Woodworking by Joshua Lavender
Walking Sticks & Wall Art
While staying at a tiny cabin in the mountains of North Carolina to work on a novel in the fall of 2021, I took frequent walks, and one day I found a promising walking stick where ash saplings had been cut. I took it home to Georgia and, after finishing work on the book, began to carve my first stick (pictured at left). The pleasure I took in woodworking surprised me, and in the spring I came back to North Carolina to gather wood for more sticks on the mountainside. I also made my first piece of wall art at that time.
Since then, I've made sticks and wall hangers for friends. Now, I'm embarking on making walking sticks and wall art for sale. I'm happy to receive requests for custom work on commission. To order or to inquire about a custom job, please submit the contact form below. |
Fantasy Garden #1Beech wood, stains, tints, and acrylics, finished in polyurethane. The stick features a continuous vine with eight flowers, eight sprigs of leaves, two honeybees, a luna moth, a dragonfly, and a family of three ladybugs (the latter are painted blue instead of red).
The stick was harvested dry on a mountain in North Carolina. I let it season about a month to dry out all the way. Carving was done with a dremel tool. The stick has a slight bend at the foot, shaped a bit like a horse's hoof, and a rubber footer. Above the handle, there are dark circular holes in a honeycomb pattern. All figures below the handle stand out in relief and were detailed with a burn tool. For weather resistance, the whole stick is finished with two coats of oil-based polyurethane. The grip is a self-locking paracord wrap, waxed with beeswax for comfort, that can be easily unraveled if needed. Height: about 5 feet. Height of the grip: about 4 feet. The more I worked on this stick, the more it felt like a fantasy and the less I aimed for realism, hence the heavy color saturation. Price: $400, plus shipping. Click here to see more pictures. To inquire about ordering, please fill out the contact form below. |