August 24th 2013: Learning to Carve Wood in Gloucester

Today, I had an appointment to learn how to carve wood at the Calvo Studio in the city of Gloucester. Before that, I decided to grab some breakfast in town at the Two Sisters Coffee Shop, a small town cash only breakfast place located at 27 Washington Street. After looking at the pretty uninteresting menu, the only thing that managed to catch my eye was the Homemade Fish Cakes, which came with eggs, home fries and toast.

Unfortunately, none of the food items had much flavor at all, and I soon lost my appetite for it and left without finishing it.

From here, I visited several other places in town,

Legion Memorial Building,

8 Washington Street

Joan of Arc Statue,

Middle Street and Washington Street

Unitarian Universalist Church

City Hall

Fountain, Sawyer Free Library

Memorial,

Pleasant Street and Prospect Street

Holy Family Parish

Trinity Congregational Church

St. John's Episcopal Church

Views from Blynman Bridge,

Western Avenue near Perkins Road

Gloucester High School

Fishermen's Wives Memorial,

Western Avenue near Essex Avenue

WWII Memorial,

Essex Avenue and Western Avenue

Stage Fort Park

Rockport National Bank, 4 Parker Street

Atlantic Discount Oil Inc

Cripple Cove, ~47 Parker Street

including the beautiful Pavilion Beach area at Western Avenue and Middle Street

with its view of the Ten Pound Island Light on Ten Pound Island,

and the iconic Fisherman's Memorial.

Finally, it was time to head for my woodcarving lesson. The entrance to the place is pretty nondescript, and the workshop itself is pretty small, though filled with and carved wooden artwork

and all sorts of machinery,  including one that makes duplicates of completed models.

In order to carve wood, one must have tools, and the shape to be carved is determined by the tool used, hence there is a need for a large set of tools coming in all shapes and sizes to successfully carve a piece.

According to the instructor, David Calvo, a successful sculpture is one that is able to incorporate all sorts of contrasts into it, from the high to the low, the smooth to the rough, the straight to the curved, the concave to the convex etc, as can be shown in the piece below.

The first piece we were to make today was to show us the basics of how to carve into wood without causing it to splinter off, by carving with the grain, and not against it. The grain wheel, shown below, was the target we were to aim for.

We all started with a simple, square like block of wood.

The first step is to find the center of the wood, by drawing diagonal lines to meet the end of the square, their intersection being the center of the piece.

From here, using a compass, we drew concentric circles demarcating where we were to carve and where not to.

Next, we were to use a drilling device that can be lowered to a fixed level to ensure the base of the piece is flat to make holes all over the parts that we need to carve out,

making it resemble cured cheese.

After all the holes have been made, it is time to clamp the piece down so that we can start carving out the unwanted pieces of wood.

At this point, our instructor started to explain the concept of grain by comparing a wooden trunk to a tightly bound pack of tiny tubes transporting water throughout the plant.

If we were to go with the grain, carving starting in the middle of the piece and moving outward toward the end of the piece following the direction of the grain (shown below by the arrows),

we should have little issues carving, but if we go against the grain (the opposite direction, we risk splintering the wood and ruining the piece.

At this point, our instructor started carving out the unwanted pieces of wood using a suitable chisel and a hammer, making it look so easy.

He then used another chisel to smoothen out the base.

After all the unwanted parts of the wood had been removed, it was time to smoothen the edges of the piece, by cutting vertically into the piece using a straight edged chisel, following the lines drawn by the compass.

After doing this, it is time to put in the convex and concave surfaces to the piece, done by demarcating lines slightly above the base of the piece on the vertical sides of the circles, using that as guides to show the boundaries of the concave surfaces to be carved.  Unfortunately, by the time was up I had only reached the smoothening part of my carving, and had to bring the piece home incomplete.

Oh well, maybe next time I will go back to finish it up. 

I headed back into Boston from here, stopping by the town of Chelsea along the way to pick up a large Salami Pizza from  the Brown Jug, for which I had a groupon. I had thought the place would just be another typical takeout pizza place, but it was actually more of a bar restaurant located within a strip mall. The pizza itself was just alright though.

I did not eat all of it though, as my plan was to use another groupon that was about to expire at The Crossing, a much smaller bar restaurant located near Route 9 in Boston. With the money I had to spend, I got the Crossing Calamari (Golden fried tossed in a Thai chili sauce with jalapeno peppers) for appetizers,

the Crossing Chili (crock of chili topped with tortilla chips and sour cream) for soup,

and the Black and Blue Burger (8oz Angus beef, Cajun grilled burger, crumbled blue cheese and onion rings)  for my entree.

The calamari was actually pretty tasty with the Thai chili sauce, but the soup had way too much onions for my liking, and the burger was just so-so. Overall, not a place I would come back to, especially in Boston.

After lunch, I decided to head into the Hyde Park area in town to check out the Stony Brook Reservation, finding the Turtle Pond on Enneking Parkway near Dedham Parkway, where people were suntanning.

I also went to the top of Bellevue Hill here at ~64 Bellevue Hill Road, where there was nothing much to see except the historical Bellevue Standpipe.

Along my way to East Boston to visit the East Boston Greenway, I also passed by the Sumner Tunnel

the Georgetowne Homes.

After parking my car near Piers Park, I headed to the start of the East Boston Greenway at the corner of Orleans Street and Marginal Street, where there is an old train car here.

Heading down the bikeway,

which passes under several roads,

I passed by several murals painted on the tunnel walls.

The bikeway continues on into the Bremen Street Park at Bremen Street and Porter Street,

which is a huge, beautiful park with several facilities including a fountain area.

I also visited the East Boston Memorial Park right next door as well, where people were busy playing soccer at the fields there.

From here I wanted to head into the North End to check out St. Anthony's Feast, an annual festival going on this weekend, so it was good that the Airport T-Station was nearby.

Heading into the North End, I was hoping to see signs of the supposed parade that was to occur today, but could not see any sign along Hanover Street. I decided to wait a bit by heading into Caffe Vittoria to get some dessert.

After looking at the menu, I decided to get the Napoletane (Flaky Pastry filled with baked custard), 

the Cotton Candy Gelato,

and a Cioccolatto Caldo (Hot Chocolate with whipped cream), 

all of which were actually pretty good, especially the Napoletane.

When I was done, there was still no sign of the parade. Dejected, I was about to head home when I happened to bump into 2 of my friends, who had come to the North End for the same purpose as me. I decided to join them in the search for the food and the parade. This time, by heading away from Hanover Street, we first stumbled on the small parade,

where people were pinning money to a banner of Saint Anthony,

with two bands walking the streets.

From here we managed to find the food tents,

where we got raw oysters and other shellfish, tripe, and other food like a chocolate covered frozen banana.

 There was also the main stage, where bands were singing to the crowds who were dancing to the tunes as well.

There was also a shrine dedicated to the Saint Anthony, where people were pinning money onto his statue.

After finally leaving the throngs of people who had come by the time it got dark, we decided to leaving heading to some benches nearby to chat a bit before finally heading home for the day. I'm glad I bumped into my friends, or I would have missed out on the event.