, complex constructions, and most especially very small parts that need fabrication all create confrontations with the problematic.

When I was doing banners, quarter boards, transoms, and the odd eagle, the problems were mostly mechanical – design layout, curvature to fit, and calculating shadows in carved lettering.

Boat and ship portraits offer many more issues. I am presenting a practice piece of the very first boat portrait I ever did. Remember, practice pieces are exactly like the rough sketches you do of a subject before you paint – the practice is to work out the approach, shapes, and rendering before you start the actual work. Being that carving is subtractive, this saves you from ruining expensive wood and wasting time.

practice carving of a 19 foot Eltro for a mast hoop portrait

Over the years, I’ve done many portraits. I’ve borrowed techniques from model makers, painters, and illustrators. I’ve also had to develop some tricks of my own. The single most important thing will seem trite: challenge is what differentiates those who are growing from those who are standing still intellectually and as artists.

Principal carving is complete, finishing the coaming and adding some details are all that's left before fitting into the hoop
Principal carving is complete, finishing the coaming and adding some details are all that’s left before fitting into the hoop.

There are about two years between my first practice piece and my rendering of a cat boat for a mast hoop portrait. Principal carving is complete, finishing the coaming and adding some details are all that’s left before fitting into the hoop.

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Easy Pieces

I admit that the sort of non complex carving that happens when I carve a small bowl is pretty alluring. No antsy detail. No pattern that needs to be followed. Just follow the will of the wood.

today I put up a new page on the site for hand carved bowls, but thought that I’d spend a bit of time taking about my favorites . I am kind of hoping that these do not sell at next weeks show. I’ve made the mistake of getting attached to them.

Only a few inches around, the banding on the sides and interior, and the rough lip make this one a favorite just to hold and look at. Made from a piece of cherry firewood.

This second one was also from firewood. I love the subtle grain pattern and the rough lip.

This third bowl was from a slightly larger piece of cherry firewood. I had enough wood to form a bit of a handle. I went experimental and charred the interior with a torch. Before finishing you scrape off most to the char, leaving just blackened wood. There are slight defects in the wood that in my mind make the piece even more interesting.

I’ve done a number of others, and like them, but these are my favorites.

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New and Old

We can easily get lost in the weeds talking about tradition in crafts. It’s just hard to avoid observing that technology casts long shadows when you make something and call it traditional. The majority of shops that work with wood use bandsaws, table saws, and jointers. These tools have been around long enough not to ignite a vendetta among purists looking for “traditionally crafted goods.” But the technological landscape is always changing for the craftsperson.
Recently I have been nosing about on the borders. A few years ago, a series of eye surgeries compromised my ability to do certain types of woodcarving, mostly lettering. After surgery, I began to explore what I could and couldn’t conveniently do. The vision changes prompted the carving shop’s move from the old basement workshop into the greenhouse – I needed lots of light. Last year I also began to play around incorporating laser engraving and cutting as an adjunct to my carving.
Some things worked well, and others fell flat. Frankly, it’s all a work in progress. The small sign shown above is one of the projects that worked. Some of the others wound up feeding the woodstove.
Is it traditional? Well, was it traditional when craftspeople and artists began using acrylic paints or using computers to assist them in design?

Years ago, when I worked as an anthropologist, I knew a woman who crafted the most incredible Ukrainian Easter eggs. One afternoon over coffee Elizabeth introduced me to the history of technological innovation in the world of decorated Easter eggs. Over the centuries, dies and methods of preparation changed. But the community accepted the eggs because of the continuity of design and meaning in the community.
Back in the ’80’s colleagues were musing about Cambodian kite makers shifting from traditional fabrics used in Cambodia to the ripstop nylon available to them here in the United States. The maker of traditional Cambodian dance costumes received mention also. One of them had adopted the hot glue gun and factory-made jewelry findings to construct elaborate headdresses and other costume bits. They looked like the old style, but the components and techniques had evolved.

On one project I worked on years ago with boatbuilders, I asked builders what they thought was the central concept that defined the traditional boat. I had expected them to talk about materials, construction techniques, and design. I wasn’t disappointed because they all mentioned those things to one degree or another, but as a group, they said the value placed on the boat by the community that used them was central. One well-known figure I interviewed ( Lance Lee) suggested the term “cherish” as the central concept – the boats were cherished and valued by the community. It was the community of users that made something traditional.

The laser engraver that sits in the basement, and my visual handicap, got me thinking about these things. The concept of craft, especially when labeled traditional, has some minefields laid in it for the artisan. Look beyond technology to intent, the community’s acceptance of the product, and the continuation of design tradition. Sometimes we might be daunted by what we see, but the first carver who moved from a stone or bone tipped tool to one of metal started us on the moving process of technology in arts and craft.

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New York Pilot Boat 5

This chest was not in stock long enough for me to do a proper set of photos. It sold at it’s first appearance at the Maine Boatbuilder’s Show to a pair of Boston Harbor pilots who were going to give it as a retirement gift to a colleague. The chest itself was of fairly common pine with teak keys for strength and decorative effect.
The top though, that’s some pine of a different pedigree. The pine tree was felled by the great hurricane of 1938. At the time it came down, it had been the tallest tree in the town of Shirley, Massachusetts. Very probably old growth, the entire top was just a segment of the plank I purchased from the retired dairy farmer, who, in true Yankee fashion, refused to let such a good tree go to waste and made it into planks.


The pilot boat itself was pilot number 5 from New York Harbor. Pilot boats had to be extremely fast and able, and this design shows a flexible sail plan and sweet lines. Somewhere I have a slew of pilot boat designs but have not had an opportunity to carve another. Beautiful boats like this are hard to resist.

for a more recent look into New York Harbor pilotage take a look at Tugsters post of a pilot boat mothership: https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/72558/posts/2868136611

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Wood

Wood occupies a central part of our lives. We love our cherry spoons, Mahogany cabinets, and teak deck chairs. As consumers, there is much that you don’t know about your favorite woods.

Smell:

Ash has a sweetish odor, that is uniquely distinctive when you saw it or burn it. Fresh red birch has a scent that takes you back to the best root beers you’ve ever had. Cherry bark smells like tasty cough syrup. And oak has an earthy odor to it. If you work with fresh-cut timber, these are some of the sensations that the tree shares with you, and which the uninitiated remain unaware.

Color:

Love the look of mahogany, the beautiful color of cherry, or walnut? The tree didn’t add them for you. Trees live in a highly competitive environment where organisms are always attacking the tree, looking for a meal. To deter the attacks, trees deposit chemicals into their wood that inhibit insects, bacteria, and fungi. After we cut the timber, those chemicals give us the coloration and some of the wood’s durability.

Toxicity:

Some woods are toxic to us. A wood called Pink Ivory is lovely to look at but is dangerous because of the chemicals in the wood. In use, it needs sealing before it’s safe for us to use. 

Woodworkers need to be especially aware that the dust caused by sanding some species is irritating. Mahogany and teak fall into that category. Not everyone is sensitive, but wearing protective gear is an excellent way of avoiding dermatitis or respiratory issues.

Food Safety:

Normally most of what I’ve mentioned is not too important to the average consumer. There is one area to aware of, and that is treen. Treen ( derived from the word tree) are objects like spoons, spatulas, bowls, and the like. Being that we handle food with them, the potential toxicity should be considered. In North America, woods normally considered food safe are woods like maple, fruitwoods (cherry, plum, pear, and apple) birch, and poplar. I’ve used ash for cutting boards, but not for spoons because it has alternating summer and winter woods ( ring porosity) and might absorb odors and flavors when immersed. Oak, while not toxic, is ring-porous, and can impart it’s earthy taste to foods, so I do not use it.

You might notice that I have not included walnut on my list. I am rather certain that it is food safe, but I rarely use it because there are a good number of people with walnut allergies.

Spalted wood is wood with the patterns of decay caused by fungus visible on the wood. It’s beautiful to look at, but there is a significant debate as to whether or not it is food safe. I do not work with it, in part, because there is a respiratory risk to the woodworker from the spores of the fungus. Yes, many woodworkers claim that the spores can be killed by microwaving or heating the wood. It’s just not a risk I take.

Exotic woods. I stay away from them. For many, there are question marks regarding their food safety, and being that I used to sell commercially, I had product liability to worry about.

If you have questions about any of this, write me, and I’ll try to formulate an intelligent response.

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Favorites

My father’s favorite ship was the S.S. President Tyler. He sailed aboard it whenever possible from his first voyage around 1932 till he came ashore in 1946, the year I was born. Several World and Asian cruises made him a genuine China Sailor.
Sailors, merchant or naval, can have deep relationships with their ships. Call it loyalty, affection, longing, or call it what it really can be – romance. I know, I have an ache for a certain ketch I’ll never see again. Women are known to jealous of ships and boats. My first mother in law was jealous of the Cap’ns Psyche. For the sake of peace, she hid it well. My mother was not so diplomatic about my father’s love of the sea, and “that ship.” She had been a sea widow throughout their marriage and two pregnancies. Like many sea widow’s, there came a time when the husband was expected to “swallow the anchor.” More than a few arguments ended with my father threatening to go to the hiring hall and “look for a ship.”
So growing up, the Tyler was a sensitive issue. We’d regularly drive along the Hudson River to where the reserve fleet was anchored. He was looking for the Tyler. My mother was never on any of these excursions.

I had seen my father’s pictures onboard the Tyler, But I had never seen a photo of the ship itself. My mother was famous for editing her life, so it’s more than likely that she disposed of those photos when she threw out dad’s cruise scrapbooks. For her, those were not good times.

Many years later, I was teaching marine carving at the WoodenBoat School in Maine. Teaching at WoodenBoat is not just an opportunity to learn. It’s an opportunity to grow as a person through the freindhips formed with the individuals you meet there. One year one of my students was a former Master Mariner who worked for the American Bureau of Shipping. We talked about ships one night, and I told him all that I knew of the Tyler and my father’s affection for the ship. I mentioned that I’d love to carve a portrait of the Tyler but could not find enough data to start the project. I thought no more about the conversation, and at the end of the course, said goodbye to my students and returned to Massachusetts.

About three weeks later, a large envelope arrived from the ABS (American Bureau of Shipping). In it was were copies of plans and articles relating to the class of vessel to which the Tyler had belonged; enough to start the portrait. My student had searched the ABS library for the documentation that I needed.

The Tyler was my first large portrait. I can now look at it and see a dozen things that I would and could do differently with twenty years of experience carving portraits. But when you finish a project it’s best to move on, or you’ll never finish.

It sails on my wall with a cherry ocean and sky heading east from Japan or China towards Los Angelos. I think my father is pleased that his ship is restored to an essential place in our lives, through the unexpected kindness of a fellow seaman.

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Eagle Eyes

While teaching, I always like to decorate the workshop with carving examples for students to use as a reference. Week-long excursions to teach away from home mean emptying the house of many of my carvings. But samples in three dimensions often are better than pictures or demonstration, and the extra work was worth it.
During one summer course, A student was working on an eagle and suddenly stopped, got up, and went over to an eagle billet head. He picked it up and turned the head away from him. Noticing me watching, he shrugged his shoulders and said: “it was watching me.”
Smiling, I pointed out that he was perfecting the eagle’s body plan and feathers without working on the head, most notably the eye. He asked me why it mattered, and I told him that it was essential to fair the contours of the head and neck into the body, so the eagle looked all of one piece when finished. The head is temporarily attached to the body with a screw while you carve the neck fair to the body.
” But why was it watching me?”
Well, I explained, years ago, while I was first carving eagles, a talented carver from Boothbay Harbor advised me to always start the head before detailing and finish the eye first. There was a practical reason for this. The eye was a delicate piece of work, and if not done right could ruin the whole birdie. He then added that he had been taught to do the eye first so the eagle could oversee the carving’s remainder. ” As I was taught, so am I teaching you.” I then turned the eagle about so it’s beady eyes were on the student. ” Being that you haven’t done the eye first, this birdie’s cousin in watching you.” I can be a first-class pain sometimes.

I carved the eyes on that particular eagle with a “tunnel” eye effect. With that manner of carving, you could get the impression that the eye watches you and moves with you. To someone easily spooked, like my student, it could be an unpleasant sensation.
There are several ways to carve eagle eyes for traditional marine eagles. Please note that if you carve more realistic styles, these will not appeal to you. I’m a nineteenth-century carver stuck in the twenty-first century. Be all modern if you like. Another ships carver reminded me that most people do not get close eough to smell the eagle; all these things in full size are meant to be viewed from a distance. Here are some examples of eyes:

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Twentyone

“The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The problem with imagination is that it’s boundless. On the wall is a poster telling you that you can do it if you can imagine it. Don’t take it too literally.

Aspirations aside, there are some things only possible with loads of tricks, like telling fortunes. My friend Bill had picked up some tricks of the psychic trade from working with a con artist we knew as John. Bill had a natural talent for reading people, and with the card and vocal tricks he had picked up from John, he was soon a favorite among the weekend influx of suburban kids that regularly hit the Folkie Palace. 

From fortune-telling with the kids to doing it at the Harvard Gardens for beer was a natural progression. “Imagine.” he told me- “I’m doing well while doing good.” At first, he restricted himself to doing readings for friends, but as he grew more confident, he branched out. Lovelorn young ladies came to be a specialty. One attractive woman decided that she wanted Bill’s services exclusively. He demurred politely. She grew insistent. He explained that he was married. She slapped him and walked out.

Not too much later in walked police Sargent Cappucci with the young woman behind him. We all stood up to give Bill the needed cover to run out past the men’s room and the back door into the alleyway. Knowing that Bill and I were best friends, I got collared. “Tell your little buddy that I ‘m looking for him. Playing with the affections of my niece is something I won’t tolerate.” He shoved me into the booth, and away they walked. Him fuming her crying softly. “His niece.” Said the Teahead of the August Moon. ” Sweet. Bill can always find some way to get us into trouble.”

For the next couple of weeks, we were not in good favor with the residents of Grove Street. It seemed that the entire street attracted more casual police attention than usual. Squad cars were cruising by. Officers were poking around. It curtailed summer parties and other activities. It became common knowledge that we were the cause of this attention. As a group, and as individuals, we got uninvited from everything happening in the neighborhood. People avoided sitting near us in the Harvard Gardens. 

Bill suffered from none of this. He had departed for Baltimore right after the trouble at the Gardens.

As is often the case, we don’t learn from our mistakes unless we suffer from their consequences. In this incident, only Bill’s friends have. So it came as no surprise that no one at the Folkie Palace was willing to contribute to paying the fine to get Bill out of jail in Baltimore.

He had been cutting into the action of the”legitimate” psychics in Downtown Baltimore, and they had tipped off the police. I hitched down, solicited as many of our friends as possible, and got him out.

He was a repentant, Bill. a Bill who promised never to tell a fortune again. Besides, while in the joint, he’d met this great guy who’d taught him how to count cards in Blackjack.

” Wes, have you ever been to Vegas?”

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Ink?

Daily writing prompt
What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?
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Heavy metal, or the memory of a voyage? The reasons I’ve heard for some tattoos. My family, seamen by trade, always warned me off getting one. ” If you didn’t like it the next morning, you’re stuck with it.” and, “police use them for identifying marks, they’re looking for a thief with an eagle on his arm, and you have one too.”

These were the reasons that warned me off inking my skin. But there are some other very legitimate reasons for inking. I first learned about them during one of my wanders as a Pius Itinerant. My buddy and I were wandering around a harbor area one evening, and we walked by a tattoo parlor. In the window was a sign saying, “Black Eye Work, a Specialty.” And no, this didn’t refer to tattooing the eyeballs black, that came along years later. This sign referred to what we now know as medical tattooing. Using tattoos to cover blemishes, hide scars, and the like. Maybe you know someone who had it for scar concealment, or to blend the pimentation on a skin graft.

So the next time you think about tats, expand your horizon to include the valuable work of medical tattoo practitioners.

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Creative Confabulist!

Daily writing prompt
What is one word that describes you?
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Last year for this prompt, I took a historical view, rather than view it as a contemporary item I explored it as prelude. Here is a bit of what I said:

“Yes, I know. Most likely, you think the words I’d choose were suave or sophisticated. But too many friends, and not friends have chosen, hellion, bastard, devil spawn and such. They just don’t know me.

It is true that in my younger days, I did a bit more than my share of raising Cain, tom-catting, and “going to see the varmint. But, in the words of Saint Augustine, “It was wicked, but I loved it.” Well I don’t know, about the wicked part…after all we were all consenting adults. And you know, as the good saint also said, “No one can be a saint without first being human.” And I am very human!”

I still stick by that, but it falls flat for today. Why? Well, few people who know me today recognize me from those passages. They’ve never been exposed to the wandering Pius Itinerant with guitar named Wes Carson. These folks never even knew that that part of me ever existed. Diabolical, you say? Just practical. They have only been exposed to a sedate, dare I say it? Professional Presentation of me. Boring, I know.

How do I know this? Someone who I know, who thought they knew me, happened across this blog. They assumed that the story they read about my life on Boston’s Beacon Hill was total fiction. They were kind of shocked when I assured them that it was a fictionalized version of things that had actually happened. Yes, I jazzed it up for fun, but I actually did live with a bunch of nutcases who did weird and crazy things. They looked at me and said, “bullshitter!”

So, yes, that one word could be used to describe me. But it’s so crude. It’s so much less interesting than say, confabulist …creative confabulist!

So there you are. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

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Not a One Size or Occasion Item

Daily writing prompt
What was the best compliment you’ve received?
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Compliments are not a one-size-fits-all sort of proposition. It depends upon your needs. Many days, the best compliment I’ll receive will be from my cats snuggling at the end of the day. A high approval rating for a fun interlude of petting, hugging, and play. It’s a very direct form of appreciation without any form of innuendo associated. Other times, it’s the hug from my wife, I’ve gotten it “just because.” No beguilement.

Doing boat shows and craft shows, the most sincere appreciations came from your peers and even competitors. Above all, they appreciated what went into crafting an obstinate material or an effect difficult to achieve. Sometimes a stroll through the show could send you back to your own booth to rapidly hunt for your pad of paper to write down the ideas you’d come away with.

No, compliments are not a one-size or occasion item. And we are lucky that that’s the way it is. If it were not that way, we’d rarely get what we needed.

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This is a bad one.

eagle weathervane
Daily writing prompt
You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?
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This is a bad one. The night before last, I had a dream about this. No it wasn’t in the old days with either of my old road buddies, Bill Null ( Captain Zero) or Billy Pebbles. It was solo. And it was the last thing I ever wanted to do. in the background the sound track was provided by Bob Segar:

Here I am, on the road again
There I am, on the stage
Here I go, playing star again
There I go, turn the page

Well you walk into a restaurant all strung out from the road
And you feel the eyes upon you as you’re shaking off the cold
You pretend it doesn’t bother you, but you just want to explode

I had tears in my eyes. I had a wife, home, kids, pets, a garden, and here I was on the road again? I had turned that page.

On the Road Again?

Yes, I had my old pack, and Charlie, my guitar, was in its case by my side. But I was no young man, not a Pius Itinerant on a rip through Amerika. I didn’t have crash pads in Boston, Baltimore, and New York. I wasn’t infamous in thirteen states and jurisdictions.

This was not fun. It was a tragedy.

Reassuarances Needed

When I woke up, I needed immediate reassurances that I was indeed in my stable, sane, and secure world. Make the coffee, feed my cats and dog. Make sure the dog does not steal the cat’s food.

I looked over at the melting snow to where my garden was emerging from the winter, and I looked towards the maples beyond the fence that I was tapping for syrup. My wife should be home soon. I was not sifting through shifting sands for some makeshift stability that might come if I got a steady gig.

Dreams can linger, a muffled echo of bad times. Or like the aftertaste of a poorly brewed cup of coffee, its sour taste clings. But I pet the dog with renewed attention, stroke Sabrina with special care, kiss my wife with increased attention, and plan the garden with renewed pleasure. Sometimes we get these unsavory reminders of how things could be. It’s up to us how we react to them.

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Idiot Savant, or Genius?

Daily writing prompt
Who is the most confident person you know?
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Back in the day, when my cat Clancy and I lived in a rented room on the back side of Beacon Hill in Boston, we were very poor. On days when I could find no employment from the temp agency, I wandered over to Charles Street. One of the coffeehouses opened at noon for light lunch, coffee, and excellent fellowship.

While I couldn’t afford the lunch, Josette offered free coffee refills for the regulars. The regulars formed what was properly a tertulia, a regular discussion group, of off-key philosophers, a retired journalist, an aspiring composer, an out-of-work retired Pius Itinerant (me), and the chef in the kitchen ( the best guitarist in Boston! My friend Paul) The lunchtime discussion was often set off by an article in the daily Boston Globe newspaper or generated by something seen casually on the street.

One day, Richard, the retired journalist, had had a comical interaction with one of Charles Street’s regular panhandlers, a man known only as Rory. Rory was always nattily attired in Salvation Army aquired three piece suits, and looked a bit like a banker who’d been on a bender. His once copper-hued hair was now salt and peppered, but his carriage and deportment actually seemed to reflect the top-floor offices of the Bank of Boston or Essex Bank, and not the Fleabag Beacon Chambers Hotel.

Cash in Hand

Rory accosted Richard for spare change as he rushed to get to the drug store; he brushed by Rory. But Rory kept on attempting to impede him and claiming that for a fiver, he’d offer a hot tip on the stock market. Now, Rory always carried with him today’s fresh copy of the Wall Street Journal, and maybe had actually been someone. Richard dug in, found a dollar, and handed it to Rory, then he rushed off. Rory called to him, “Amalgamated Copper’s going to hit big today!” Richard was just a bit of a dabbler in stock, and on a whim, he called his broker from the payphone near the drugstore. “Harry, pick me up some Amalgamated Cooper. I’ve got a tip.” There was a howl of laughter at the other end of the line, “Rich, Amalgamated hasn’t done anything in ten years. But Ok, let’s play. I’ll throw a couple of hundred at it for shits and giggles…it’s your money.”

Later at home, the call came from the broker. Amagamated Copper was up, and Richard had made a small but significant gain on his investment. The next day, Richard hurried to give Rory the four dollars on the fiver from the previous day. As he rushed away, Rory called out a tip. As he had the day prior there was a call to the broker, followed by a return call the next day; that five hundred was now earning well at the Simpson and Halliday.

An Experiment

Richard grew curious, and he took his curiosity to his friends. The question was who Rory was and how good a predictor he was. Being that I was available, in need, and interested, Richard and Josette suggested that I take a few dollars and see if Rory offered me a tip. Josette primed me with lunch on the house.

That’s how I found myself on Charles Street at two in the afternoon looking for Rory. I found him not far from the Seven’s Bar. Walking up to him I offered him two dollars. He looked me up and down and said, ” Your needs are basic, but your goals are high. Cross the street and visit Thomas at the bookstore. He needs a clerk, and you’ll do well!” With only small prospects, I decided to go see Thomas. I spent what small spare income I had at his store anyway. So I had nothing to lose.

A week later, I got away from the store for lunch at Joestte’s. It was payday, and I could now afford to eat. The group was interested in my experience and decided to further experiment. Paul got a tip on a manager who could get him better gigs, and Josette was close-mouthed, but smiling broadly at the results of her conversation with Rory. Soon, Rory was invited to join the tertulia as a sort of idiot savant member in the corner.

Lunch with Rory

Lunchtime traffic grew. Rory became an attraction at lunch. At Josettes prompting, his state of cleanliness improved, and a coterie grew around him with note pads. Periodically, several ran outside to the nearest pay phones to call in tips to bookies, investment offices, or shady people in the North End.

On his last day, Rory had some sage advice for me. He advised me to visit a prep school in the Back Bay. I was to mention that I was a veteran, needing an education, and please drop his name as a reference. Being at liberty that day, I did it. Two hours later, I was enrolled. It turned out that there was a VA program for veterans needing to finish high school. It was free and would not count against other VA benefits I might receive.

The Limo

The next day, I arrived at the coffeehouse for lunch in time to see the Rolls-Royce limo pulling away with Rory. Inside, my friends were subdued. A coterie had rushed in, huddled in quiet consultation with Rory, and then accompanied him to the limo. In passing, Rory deposited his copy of the Wall Street Journal on the table, uttered a heartfelt “Thank you all for your friendship!” and was whisked to the limo.

Later, we combed the marked-up pages of the Journal. Richard did well from the tips, Jossete sold the coffeehouse, Paul opened his own restaurant, and I made enough to help support me through my first two years of college.

Was Richard some sort of idiot savant, or a cagy businessman on a sort of madcap holiday from a blase existence? Was he supremely lucky, confident, or all of the above?

My cat Clancy just accepted the improvement in living conditions as his due. And rather than ask questions with no good answers that’s what I do as well.

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The Nubers Game – #116 – March 16, 2026

And the number is – 238

A person in a red jacket kneeling in snow, using a saw to cut down a Christmas tree surrounded by other evergreen trees.
A unique plant arrangement featuring a wooden planter filled with moss and small plants, surrounded by various pots of greenery and a glass container with an air plant.
A wooden plaque engraved with 'A Sailor's Prayer' by Bill Watts, featuring an anchor and humorous prayer about waking up in various locations.
A man with gray hair smiling broadly while sitting at a table in a kitchen setting, wearing a blue sweater, with various kitchen items visible in the background.
A curious cat stands on its hind legs, reaching for toy airplanes suspended from the ceiling, with a miniature town and train tracks in the background.
A painting depicting a raised hand against a blue sky with bare trees in the background and a yellow field in the foreground.
Close-up of a tan and white dog with a red collar, looking curiously at the camera, surrounded by greenery and outdoor decor.
  • A Christmas Tree Hunt
  • A miniature wetland, moss partridgeberry, and a carnivorous plant
  • A sailor’s prayer… circumstances “familiar to Naval and civilian sailors
  • OK, I am am bit nutsy
  • Catzilla in training
  • Memorial painting for my best friend Bill
  • Max, pondering
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Ponder and Work

Daily writing prompt
What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?
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As I noted last year, physical activity is part of my strategy for coping with the negative: When the frosts start yielding to the sun, I begin to revive. Seasonal affect disorder dissipates, and it’s time to make maple syrup. I then clean the garden areas. Raking leaves, branches, and daily walks in my tiny wooded garden area commence. I probably look weird to the neighbors as I slink around, eyes on the ground looking for the earliest of our native wildflowers. They are late this year!

No, my Patron Saint is Nicholas, not the guy assigned to idleness. My silhouette and shadow have to be nimble to keep up. I revel in being able to be active.

Yesterday, I loaded wood (four cords delivered) and boiled sap for maple syrup. My shop has been a wreck this winter, so the other creative aspects will also come into focus as I clean and reset the shop. I already have a project in process, and have others in the planning stages. This stuff is sauce for the goose, as they used to say. Well, another cliche comes to mind…Seize the day.

Pondering

But what about those feelings, Lou? Are you evading them? It’s not as though I don’t have them, and keeping busy is not really a way of deflecting them. My activity is a way of letting them slip into perspective while I juggle potential solutions.

But big secret. I’m a ponderer. That’s why I frequently process the ugly, dirty stuff on a particular wooded stretch of road on the way to and from work. No traffic except the traffic of my mind, and out come the dark wiggly things. Let’s call it Ponderer’s Way. There I am, driving along, having a sometimes loud argument with myself about something I am royally cheesed about – recent, or paleolithic. The other day, I was grumbling about the government and how we’d be cleaning up the cesspool being made for an entire generation. If you’ve ever worked for the government, you might realize that most of the folks there are long-service employees, and have a deep knowledge of what they do, who to contact, and what CFR (code of federal regulations) says about how to do it. No, their life is not a continual coffee break.

OK, let me stop there, but that gives you an idea of the sort of rant that takes place while driving on Ponberer’s Way. And it can be loud.

Keep the windows shut!

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A “Review of the Literature”- Stream of Consciousness – March 14, 2026

A few days ago, I republished an earlier post on how I carved a boat portrait of the Halibut Schooner Republic. It was one of my favorite small portraits because it was fun to carve, and I had enough data to make a credible portrait.

Ok, here comes the review of the literature part. I, seemingly endlessly, pursued a doctorate in anthropology at one point in my life. During those years, I might have written thousands of papers and made at least hundreds of presentations on various topics relating to anthropology. They all had a section that reviewed the relevant prior literature on the topic – sometimes ad nauseam – “as Smuckright stated in his groundbreaking exploration of the plutonic tautological implications of….” Yeah, that sort of stuff.

Well, you write that garbage for years, and see what it does to you. After I got released from the insane asylum, I got a job that required me to write press releases. I think I am now stuck somewhere in between the two modes. But the whole thing of writing the review of the literature still stuck to some degree, and in the post on the Republic, I run through the sorts of print and graphic material I found and how I used it. I think it relates to how you research and execute these types of projects, and it is a bit more compelling than just the breakdown on the carving.

Being a sailor, son of a sailor, and descendant of sailors, I am convinced that ships have something approaching an identity. So telling the story behind the portrait explains why I found it interesting and compelling to carve.

So next time you read one of my posts about some ship portrait and see me getting into the weeds, I mean surf, about its history, that’s why.

Here is the link to the post if you are interested: https://loucarrerascarver.com/2020/03/28/a-halibut-schooner/

I was conditioned by three universities to do it…It’s their fault!

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Springtime Festival of Wood!

Daily writing prompt
What activities do you lose yourself in?
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Yes! Back by Popular Demand! For a small fee, you too can lose yourself in the Zen-like meditative task of stacking wood! Quarter and half cords available! Special rates for the single cord stacking challenge!

Pick your stacking strategy:

  • The Engine – the unconquerable machine!
  • The Artist finds the inner aesthetic of patterns in the wood, emulate Picasso, or potential Dada or Matisse!
  • The Organizer – construct the optimal and logical structural form using principal component structural/functional principles
  • The Free Form just go crazy and express the inner you

First-come, first-served! They are going fast, call NOW! Operators are standing by!

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Boring!

Daily writing prompt
What movies or TV series have you watched more than 5 times?
View all responses

Television and I have broken up. The romance was over decades ago. I got better news from National Public Radio, The New York Times, and the Washington Post. The video news clips I watch are all online. My major loss is that I miss all the commercials.

I am such a poorly educated consumer. I stumble my way through the aisles of the supermarket without having the guidance needed to pick the right products and lacking the knowledge of what’s hot and what’s not. I shop by intuition. Which puts a huge limitation on my knowledge of what is most current! How do I cope? By walking the aisles like a zombie and grabbing what we’ve liked in the past, and sometimes by what catches my eye.

The news? I have no favorites on any of the networks. When I am told that someone is leaving a show after thirteen years, I say, ” Who?” Worse I can not identify anyone on Fox! I hate to admit that they are all just botoxed faces to me.

I am incorrigible, and I suspect that nothing will change my habits.

Louis N. Carreras, Woodcarver

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