10 Week Adventure Begins

With 2020 finally behind us and a new year beginning, we hope and pray it’s a better one. With that said, even though our year has started out with many of our spring shows cancelling or moving to the fall, we are happy to say that we have returned to the 10 week show Arizona Fine Art Expo. Since this show has more of a gallery setting, with it’s open air tent design, they can more easily work with all the Covid 19 regulations. This show takes place within an approximately 40,000 square foot tent with flap openings to the sculpture garden area to allow good air flow. All booths are spaced anywhere from 15ft or more to allow good distancing with wide aisles. This allows patrons to be able to leisurely stroll around the show, stop and watch artists work in their booths, talk with them and view/buy their work. The show will only allow so many patrons in at a time and masks must be worn at all times (excluding eating or drinking). There is a cafe with indoor and outdoor seating (spaced out for social distancing), a beautiful sculpture garden with a lushly planted Koi pond and working cabana’s at the back, where you can watch the messier artists like ourselves work.

Our Double Wrap booth is located by the Cafe in booths 63 & 64

For those of you that attend Expo annually, be sure to stop by and say hi to Scott and see all the incredible new pieces on display. If you haven’t made it to the show and have wanted to, it’s quite an experience and we welcome you.

EARTHS TREASURES

This beautiful Chihuly inspired wall sculpture is made from an approximately 800 year old Mountain Juniper tree. This sculpture is made up of five individually carved pieces with different stone/gem inlay. It measures approximately 5ft in length and 4ft tall and can be hung in any direction.

DISCOVERY

This masterpiece is carved from a very large Mesquite Burl. Scott started carving with a certain design in mind, but due to all the bark inclusions and voids, that design had to be adjusted. It consists of three large tunnel openings, forming down into a vase shape. All the natural bark inclusions and voids were carefully left in tact and it turns on a pin on a Black Walnut base.

SPIRIT

This unique floor sculpture is carved from Claro Walnut. The log was long and narrow and called for something special to be carved out of it to show off the gorgeous figure. Scott contemplated for quite some time on what to carve and started out in one direction, but then the piece had a mind of its own and the result is very striking. Six large openings were carved out with tunnels joining them, allowing you to see through the piece. It turns on a base made from Fir that has hash marks.

Buying Art during trying times

With all the virus scare, the thought of going out in public weighs on all our minds. But that shouldn’t stop you from buying art. As a matter of fact, this is a great time to buy art. Art not only enhances the look of the space you place it in, but it enriches your life. It uplifts you when your spirits are low and adds beauty to your life. Not matter what style of art inspires you, you can find it.

With big events cancelling along with some art shows, you can still find some shows that are still going on. Like this weekends Scottsdale Fine Art Festival, that takes place in downtown Scottsdale in a beautiful park setting. The show has taken steps to ensure that the artists and patrons health is watched out for. They have placed hand washing and sanitizer stations throughout the show. And artists and patrons have taken to fist bumping, versus hand shaking. So don’t let the virus scare stop you from attending, if you had plans to attend before. And if you can’t make it, but still want to buy some art, contact your favorite artist and add some beauty to your life.

We have a great inventory at this show, including two great floor sculptures and some gorgeous Redwood Burl pieces.

Secret Passages

5ft tall Redwood burl turns on a bark beetle kill pinyon pine pedestal

Scott carved out see thru passages and cup shapes in the burl to show off it’s incredible figure.

Fantasia-redwood burl on a manzanita burl base

This whimsical sculpture stands a little over 2ft tall. It has several cup shapes carved out to show the beautiful grain.

Red October-Redwood Burl

Fortitude-3ft wide Mesquite Burl

Inside look at Fortitude

Moon Flower-Large Sumac about 36″ long and 32″ wide

Angle shot of Moon Flower

This large wavy bowl sculpture has wax applied on it to keep the white color and make the grain pop.

Incredible Figure

 

Flowing River

Flowing River other side

Ancient One

Ancient One inside view

Milky Way

Milky Way inside view

Milky Way another view

Diez

Diez another view

Diez view of pods

Diez closeup

These four new sculptures feature some incredible wood grain and the unique carvings really show it off. Scott’s brain has been working overtime to come up with some unique and creative designs for our upcoming shows. The first piece “Flowing River” is a 6ft tall sculpture. It’s been a while since we created a tall sculpture, so this one had to be extra special. Carved from an approximately 800 year old Alligator Juniper tree from our area, this unique carving flows all around the piece, showing off not only the beauty in this wood but Scott’s carving ability. Stippling was added for a different touch. The base is Bark Beetle Kill Pinyon Pine and there is a large pin that allows the entire sculpture to turn, allowing you to see all the details in this grand sculpture.

The second piece “Ancient One” was also carved from an approximately 800 year old Alligator Juniper. This large canyon is about 3 ft wide and tall (making it one of our larger canyons) and the carving shows the rich color that this Juniper has. Slight waves were carved into the sculpture to show off the figure and it turns on a pin on the stone base.

Third is “Milky Way” carved from gorgeous Black Walnut (one of my favorite woods). This vase shaped sculpture, with its waves and folds, shows the grain flowing all around the piece and the beautiful color variations in the walnut. Scott was able to keep the bark in tact, which is no easy feet. It turns on a pin in order to view all the sides. It stands about 2 1/2 ft tall and is about 2ft diameter. It got it’s name because it reminded us of the actual flowing patterns of the Milky Way and the yummy candy bar.

Lastly is “Diez”, named for the Spanish word for 10 because it has 10 pods carved out of it.  It was carved from Birds Eye Redwood Burl. And boy is it gorgeous. The close up photo really shows the figure in this wood. Scott carefully carved out 10 pods from this log to reveal all the figure and shaped it down into a vase at the bottom. It also turns on a pin on the Ambrosia Maple base.

These are just a few of the new pieces we’ve been working feverishly on over the past few weeks. Even with the bad wet weather we’ve had, we’ve accomplished a lot. To see what shows we have coming up, visit our website. www.shangrilawoodworks.com

 

Give a Heart for the Holidays

We recently started carving these Hearts for smaller items. It was a great way to use up some exotic and unusual woods left over from other projects. Some have slight wave patterns in them, but no two are alike. The front heart pops out from the backer heart, giving it a 3D effect. These would make great holiday gifts and we are offering them for $225.00 each with free shipping. We only have these few left, but we can create more out of some of the woods we have on hand like; Purple Heart, Juniper and more.

 

Black Limba with copper patina   18H x7Wx3D

Box Elder Burl and Mesquite                  15 1/2Hx7Wx4D

Box Elder burl w/turquoise and walnut 10 1/2Hx8 1/2Wx4D

Bubinga and pinyon pine              15 1/2Hx6Wx4D

Mahogany and walnut         13 1/2Hx7Wx4D

Tulip Wood with Mesquite Butcher Block 16Hx7Wx3D

Zebra wood with Walnut 17Hx6Wx4D

Also on sale for the holidays are our Resin Sculptures and Carved Bowls.

The Resin Sculptures incorporate wood with dyed resin. Some of the them are see thru like this one below while others have multi colors swirled around the wood. Here are two examples of them. To see more, contact us. These are also free shipping.

BIG RED-Box Elder Burl with dyed red resin $650.00 20Tx16diameter

SILVER and GOLD-Brasiletta wood with pearl silver, gold and blue dyed resin $550.00 17Tx14diameter

And of course we have some carved bowls. These two are out of Mesquite wood with turquoise inlay. They are $395.00 with free shipping.

Wavy Mesquite bowl  8Hx14 1/2Lx10W

Two Waves bowl 7 1/2Tx15Lx10 1/2W

Heirloom Rocker

Black Limba and Wenge Rocker

Front view of the rocker

After our recent trip to Tanzania, we created this rocking chair for my dad, as a thank you from those of us that went on the trip. Scott and I decided to make it out of African woods, Black Limba and Wenge. This gorgeous rocker was a labor of love and and one of our all time favorites. The grain in the Black Limba was so beautiful and flowed so nicely, while the Wenge made the rocker grain really pop.

Here are a few photos taken during the construction process. A neighbor friend attended the process to see what all was entailed.

Seat and arms being prepped

Gluing up a runner

One runner glued up and ready to router and shape

First glue up before arms are attached

Getting arms ready to fit

Test fitting an arm

Shaping the rocker

A thank you message carved into the bottom of the seat

Close up of the incredible grain in the seat and arms.

A perfect layout of the grain in the headrest. Look how the Wenge back spindles make the darker wood of the Black Limba pop.

Wenge was inlaid into the glue up of the runners.

Wenge was also used for the plugs

A beautiful fireplace setting made for great pictures

Our Africa Adventure

We recently traveled to Tanzania with some of my family (11 of us total). It was an absolutely amazing trip and we’ll always remember it. We got to have quality time with family and see some incredible animals and scenery. Tanzania is just gorgeous and was much greener than expected and the people were the friendliest we had ever encountered.  Since we went during their winter, the weather was very nice and actually cool at night.

Women carrying baskets on their heads in very colorful clothes.

We started our trip with over 20 hours of flying, where we met up with most of the family in Amsterdam about half way through. It was heartwarming seeing everyone. Some of us hadn’t seen each other in quite some time.

 

Our last morning we took a photo of all of us, our guides and some of the camp workers.

We stayed at several locations throughout our stay, but our favorite was our first camp, where we saw an Elephant and a Cape Buffalo and heard many other animals. These were permanent tent structures with nice little porches and ample room inside with a full working bathroom. That night everyone sat by a fire, had a few beers, talked and laughed.

The first two days we spent in Tarangire National park and Lake Manyara National Park. The animals were incredible and everywhere we turned there was something to see.

Upside down tree with elephant. Of course we’d be drawn to the unique trees.

Our first Elephant sighting was very exciting. Little did we know that we’d be seeing quite a few on our entire trip. They were my favorite.

Zebra cooling off. We also saw a lot of them on the trip.

Giraffe watching us watching him. These graceful and curious creatures were fun to watch.

Newborn Empala. We were lucky to come upon this just minutes after it was born.

We saw lots of monkeys our first few days.

A very large Baboon Troupe of around 100.

Leopard cub looking for its momma.

We moved on to the Ngorongoro Crater, which was one of my favorite days. The wildlife was so abundant down in the crater and we also saw our first lions.

Cape Bufallo

Some family in the other jeep. Roofs raise up for easy viewing.

Our first lion sighting was two young males lounging.

View from the top of the Crater of a large salt lake. It was actually cold and foggy up there at the top.

View down in the bottom of the crater. The crater had grass lands and jungle to explore.

A cute Jackel seemed to pose for the camera

One of the best hippo sightings was this big guy out of the water. But we saw 100’s of them in the water.

Warthog family. So ugly they’re cute.

We then moved on to the Serengeti. On the way we stopped by a Maasai village to see how they lived and buy some of their handmade trinkets. It was amazing how welcoming they were and to see how they lived.

Large family performing for us

Inside of a school for the youngsters.

Balloons over the Serengeti

Our next lion sighting on the way to our camp was these two females in a tree.

Not to far after those two females was a large pride laying on the rocks and then another in the grass.

Our first camp site on the Serengeti. This was more like Glamping with a full bathroom. But it was a bucket shower where someone stands outside your tent while you shower and they fill a tank till you’re done. It was quite interesting. These camps have a good working staff and a chef with some wonderful food.

While on the Serengeti, we saw quite a few of the same animals. But there was one in particular that we were all wanting to see. That was the illusive Rhino. We had been lucky enough to see all the Big Five, Elephant, Leopard (cub), Cape Buffalo and Lion, but the Rhino was the only one we hadn’t. It wasn’t easy, but with some help from other guides we finally saw him or her.

Rhino in distance

We may not have seen the very large migration that you see on tv, due to them being later than normal because of all the green grass. But we did see some of it. Off in the distance there they were. At first it looked like a bunch of shrubs, but upon closer inspection with binoculars you could see them. It was amazing. We were also lucky enough to have some cross right in front of us and run down the road. That went on for about a mile with us trailing behind.

Large Wildabeast Migration

African traffic jam with Wildabeast

Our last morning before flying out was packed with driving to the Tanzania and Kenya border where we took a lot of family photos.

My sister and I reinacting playing monkey when we were kids and my brother being goofy in the background.

Our two guides Arron and Clemence posing. They were absolutely awesome and a lot of fun.

After this, on our way back to the airstrip, we were lucky enough to see our final lion pride (3 males and two females). We sat watching them nap and then slowly rise. However, just before leaving, something made a noise (possibly zebra fighting) off in the distance and they all got up and started walking towards the sound. Amazing how they all seem to come to attention at the same time.

Love this shot of her looking at us through the grass

One of the large males following her

We took our first bush plane out of the serengeti to the Killimanjaro airport. I was excited about it. Scott not so much. But we made it and can say we did it.

Now that our adventure of a lifetime is over, we’ve arrived safely home, gotten over the jetlag and spent time with our puppies, it’s time to get back to work. The trip inspired Scott to make some unusual creations like this one he’s working on.

It’s carved from a long narrow Claro Walnut log, which is already revealing some gorgeous grain. He carved out the flower shapes that curve around the log and will continue them all the way to the bottom. He will then add hash marks to the inner part of the log and Ebonize it, leaving the flower opening for me to sand. It will then stand on a stone base, making it around 4ft tall. For a little whimsy we’ll be adding some gold leaf balls that can fit in some of the flower shapes. I can’t wait till it’s done and can get photos of it posted on Instagram and Facebook. So be sure to check back in a couple of weeks.

Also in the works is the last of the very large Eucalyptus logs that we got in Phoenix. As you can see it’s still in progress, but you can see that it has very large waves and folds started on the inside. Next he’ll move to the outside, continuing the design by following the waves and folds. The last one he made was very popular and sold pretty quickly, but was a little smaller than this one. This one will be approximately 3ft diameter. These pieces along with many others will be at our upcoming shows in August, Crested Butte Arts Festival in CO and Sculpture in the Park in Loveland CO. To see our full schedule visit our website. http://www.shangrilawoodworks.com

 

 

Like Riding A Bike

Since making the move to creating all Sculpture, it’s been over 2 years since we made any furniture and about 3 years since we made a rocker. But when a previous customer had his home burn down in the big Paradise CA fire last year, thus loosing his rocker, he asked us to make a replacement. We couldn’t say no. Since it’s been a while making any furniture, we were a little slow on the start. But like the old saying goes, “It’s like riding a bicycle”. Some things you never forget. We may have had to refer back to old notes, remind ourselves of certain things and use reading glasses for some of the work (sucks getting old), it all came out beautiful and full filing in the end. When we decided to do the rocker, we also decided to make one for ourselves. I know, can you believe we actually don’t have one of our own rockers. But after we finish it up this winter, we will finally have our own.

Both rockers are made out of the same wood, but different styles. Our clients rocker is the Maloof style we used to do and ours will be the Shangrila II rocker. The wood is Curly Cherry and Tiger Maple. A beautiful combo with lots of figure. And once the cherry ages it will turn darker and be gorgeous. Since I documented the progress for our client, you can see all the stages that go into creating an incredibly hand made rocking chair.

These two pics show the start of creating a rocker. The first one is all the runner slices and stackers cut into thin pieces to be able to bend them into a form, as shown in the second pic.

Next Scott has created the seat and all the legs. They are routered and joints cut. He then carves the seat and I rough sand all those parts.

The seat and legs are glued up and he moves on to creating the arms, headrest and spindles. The headrest starts out as a normal board. He cuts it and then flips that cut to achieve the curve in the headrest and it gets glued up. The back spindles are all cut out and ready to shape and sand.

The stackers are glued onto the runners where they will get shaped into the legs once they are attached. The headrest, arms and spindles are all test fit before sanding those parts.

Here the spindles are being test fit again before they are sanded and Scott starts the shaping of the legs into the seat.

The arms are applied and shaped in and then the sanding of the upper part of the rocker is done before adding in the spindles. It’s much easier to do this few step sanding process then to do it when the whole thing is together.

The final process involves attaching the runners. First they are test fit to see where they will sit. Then they are shaped and sanded before attaching them. Once attached and allowed to set for a day, they are then shaped into the legs.

The final sanding is done, taking it to 1500 grit by hand and sanding in between each coat of finish. Several coats of hand rubbed finish is applied and it is all done and ready for the customer.

So just like “Riding a Bike”, we were able to go a few years without making a rocker and pick it right back up to create this beauty for our customer. We hope this one is around much much longer for him.

RIPPLES IN TIME

“RIPPLES IN TIME”



Carved from a very large Eucalyptus log to create this beautiful wavy bowl. Scott first used the chainsaw to rough out the waves and folds. Then he used several different grinders to finish up the design and smooth it out. He wanted to show the age of the tree by carving into the ends of the log, showing all the growth rings. He was also careful to incorporate a branch that was protruding out of the log to add to the overall uniqueness of the sculpture.

Eucalyptus is a very hard wood and takes more time to carve and sand. From start to finish this piece took about two weeks to complete. When the finish is finally applied it shows the incredible beauty of both the wood and Scott’s carving ability to bring that beauty out.

“RIPPLES IN TIME” and many other carved vessels and sculptures will be on exhibit this weekend, January 18-20 at the Carefree Fine Art and Wine Festival in Carefree AZ. If you’re in the area, stop by and see Scott and our booth and possibly take one home with you.

Amazing New Carvings

We have been busy creating new carved sculptures for our upcoming summer shows. This weekend is Art on the Rockies in Edwards (Vail) Co. Scott has really outdone himself with these new pieces. Here are just a few of those.

“STITCH OF GOLD” was carved from a Eucalyptus log and features gold jewelers wire in a crisscross pattern, stitched through the piece in a few places.

“GONDOLA” was also carved from a Eucalyptus log into this boat shaped vessel with turquoise inlay.

“STRIKE 3” is three tunnels carved into a Mesquite log with the outside textured.

“SUNRISE CANYON” is a Eucalyptus canyon shaped vessel that has slight waves carved into it and turquoise inlay.

“COSMOS” is a tunnel design carved out of Eucalyptus with Red Opal inlay, gold leafing and texturing.

“FLOURISHING” is an incredible sculpture. The wood is Alligator Juniper Burl that is approximately 700 years old. The design resembles a large flower with two small buds. It has waves and folds carved into it, along with Chrysocolla inlay. The base is black granite with carved peach alabaster.

Inside look at “FLOURISHING”

“OLD SOUL” is one of those sculptures that only comes around once. It was carved from an approximately 900 year old Alligator Juniper. The size of the burl is a rare find. Several tunnels were carved into it that join in the middle. It features waves and folds at the openings and much of the natural aspects of the burl were left in place adding to the beauty.

Carving a Masterpiece

Creating a Masterpiece such as this can be a challenge. However, some pieces turn out so beautifully you forget about all the challenges that occur during the creation process. This sculpture started out as a very large Box Elder Burl from the Ruidoso area. We dragged several of these beasts with us when we moved here to Candy Kitchen back in 2009. At the time we asked ourselves why are we lugging these all that way and what are we going to do with them. Well they sat and sat for years out in our wood pile area, till finally one day Scott decided to tackle one. It was no small feat and during the whole process we asked ourselves why we were even working with this wood. It’s very hard, has tons and tons of holes, cracks, voids and narly pointy things and the beautiful white doesn’t stay that way once the finish was applied. But as we continued to work with it and found a finish that makes the burl and grain really pop out better, we began to appreciate it more. Of course that was after it was all finished and we saw the final product that the appreciation happened. Our customers that add one of these to their art collection really appreciate them and everyone raves about how beautiful they are. They are definitely big attractions at the shows. So now that we are down to are last remaining burls of this, we are going to really miss it and wishing we could get more. Below are photos of the process of one of the biggest sculptures we have carved out of this Box Elder Burl. We hope you enjoy seeing it morph into the Masterpiece that it truly is and perhaps even want to add it to your art collection.

The start of the carving with the chainsaw

Now it’s up to the grinders to do their hard work. Or should I say Scott do the hard work.

Lastly it’s my turn to take over the sanding and finishing. Talk about going through sand paper. Between how hard it is and how all the holes and voids tear up the sand paper it takes quite some time.

And now for the grand finale. Introducing “KINGS CROWN”.
Look at this beauty all finished up.

Close up of the grain showing how incredible it is.

 

 

If you appreciate seeing the carving process of this piece, watch our video where we take “Fantasy Flight” through the whole process.  Click on YouTube link below