HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1985-10-23, Page 31�F^
1,i
ch
Distributed
is
Exeter Ti es Advocate i5tril�itarSignal-Star.
s al
l-StarClinton
g non News Record. Mitchell vocate. Soaforth Huron Pfus 1 or.
us, Parkhill Gazette and Strathroy Age -Dispatch. Wednesday,
October 23
Local craftsman enjoys
making beautiful carvings
By Yvonne Reynolds
To mix metaphors, a bird in the
hand is a thing of beauty and a joy
forever when it has been" lovingly
carved out of a block of sugar pine or
mellow butternut by craftsman Art
Gaiser.
Gaiser has always enjoyed working
with wood, and spending his spare
time fashioning footstools,, ornamen-
tal shelves; gun stocks, initials,
animal silhouettes and doll cradles.
Since retiring two years ago as plant
manager at Tuckey Beverages and
moving into the family cottage at St.
Joseph, Gaiser has concentrated his
talents on carving beautiful replicas
of shore and water birds.
.Gaiser's first duck was made from
• a kit containing a roughed -in head and
body, glass eyes and sandpaper. His
sister Ada Dinney persuaded him to
include the finished.bird among items
he entered' in a-cr'aft'stiOcii Exeter
United Church. It was snatched up by
a woman who added $10 to a price he
had deliberately set so high he
thought no one would consider paying
it.
That was all the encouragement
Gaiser needed. Since then he has not
been able to keep up with the demand.
Each time he completes a wood duck
or Canada Goose and thinks this time
he will keep the carving for himself,
someone comes along and buys it. his
decorative decoys have been sold to
customers from London to Lennox-
vil'le, and from Maine to Florida.
Each carving represents 25 to 30
hours of work, Gaiser starts out with
a block of wood cut from a slab of
lumber four to 12 inches wide and
three to six inches thick that he has
purchased from a lumber yard in
Thedford. Though he could use power
tools, he prefers to work by hand,
slowly and painstakingly filing and
cutting to get closer and closet to the
profile he has in mind.
"It's easier to make mistake with
a power saw", Gaiser explains.
The former Exeter resident studies
pictures of birds, checks out some live
models at his cousin's bird sanctuary
north of Grand Bend, and uses pat-
terns to assist in bringing the desired
shape out of the wooden block.
"Only a few exceptional carvers
work without patterns", Gaiser notes.
When he has attained the desired
shape, Gaiser begins the delicate task
of burning in the feathers, each of
which contains hundreds of strokes.
Now' that he is becoming more expert,
he is adding supplementary feathers
to some of his models.
Meticulous attention to detail is ob-
vious in the serrated bills, and the
authentic -looking scales on the webb-
ed feet.
Many of the -butternut models are
Please turn to page 5
A DELICATE TASK Art Gais'er etches delicate,
feathery lines on a bird he is carving out of basswood.
Th9..tgsk 50. r s a..goo 3 eye, and d steadt„hot ,
Fine a parel for ladies and gentiernen
A beautiful new
selection of Ladies
sweaters in cozy
warm wool.
Ladies winter all-
weather coats in
solids and tweeds.
And our Targe selec-
tion of accessories to
tie the look together.
Wear th t
'Warren K Cook'
look®.
Sportcoats
Suits
Topcoats
Our full Fall selection
is now available
434 Clarence St. Downtown
London 438®2411
LTC.