 | Finding reference materialby Lets Talk Carving with Susan Alexander |
To improve our carving skills, not only do we need to learn more about this wonderful craft of carving, but we need a method of retaining what we’ve learned, or at least remembering where we’ve read it.
The only thing I own more of than tools, are books. My carving reference library fills up one bookcase that reaches from the ceiling to the floor, plus a second 3 ft. high case. Want to see a crazy person? That would be me, at midnight, going through my library trying to “remember” where I read one specific carving TIP that I need NOW!
I believe that reading is a contact sport, and if you’re going to play, you’d better have the right equipment. As with carving, the correct tool makes the job easier. Using the correct tools will eliminate the midnight madness of searching through books and back issues of Carving Magazinelooking for that one piece of escaped knowledge.
TIP: Here's a photo of what I grabbed from my desk drawer. In order to put your hands on a TIP you read a year ago, whenever you pick up a book/magazine, you should also have one item from Column A and one item from Column B next to you. My favorites are shown below.
Let’s say that while you’re reading Issue 38, you’re thinking the lamp I mentioned sounds like something you might buy for yourself, and that next month you’d like to carve Donna Menke’s hummingbird for your niece, and your nephew would love Sharon Bechtold’s pirate ship for his birthday.
TIP: By writing the subject matter on a sticky note, and attaching it to the appropriate page, you’ll quickly find all the articles that you want to refer to, months, even years later. If there is specific information you need from the article, highlight that information with a marker.
TIP: There may be different types of TIPS in one article, which you want to remember. If so, you can use different colored markers. While I highlight most everything in yellow, I will highlight an item I want to purchase in the future – like a new burning tip or special color paint – with a green or blue marker.
