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| Fine Carolina Carvings |
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In the foothills of the Smoky Mountains I create handcrafted heritage woodcarvings.
I use traditional carving tools (gouges and carving knives) to bring to life one-of-a kind wood spirits and country-themed figurines depicting Appalachian characters. My favorite part of carving is instilling life and fun into my subjects. This is achieved with the detail work I do using mini / micro knives and gouges. My carving inspirations are garnered from photographs of western North Carolina people, Internet search images and documentary book images.
Most of my wood is obtained from local sawmills but occasionally I’ll cut a tree from clearage work and go through the old process of splitting sections into timbers and squaring and reducing shortened sections up on the table or band saw
I’ve been carving for over seven years now; but, started off with the intention of embellishing my handmade boxes. I find it much more exciting now to create figures in the round (figurines), wood spirits and Native American or mountain-themed busts. I especially enjoy the detailing and finish carving preferring to use minimal sanding to allow the tool marks to show.
“Possessing the innate talent to turn a piece of wood into a work of art may be the dream of many retirees – but it has become reality for a Peachtree man who came home to his roots a few years ago.” Linda Miller, Staff writer, Cherokee Scout, Murphy, NC.
I feel part of this community. You grow up in it, you come back to it, and you want to be connected. This is my connection to the area.
I use basswood or tulip poplar primarily for carving my figurines and butternut or walnut for busts of mountain men and Native Americans. A myriad of North Carolina’s native woods lend themselves to rendering life to my wood spirits. These include sour wood, sassafras, birch, cedar, oak, poplar, dogwood and (my all time favorite) found wood from around nearby Hiawassee Lake (mostly of unknown wood at the get go).
All my works are first sealed using boiled linseed oil and this followed with a coat of semi-gloss polyurethane. The carvings to have a natural finish are also treated with my favorite antiquing mix of gel stain in a finish wax. This is always important in that it allows me to accent both deep and shallow details and bring out the craftmanship, fun and personality of each carving.
Norman D. Stevens, of Storrs, CT, collects hand-made wooden spoons. His collection of 9" spoons is expected to be the most comprehensive representative collection of the work of high-quality contemporary spoon makers from throughout the world. That collection will eventually total more than 150 spoons. Norman describes Johnny Hembree's North Carolina spalted Butternut spoon, which has a detailed carving of James, a "gentle mountain man," at the top of the handle as "one of the finest examples of integrating a detailed sculptural carving into a spoon" in his collection.
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| Photo by Johnny Hembree |
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| Bubba Santa_SOLD |
Bubba Santa was carved from local Basswood. His favorite saying is “Hey…….you like Christmas?”
Height: 8 1/4 in.(21.0 cm) Width: 4 3/4 in. (12.1 cm) Depth: 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm) Weight: 6.6 oz. (186.4 g)
Carved with traditional carving and detail knives/gouges. He’s sealed with linseed oil, painted with acrylic washes and finished with satin polyurethane. Bubba is antiqued with a wax/gel stain mix and this was over-finished with satin polyurethane and clear wax. Periodically maintain with clear wax. Johnny A. Hembree Fine Carolina Carvings Murphy, NC. |
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