Noted carvers and authors Carole Jean Boyd and Jack A. Williams bring you the ultimate resource for unlocking the whimsical characters and wood spirits from within one of nature's most unique woods: cypress knees.

With clear instructions and vivid color photographs, Al Streetman takes woodcarvers through all the steps necessary to release a wood spirit from a cypress knee. Using the shapes suggested by the forms of the knees themselves, Al carves both a complete Santa figure and a Santa ornament as the central projects of the book. Also included are a listing of tools used in the projects, directions for painting and antiquing the completed carvings, and a color gallery featuring additional cypress knee Santa figures to inspire the carver. This book will present interesting challenges to the novice and be a joy for the more advanced woodcarver.

Making tedious wood carving techniques more approachable, Carving Small Characters in Wood offers simple methods in a smaller format to carve compact caricatures with personality. With step-by-step directions and photography, you’ll be able to learn and appreciate this form of miniature character wood carving. Starting off with basic lessons then slowly progressing into greater, more detailed challenges, author and renowned caricature woodcarver Jack Price is the leading voice to learn from on how to carve small statuettes!

Discover how to create unique and beautiful canes that will be treasured as useful works of art. Legendary carving artist Lora S. Irish introduces you to all of the essential components and woodcarving techniques of cane topper carving in this comprehensive guide with 4 step-by-step projects and 6 joinery methods.

Provides patterns and instructions for carving over 20 characters in wood. This title helps readers find step-by-step carving and painting instructions for a Scandinavian inspired man and woman.

Carving Found Wood, Updated & Expanded Edition is the ideal compendium of wood carving ideas for anyone who wants to learn how to carve found wood! Featuring overviews of the most commonly found woods, breakdowns of carving tools and essential wood carving safety tips, and highly detailed photographs from Jack Williams, these lessons from longtime carvers Vic Hood, Alec Lacasse, Kathy Overcash, and more will guide readers through the entire journey. Learn how to sculpt faces in cottonwood bark, carve an eagle from a found log, transform cypress knees into fairy cottages, and master the art of turning nature into your next woodcarving masterpiece!

Growing up near the Sabine, journalist Wes Ferguson, like most East Texans, steered clear of its murky, debris-filled waters, where alligators lived in the backwater sloughs and an occasional body was pulled from some out-of-the-way crossing. The Sabine held a reputation as a haunt for a handful of hunters and loggers, more than a few water moccasins, swarms of mosquitoes, and the occasional black bear lumbering through swamp oak and cypress knees. But when Ferguson set out to do a series of newspaper stories on the upper portion of the river, he and photographer Jacob Croft Botter were entranced by the river’s subtle beauty and the solitude they found there. They came to admire the self-described “river rats” who hunted, fished, and swapped stories along the muddy water—plain folk who love the Sabine as much as Hill Country vacationers love the clear waters of the Guadalupe. Determined to travel the rest of the river, Ferguson and Botter loaded their gear and launched into the stretch of river that charts the line between the states and ends at the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, sponsors of this book's series, please click here.