It’s still February as I write this, and that means that even if the greenhouse/workshop is warm enough to work in during the day, what about the evening? Every winter, I look for entertaining and educational reads to fill the evening; I lost the TV habit many years ago.
Among this winter’s reads have been an older book by Betty Padden (Fox Chapel Publishing, 2011)- Lettering & Sign Carving Workbook. It’s a beautiful foundational text for anyone interested in learning the ins and outs of sign carving. It’s exceptionally well illustrated and has a variety of projects from very basic to highly advanced. So much sign work gets robotically routed these days, but there is still room for the unique appeal of a hand-carved sign. If that would interest you, I’d recommend this book.
My next book came out in 2020. It’s A Norwegian Woodcarving Textbook, by Odd Fauske; edited and translated to English by Iain & Evaline Whittington ( published by Whittington, Fursden, 2020). The book was translated from Odd Fauske’s Norwegian original. Text is in English on one side and in the original Norwegian on the other. Fauske prepared the textbook for the Norwegian adult education classes he taught. The book is a valuable compendium of traditional and classic Norwegian wood carving designs, and it is stuffed full of patterns and notes on carving. If you are interested in these carving styles, this book would be a practical reference for your library.
What else have I read; some Roman history and a lot of classic Science Fiction. Everybody needs some escape reading when it’s so snowy that you can’t get the shop door open!