VOL 19 ISSUE 2 NOVEMBER 2018

OCCASIONAL CHIPS

Oglebay Woodcarvers Gui ld Wheeling , WV

39’th Annual Show and Sale

at Oglebay Park, Pine Room

will be held Sat., Sun.

September 1 & 2, 2018.

Editor Joseph J. (Joe) Hodorowski

56061 Governor Drive

Bellaire, Ohio 43906

740-676-7030

E-Mail jhodo5@comcast.net

Meetings/Carving Sessions All Monday evenings 6PM-

9PM.

All Thursday mornings 9AM-

12PM.

(All gathering sessions closed

on Stifel Center Holidays)

Dues $5.00 per year.

Officers:

President-Clark Adams

V. President-Ann Swearingen

Treasurer-Duke Jordan

Recording Secretary-Suzanne

Mozena Corresponding Secretary & Pub-

licity-Joe. Hodorowski

Board Members:

Keith Miller

Jay Nicolella

Joan Nugent

Al Pierson

Missy Mazeska

Committee Chairpersons

Annual Show-Clark Adams

Christmas Party-Sue Mozena &

Ann Swearingen

Activities-OPEN

Librarian-Joan Nugent

GUILD E-MAIL www.oglebaywoodcarvers.com

Oglebay Woodcarvers Guild

Chartered in 1976

TIME TO WRAP IT UP!

We are now rapidly ap-proaching the end of another successful year of carving ac-tivities. The leading accom-plishments included the early distributions of charity funds to soup kitchens; planning and execution of the group carved Nativity set; the annual “Labor Day” Show event; the participa-tion in the Oglebayfest activi-ties; the group trip to the Day-ton Show in Wilmington, OH in October; and the display of he Christmas tree in the entry lobby of the Stifel Center. The year will end with a business meeting Monday De-cember 10. The following week Monday evening December 17 we will enjoy our annual Christ-mas Party in the beautiful and elegant Stifel Center dining room with Christmas music and singing by some of our talented members.

THE CHRISTMAS PARTY This last social event of the year will be held in the Stifel Center up stairs dining rooms. This is a covered dish event to share with other carvers and family members. Dress is casual for members their spouse, a friend, or adult children. After dinner the raffle drawing for the Christmas tree with hand crafted and carved ornaments will be conducted. Note: the tree is now displayed in the en-trance of the Stifel Center stop by and check it out. Reservations are needed with the number of those at-tending along with the food to share. Please call Sue Mozena (304-277-3535), Ann Swearingen (740-526-0186); or Missy Mazeska (740-827-4955). Contact early since the space is lim-ited, 60 people fills the avail-able tables.

NOV. 2016 PAGE 2 OCCASIONAL CHIPS VOL 19 ISSUE 2

Renovating our WEBSITE

www.oglebaywoodcarvers.com

In case you haven't checked out our newly revised club website you are in for a pleasant surprise. This new site is much more attrac-tive and easier to use. A big thank you to Clark and his daughter who assisted him in setting this up. You will find in this site all the infor-mation about the Oglebay Woodcarvers Guild. From who’s the officers, costs, past newsletters, club activities to lots of pictures-recent to old archived. This was necessitated by a complete breakdown of the old site “operator” who disappeared after it crashed. The site was down for a time but we are fortu-nate to have a computer expert as a member. Lets give a big cheer for our Guild President Clark Adams.

2018 NATIVITY PROJECT

Carving of the stable and individual figures that comprise the 15 piece Christmas manger scene was this years club project for our “Labor Day” Show.

This project was modeled from Shawn Cipa’s book Woodcarving the Nativity in the Folk Art Style. The pat-terns for the figures were carved in the round by various members. The origi-nal idea was first proposed by Clark Adams who purchased the book and gained approval rights from Shawn Cipa to use his patterns. Clark also searched for quality bass wood in Amish country, Jay Nicolella then cut the wood to size and Joe Hodorowski sawed the cutouts of all the figures. Shawn also accepted the invitation to display all of his carvings during our Labor Day weekend Show. The stable was constructed by Jay Nicolella from olive wood which is ap-propriate with the origin of the Bethle-hem Christmas story. The main carving of the baby Jesus was carved by Missy Mazeska. Joan Nugent fashioned Mary and the oxen. The kneeling angel was fashioned by Gary Harvey.. Bill Baker carved Joseph, Al Pierson did the kneeling shepherd, and John Yancosek carved the standing shep-herd and the oxen while the camel was by Ann Swearingen, and the sheep was carved by Gary Lappert. The fly-ing angel and the three kings was fash-ioned by Joe Hodorowski. This years project was a welcome change from the last two years where the club project was the carved tiles as-sembled into a Quilt Picture. During the Show this nativity scene was protected by a Plexiglas cover constructed by Jay Nicolella was well received by the visitors who purchased raffle tickets. Other optional prizes do-

VOL 19 ISSUE 2 NOV. 2016 Page 3 OCCASIONAL CHIPS

nated by Oglebay Park were a weeks stay in a deluxe Park cabin and several other gift cards from $100-$50 secon-dary prizes. The funds as always are used by the Guild to fund various chari-ties with the 11 soup kitchens as the main recipients. The other minor fund-ing includes a yearly on-going subscrip-tion to CHIP CHATS, a national carving magazine which are donated to 15 pub-lic libraries in towns where our members reside in this tri-state area. The Carving Show this year was a success even though the number of visi-tors was reduced due to the hot weather and the inviting swimming pool nearby. The comment sheets passed out at shows end indicated NO complains ex-cept many would like to see an hour earlier closing on Sunday. Presently this is under consideration by the offi-cers. The officers would like to extend a big thank you to those visiting vendors and exhibitors for their donations for our Saturday evening dinner “gift give a ways” and ornament donations to our Christmas Tree Raffle. The vendors in-clude Jim Lukens, Bob Stadtlander, John Dunkle, and Woodcraft of Pitts-burgh. The ornament donors were Janet Ellis, Rachael Kaufmann, Ed Allen, Chuck & Malinda Hankey, and Mike Allen Many club members deserve praise for all of their help in setting up the room and lawn arrangements and being in at-tendance to help unload and later load exhibitors boxes on arrival and/or exiting the show. Newcomer, Rachael Kauf-mann was totally surprised with the

greeting and help she receive upon her arrival. We explained this is the “norm” in Wheeling. I also received word that vendor Bob Stadtlander with his many boxes was unloaded in 15 minutes by our manual labor crew. A new record. During the show thanks go out to those who manned the raffle tables, the entry door and the demo tent. They in-cluded Ed & Carol Horne, Cass Ad-ams, Mike Witt, Paula Nicolella, Larry Freshwater, Joan Nugent, and I’m sure some others I missed but they still deserve our thanks. Coffee and doughnuts are always supplied by the guild for all exhibitors and vendors all day during the show hours. This year we received a surprise from excellent baker and member Missy Mazeska who brought a large supply of fresh and warm muffins in dif-ferent flavors and with a supply of but-ter. They did not go stale. The guild always make purchases from our vendors for later use or resale to members. These may include books, tools, wood, etc. Check with Clark if in need of and item. In summation the La-bor Day Week End Annual Show and Sale went well and those who partici-pated in any capacity deserve thanks for the health of this organization dedicated to promoting carving.

OGLEBAYFEST October 5-6-7 the date for this an-nual event experienced sun, warm weather, quick down-pours and thank-fully no snow this year. This is a yearly celebration spon-sored by Oglebay Park. During these

OCCASIONAL CHIPS VOL. 19 ISSUE 2 NOV. 2018 Page 4

three days in parts of the vast grounds of the Park are three separate events that attract hundreds of visitors. Trolley and bus service is supplied free to reach all of the three events. In one area we find an old fashioned Ohio County Farm Fair; in another location a German type celebration with beer and dancing; while on another hilltop is the location of the Phil Maxwell Artists and Gourmet Market exhibition grounds. This is where our guild is offered tent space to display our Christmas tree with hundreds of hand carved and crafted or-naments. Members sell raffle tickets for a large 6 foot tree with ornaments plus many other secondary prize carvings to large to hang on the tree branches. Af-ter expenses the proceeds are donated to the Stifel Fine Arts Center, (the Guilds home base), for their children's programs. Seventeen members and some wives took turns manning the tent during the events long hours. Guild President Clark Adams spent all of his time working this event, assuring a suc-cessful conclusion. NOTE: Check out our newly redesigned website for some pictures of the event.

Dark Reverie The early morning hours ride along Ohio highways by seven “night-crawlers” occurred Saturday October 13 enroute to the Roberts Center in Wil-mington, OH for the Artistry in Wood Carving Show. The chief planner and van driver Clark Adams, thought if he must be up in the dark of night, six others should enjoy the same moments in this dead of night ad-

venture. It was so early I arrived late at our gathering point the Stifel Center parking lot as usual in my PJ’s hoping no one noticed. Stumbling to the parked van I was greeted by the happy smiling face of Jay Nicolella (a real night lover). He assisted me to my sleeper seat within the van. I expected to hear snoring but John Yancosek was telling fabulous stories while Al Pierson sat next to me and Gerry Gulley in the rear listening. Napping I think was Gary Lappert somewhere in the van hidden from my view. It was so dark that early morning it was never necessary to even open ones eyes so mine stayed shut. Retirement allowed me to sleep till daylight but this carving stuff was a new rude awakening which disturbed the mind and most bodily functions. Hours later after removal of my PJ;s Mr Robert Evans hosted us for the first light and breakfast. Now it was on to the Carving Show. Seriously we all had a nice time walking many a mile to view carvings that made me want to forget about my abilities. The result of the early rising gave us time to tour Roberts Center and leave earlier to make a dinner stop at the Red Snail in Zanesville. This al-lowed us to arrive home earlier than ex-pected. We owe a lot of thanks to Clark because he drove from home to the Pittsburgh airport to rent the van then drove all the way on our journey and then returned the van to its home base. Clark is always working for this organi-zation and its members.

OCCASIONAL CHIPS Vol. 19 Issue 2 NOV. 2018 Page 5

Another Member Bio Ann Swearingen

Each newsletter we try to present a short bio of a member of our club for ac-quaintance purposes only. This pro-vides a bit of background information of how carving came into our lives. To date we have covered Agnes Brady, Sue Mozena, Joe Hodorowski, Clark Adams Keith Miller and Joan Nugent. This time we will sit down with a nice friendly carving lady Ann Swearingen, from the St Clairsville, OH to learn a bit about her interesting life and her carving interests. She and her brother were the chil-dren of John and Esther Schroeder and they grew up in the Kingston, NY area near Woodstock in the Catskill mountains where they attended local schools. Ann’s mom was born in the USA and her proud heritage was Finland where Ann has cousins whom she had the opportunity to visit. While attending college at Russell Sage College in Albany, NY she was named to their Hall of Fame honors in volleyball. Upon graduating with a de-gree in physical therapy, she found a job in 1979 at the Ohio Valley Medical Cen-ter at the Martins Ferry, OH location where she was destined to meet a man playing softball with the name Ron Swearingen who later became her hus-band. They raised a family of two girls, Natalie and Alyssa and now two young grandchildren. Ann is presently employed by the same hospital group at their St Clairs-ville location where she also resides. Ann’s artistic abilities included

sketching, painting, carving linoleum and rubber, gardening, and photogra-phy. With this background she joined the Oglebay Woodcarving Guild in late 2010. She soon was elected to the of-fice of Vice President of the guild and still retains this office. Ann enjoys most carving disciplines but her preferences are relief with a secondary of carving in the round. She has taken part in carving (relief) tiles for our recent quilt picture group projects. She also carved in the round a figure for this years Nativity group project. Upon her working retirement Ann de-sires to pursue her interests in all as-pects of woodworking.

Winners Listing Carving Show Raffle:

1. Nativity Dave Tresky, Pittsburgh area 2. Week cabin stay Jack Chastel, Mc Murray, PA. 3. $100 Gift Card Mary B. Cottrill, Washington, PA 4. $100 Gift Card John McNally, Pittsburgh, PA 5. $50 Gift Card Jack Kloss, Bridgeport, OH 6. $50 Gift Card Becky Anderson, Roscoe, PA 7. $50 Gift Card Marc Nicolella, Washington, PA

Optimism: is going after Moby Dick in a row-boat and taking the tartar sauce with you.

NOV. 2016 PAGE 6 OCCASIONAL CHIPS VOL 19 ISSUE 2

New Members We welcome a new interested carving member to our club. He was a member many years ago while he was employed along with his late father. Now that he is retired we wel-come him back to our group.

Jerry Gulley, Bellaire, Ohio, (Sept 2018)

Left over stuff

This guild is fortunate to include many distant folks from many cities or states as

members. Most are able to participate with us during our Labor Day Carving Show. This year we were able to welcome back Phil Topa from Virginia after an absence due to the passing of his dear wife. Phil occupied the end table near the stage. Local carver Dave Rinkes was welcomed back to the club and show after a few years absence.

The May June 2018 issue of Chip Chats

magazine, page 56 are pictures of the Dela-ware OH seniors carving display. This display included photos of an assembled “carved quilt” project to celebrate the 25’th anniversary of the center. This was similar to our club project the past two years. This is mentioned here is because the presenter of this article was Keith Radick who is also a distant and active mem-ber of our club. His contributions are included in the quilts. In the same issue on page 49 is a final re-port of the Triad Woodcarvers of Winston Sa-lem, NC. It is about a successful Christmas tree project to benefit a school scholarship pro-gram. The chairman of this project is Ray Branch who is also an active member of our club. Ray who attended our show a few years ago modeled this event similar to our Christ-

mas Tree Project. As you know, some time ago our past treasurer Duke Jordan suffered a bad se-

rious injury. Since that time he is recovering and has been able to attend a few of our Mon-day evening carving sessions thanks to the generosity of Clark Adams who goes out of his way to pick up Duke. Progress is slow but sure.

Last December the club was able to do-nate $2800 to the Children's Education

Fund for the Stifel Fine Arts Center for their youth programs. This was the proceeds after minimal expenses obtained from our annual Christmas Tree ornament project. Our Xerox copy machine needed hinge re-pairs and refurbishment which cost our treas-ury $155. The club bought 6 new carving books for our vast collection of carving books and aids. The club also purchased $296 worth of spe-cialty wood and tools for resale or use by the club.

The club officers are considering a

name change for our annual Labor Day week-end carving show and sale. This is to en-hance public and publicity newspaper/radio interests. Presently there is a club raffle for a John Dunkle long blade knife with the final drawing to be Nov.12. The cost per chance is $2.00. See treasurer Sue Mozena. We thank John Dunkle for his generous donation to benefit our club treasury. Under consideration for a change to our carving show stipulations is allowing a maxi-mum of 20% total table display of non carved items such as scroll saw or turned items. This to be juried by the show chairman. The club has received many donations and help since the last newsletter.

NOV. 2018 PAGE 7 OCCASIONAL CHIPS VOL 19 ISSUE 2

Keith Miller donated a new vise to make into a portable clamping tool.

Dave Rinkes brought in 2 small boxes of cutouts and other items from a deceased neighbor. Jay Nicolella has been the “go to guy” for many woodworking requests for the club. John Yancosek, Keith Miller, and Bill Baker have been involved in helping new members and others with specific carving as-sistance. Joe Hodorowski contributed with all of the cutouts for the Nativity set and he also sup-plied a large amount of various ornament cut-outs including dog & comfort bird cutouts. Joe Romanyak made a donation during the carving show for the coffee supplied during the show.

NOTICE: Dues are being collected by the club treasurer Sue Mozena for 2019.

Check this newsletter label on the upper right to see your paid up date. Club mailing ad-dress is on the front page of this publication. Dues are still only $5.00 per year. It’s a bar-gain. If you change your Email address or residence please Email me. Those members who are not current with their dues are carried for 3 years on our active roster. To become active members they are required to pay any back dues. After 3 years they are dropped from the roster of members.

Looking back to our last newsletter

listing of the 8 new local members who joined we see only 3 who have been active in any club functions. WHY???

During the past 6-7 months we have enjoyed the presence of many non-

regular attendees. It was nice to see John Tomaszewski, Pete Conklin, Jack Hoffman, Susan Dorsch, Gene Francis and Dave Rinkes. A regular attendee George Predragovich will be absent for a time. He had to have his wheel (knee) repaired. His carving enjoyment

must now be done at home for a time. A speedy recovery, George!.

A special thank you goes out to Mary

DeFillippo, widow of the late Sam who was an honored member of this club, for her purchase of a book of Christmas tree raffle tickets and a welcomed large cash donation to our guild. Thank you Mary. Another special thank you to Neil Nixon for buying the book of tickets and for his cash do-nation to this club. Neil is a member with some health issues and is only able to attend carving sessions occasionally. We recently mailed out 1 book of Christmas Tree Raffle tickets along with a letter of expla-nation and to date many have purchased the book which benefits the club for the charities we support. And our minimal club operating expenses.

Typical Monday evening in October

Carvers have arrived at various times for the carving sessions. Walking around ducking the fly-ing chips we see Gary Harvey just back from Ice-land talking and carving a caricature while nearby Ann Swearingen is producing an ornament. Across the room is extraordinary spoon carver Rich Beekman carving a bird (??). Mike Witt is in the sharpening room pounding on a gouge making letters for a sign. Gary Lappert and Sue Mozena are hard at work carving candle ornaments for our Christmas tree project. Bob Mozena is in his usual place quietly just carving. Meanwhile Clark Ad-ams an occasional carver, after bringing Duke Jor-dan to the session, is going around helping to find things for other carvers. Duke is drinking coffee and watching all the great carving in progress. Joan Nugent as usual is scouring the files for a suitable chip carving design. Joan has carved so fast that she has exhausted most designs. When she finds one suitable look out for flying chips. Fi-nally we see Pete Conklin arriving late and full of Boy Scout stories. Pete is accompanied by Wayne Miller who promptly sets down and commences to do some real carving.

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.

Joseph J. Hodorowski

(Oglebay Woodcarvers Guild)

56061 Governor Drive

Bellaire, Ohio 43906

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT THE SOLDIERS WHO KEEP US FREE

SO WE MAY CARVE

40’th annual carving show Oglebay park

Sat. OCT. 31 SUN. Sept 1

2019