47351
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2016 Santa & Elf 

Customer from Amarillo, Texas
Thank You!

Our customer gave this Santa and Elf
to her children for Christmas Tree Ornaments

The children have placed them on their Christmas tree

47338

2016 Santa 

Customer  from Emporia, KS
Thank You!

..

46731.

2016 Santa's Sold

Customer  from Emporia, KS
Thank You!

BOTTLE STOPPERS AT "TWIN RIVERS" IN EMPORIA

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KC

WOOD SPIRIT WITH LEAF

MOUNTAIN MAN

MICKEY MOUSE UNAVAILABLE FOR SALE

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Sometimes a woodcarver just has the impulse to carve something that he can not sell.  
Sorry, Mickey Mouse can NOT be ordered.

WOOD SPIRITS

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OUR US PRESIDENT WITH FLIES

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This is a bottle stopper depicting a man with big ears and drawing flies. It is the perfect stopper to start conversation and it can serve as a distraction if you are serving cheap wine.
The saga of flies on Obama's head and face

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH - SADIE SMITHERPHART

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You may ask, “Why do the employees work so hard”?  Why . . .  it is because they all want to win the coveted Sadie Smitherphart Award. 
You see, many years ago there was an employee by the name of Sadie Smitherphart.  She was an inspiration to all of her fellow employees.  She was self-giving, hard-working and would sacrifice all for the good for her employer.  In her younger years she was a real knock out.  All the young guys would buy the stale tobacco products there just to get to talk to Sadie.  As the years wore on they took a toll on Sadie, but she never slacked off in her dedication to the store. She came early and stayed late, cleaning and polishing, oiling the cash registers, and in the early days, would oil the bare wood floors with linseed oil to keep the dust down. Alas, one fateful day a circus came to town and she was smitten with love at first sight for a trapeze artist that came into the store.  Sadie was heart broken when he would have nothing to do with her.  She left the store early that day and was never seen there again.

        In the long history of the home town business there has never been an employee quite like Sadie Smitherphart.  That is why the CEO has awarded the traveling Sadie Smitherphart Employee of the Month award to a deserving employee monthly.  When the employees seem to be running out of gas and their enthusiasm for their work seems to slack off, he gathers them around and even allows some of the younger ones to sit on his knee, and, in his fatherly way, once again tells the story of Sadie Smitherphart.

          He becomes quite emotional at times and it never fails to inspire the employees of the town business to work hard and continue to serve the people of Emporia in the tradition that was first started by Sadie Smitherphart so many years ago.

A YELLOW ROSE FOR FRIENDSHIP

41578                   41666                  41898
12-26-15              12-27-15             1-19-16
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THE YELLOW ROSE

I was asked to carve a yellow rose for a Christmas gift for "Friendship."

This was another challenge but I enjoyed the knowledge I gained

from carving a rose with leaves, a thorn and
turning a rectangle piece of wood into an oval shape.

Sometimes I wondered if I bit off too much but I am satisfied with the results.
The wood for the base (spalted hack berry) was provided by

 Kevin Church - Tallgrass Custom Wood Products - Emporia, KS

  

It just takes a block of wood.

The wood for this rose had been stored in our garage for 20 years or more.

It was hard and very dry.  

I prepared the block of wood, which was cut roughly for a rose, by spraying it with water and alcohol, wrapping it and putting it in the refrigerator.

I hadn't prepared my wife.  She saw this in our refrigerator and took it out to see what it was.  After unwrapping it slightly, she saw that it was a block of wood, took a picture of what she might find in her refrigerator and put it back in for a couple of weeks

 Getting it out of the refrigerator after a soaking in the alcohol and water -

wrapped in a rag, I am ready to begin carving.

My wife walked by our Anri Wood Carved Nativity Scene and saw this branch.
She picked it up to examine it and wondered what the connection was.

No connection!  I had to go out to our rose bush and cut off a twig to see how to carve a thorn. 

Learning something new.
I needed an oval base and had a rectangle board.

I'm not a carpenter - nor a mathematician -  but I did learn through Google.  

I watched a Youtube and succeeded.

Whew!  Success!

The person that received this as a gift chose to hang it on her wall
and had the "Friendship" plaque attached at the top. 
These photos show a difference in the lighting.