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Interview with Betty Beaver

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  • Mathew Nickols 1 ’ ’Mathew Nickols 2 couldn’t do that I needed someone to show me how to do nd that’s been nearly twenty years ago when I started. ’ carving, and “in the round”. And I do “in the round” – hat’s a three dimensional piece and that’s th hat’s the typ ut what we mostly do is mountain animals. I do a lot of caricatures, but they don’t ’Mathew Nickols 3 Well that’s about it. The way carving really got started around here and got so popular was carvings through the folk school. That’s how it got so big right here in this area. She gave them a job when they couldn’t work in their fields and stuff. They could make more carving a ’ ’ day that I was “trying” to carve. I told him that I wanted to carve one of those little bitty rabbits. “I’m not doing that” “ ” carving just to show him I wasn’t lazy hat’s how I got started but after I got I loved it and now I don’t want I don’t know. Like I say, right now we are short of carvers and are needing some. A lot of people take classes, but don’t want to do it as a second income. They just want to do it for their Mathew Nickols 4 but it doesn’t have to. ’ve got all kinds of tools we use [inaudible] so far we haven’t use I mostly use my knife. That’s how I started. I bought all of the tools the [palm “u gouge” you’ve got to have that if your going to make faces. Wow that’s This one right here is a miniature “v gouge” this makes hair I can’t tell where t Oh yes, that’s pretty!Mathew Nickols 5 ’ ’t get to with your knife. This [tool] is a miniature “u” you c this for hair too, on animals, but I don’t use it on people. This one [tool] is used to make a deep ’ve got others but didn’t bring them all out here. The v “ ” is all I used to make that piece right there: it’ Thank you for showing me this. How far have you traveled with your crafts? You’ve told me that you’ve sold at many different places. else… I can’t think of anything. We used to go down to [inaudible] creek a couple I’ to the park they couldn’t afford to buy o [laughter] you really didn’t sell much. But it was and it didn’t really I can tell that with the ticket prices being high you’d spend all your money. What kind of ’ ’ items. I don’t have dollar itemMathew Nickols 6 To mix our wood carving in with stuff like that, you just don’t sell anything. You have to go my goodness [laughter]. Well, this week I’ve made two standing wise men, a honey bear, I’ve got some pieces that I wouldn’t get rid of at all I’m Santa’sMathew Nickols 7 Knots! [laughs] knots in the wood and wormy wood. You don’t want wormy wood. We lost dry wood. We can get wood that’s not dry but then you have to let it dry for about six months. We ’ ’ would love to do it all of the time, but he can’t work on a job and then do wood carving too. Unless you are, like a housewife that doesn’t wor used to, but its hard to make a living on just wood carving. Well you can’t do it. Not and live a many nativity figures that I didn’t carve for two years because I got so burnt out at people calling Sometimes you mess up and you have to start all over, but that’s just part of it. You have to keep Mathew Nickols 8 get a whole set]. I haven’t even got a whole set myself. My I haven’t gotten another I’
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