| Soap Carving! Not just for kids anymore!! |
| Want to have good clean fun? Try your hand at soap carving! "This isn't just for the kids", said Ken Morgan, a member and former President of TVWC. "We have all ages participate each time. At one show, a gentleman finally asked if he could give it a try after watching the children carve for a while. He had so much fun that he came back the next day with a soap bear and purchased 8 kits- for himself, his wife and his 6 grand children! It just goes to show you that anyone can have a great time soap carving." The Tri-Valley Wood Carvers (TVWC) started their soap carving program in 2003 to introduce the techniques and skill of wood carving to young people. "This is a stepping stone- a way for parents to have their children be introduced to the art of wood carving using very safe tools" explained Bob Kehl. In addition, soap carving has been shown to help develop 3-dimensional art concepts as well as artistic and motor skills for people of all ages. It is a great way for someone with arthritis or limited hand strength to enjoy the art of carving when carving wood is not possible. Club members teach the young carvers with a very hands on approach. The student carver uses wooden tools made by club member that are in the shape of a gouge, a knife and a v- tool. The program has been instituted at local schools, the fair and at woodcarving shows. The experience, the instruction and supplies are FREE!!! At the shows and schools, the student carvers are given a bar of soap and patterns to use, or they may choose to do their own design. They are then taught to transfer and carve their project. Every year we teach soap carving to 200-300 students in schools and another 100+ at shows. What's it take to be a soap carver? A bar of soap and a few tools. The soap is a real key. "We use Ivory bar soap for carving. It has a good texture, uniform bar size, and is hypoallergenic. It's even consistency throughout the bar makes it easy to carve," explained Ken Morgan. "How do you tell if a bar of soap is fresh? give it a squeeze- if it gives a little, it's good to carve. Old bars harden on the outside as they dry making them brittle and difficult to carve. Tools can slip and bars can shatter, ruining the carving." Also, Ivory soap bars can be easily fused together to make even larger carvings. The Tri-Valley Wood Carving Club sells kits so that soap carvers can have more fun at home. The proceeds from sales goes to funding the tools, supplies and soaps for the kids at our events. Kits include the 3 wooden carving tools (a gouge, a knife and a v-tool) , patterns, 3' square plastic cloth to catch the shavings, a "toolbox" and a bar of soap - all for only $8.00 If you are interested in purchasing a soap carving kit, You can contact Paul Fackler at pdfac@comcast.net |
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| Tri-Valley soap carving carving kit ← If you are interested in purchasing a kit, please see below |
