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About Dust-n-Shavings |
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These uniq ue wood carvings are one-of-a-kind works of art. I created each over a period of weeks with great attention to the level of detail. I tried to capture the personality of people through slight shifts in the eyes, smile, or facial expression. Sometimes, it just happens in the wood--don't know why.
A Learning Process
Along the way, I created a few tools, threw some away, wore many out, and changed my habits several times. I'll probably continue doing that. Early on, I thought small hand tools worked well, and I used a rotary tool mostly. Then I shifted to a reciprocating carver. It worked better with the wood, and it was much cleaner with less dust. After a while, I learned to use hand carving tools--slower but with better control of my artistic expression. Finally, I started creating my own tools as my original tools were too small, worn out, and sometimes ill suited for my style of carving. Besides, new tools are expensive. 
Now, I use power tools that range from the rotary carving tools to routers, grinders, and chain saws. With a piece of bandsaw blade, I create a few hand carving tools; sometimes they work better than a bought tool. When they don't work, I replace the blade with a new tool. By far the most requested information on the website is about a duplicator--a pantograph--that I created. It's simpler than commercial models and most plans. Simple works.
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Read more...
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The Person |
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 Born and raised on the beautiful Swan Creek of Middle Tennessee, I, Paul Aydelott, grew up with an appreciation of the natural world around us. With both B.S. and M.S. in Plant and Soil Science, I spent 34 years as a conservationist with the USDA. In 2002, I retired back to Swan Creek in Hickman County, Tennessee, and built a house, with carving shop and office, overlooking the "blue hole" on that clear, clean stream.
In addition to carving, I am involved in other endeavors. As a volunteer and board member of the Hickman County Chamber of Commerce I work to boost the tourism industry in the area around Hickman County and Centerville, Tennessee, otherwise known as the hometown of Minnie Pearl. I attended (and passed) the training for Tennessee Tourism Professionals in 2006.
 I am also the owner of a small, freelance Information Technology Company called Ez Information Management. My task there is to help small, local businesses and local government manage their information more effectively. A primary part of that task is in creating websites. I specialise in using a content management system called Joomla primarily because it can place the creation and management of information in the website owner's hands. (I hated being dependent upon the "priestly robes" of programmers and system administrators in my own career.)
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Emergence of the Artist |
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Originally, outdoor photography was my primary means of artistic expression--it fit well with the work of a conservationist roaming over the hills, hollows, and fields of Tennessee. With career advances that led to more and more office work, the time and opportunity for photography became more difficult to find. A career change that moved me into Information Technology took me out of the field and into an office. With my opportunity for photography suppressed (even in the beautiful state of Colorado), there was a void.
In 1996, I bought a couple of power carving tools just to have around the house for "book ends." Carving started to happen. While looking for subjects to carve, I naturally went back to my collection of photographs. I soon realized two things: Landscapes are easy in photographs but they are hard to render in wood; good photographs of people are hard to master, but people are well suited to being carved in wood. Wood from Tennessee--walnut and cherry in particular--has the kind of character that my characters need. |
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