Comfort Birds

I have been thinking about carving for quite a long while, with most of my attention focused more on relief carving. The idea being that I could put relief style carvings into the lids of the boxes I make. I was recently intrigued by a carving kit I saw on Amazon, and doing a little research found that there is an idea of “Comfort Birds”. There is an article that describes a gentleman thats been creating and providing them to folks that are grieving or experiencing some loss or other hardship. I was struck by this statement “For many, the small birds serve as tangible reminders that someone loves and cares about them.“. What a terrific idea to help someone in need!

While I do not own a bandsaw; I do own lots of saws, chisels, knives and rifflers 🙂 .

I ordered the kit and began whittling away.

Once that first angle is completed, its time to apply the top down pattern.

Once the glue dries, you can begin removing the waste from either side of the bird.

And of course, it does no good to carve a comfort bird and not use it to comfort somebody in need. We gave this one to my mother-in-law. I believe it helped brighten her day, and at the very least let her know we care and are there to help her however we are able.

References:

Comfort Birds, Frank Foust – article by Kathleen Ryan: http://woodcarvingillustrated.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Comfort_Birds_164328917.pdf

Comfort Bird Kit, From Beavercraft: https://www.amazon.com/BeaverCraft-Complete-Starter-Whittling-Beginners/dp/B07XY6KTVS/ref=pd_ybh_a_17?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=CK1514WAXMDA83KYG1NN

What is a “riffler”?: http://woodcarvingillustrated.com/blog/2017/10/30/all-about-files-rasps-and-rifflers/