1001 Designs for Whittling and Woodcarving
by E.J. Tangerman
Review by Mark Gezella – July 2004
This month's article refers to another "senior" entry in the library. I chose it because I had just checked out a carving book from the public library (different book, same author) and wanted to compare the two.
(E)lmer J. Tangerman is well known among carver's circles. He's authored many books that date back many decades. This feature book was published in 1979, and by then he was already well known to a couple of generations of whittlers and woodcarvers. In fact, the back cover leaf describes him as "...the dean of writers in his field...". This was his fourth book, in addition other works such as the pamphlet for the Boy Scout Woodcarving Merit Badge and numerous articles in P! opular Mechanics and Popular Science. His first book, "Whittling and Woodcarving" was published back in 1936. My gosh - my dad wasn't even around then!!
"1001 Designs" is a compilation of many short chapters. And I mean short - like two or three pages per chapter. Looks like Mr. Tangerman's intention was to include as many chapters as possible to emphasize how indiscriminate carving can be. There are many examples that portray different forms of carving, along with descriptions of specific regions of the world and how indigenous lifestyles influence carvings produced therein. Though this tends to leave the reading somewhat less than fluent, it is ideal for someone looking for diversity in a compact package. Each chapter always has a combination of pictures and sketches, accompanied by a brief but adequate presentation of the subject matter. He wraps it all up with a couple of quick chapters on suggest! ed reading, how to use a knife, and mallets and sharpening.
His books tend to be black and white, and I'm sorry to say most of them have little that I get excited about. I guess the lack of color is simply due to industry at the time of publishing. And regarding the "excitability scale", I find most of his books contain many instances of fuzzy pictures and rather crude drawings usually done by his own hand. That's the negative side, but there are positives as well. In this book, every carving has a sketch that accompanies it. This is quite convenient should you decide to try carving something you find to your liking. And all of his books that I've seen contain copious pictures of many different types of carving. I think he decided to err on the side of quantity rather than quality of print. His books are probably tops in terms of containing the most assorted collection of carvings of any I've seen.
This book interests me because of the variation of styles he presents. Tangerman provides examples as disparate as carvings based on M.C. Escher's drawings to carvings from the Alps and Switzerland to African tribal carvings. While these examples are at opposite ends of the spectrum, he figures out a method to present them all without being "odd" about it. To me, that's a talent all by itself. It draws me to thumb through it, read a bit, thumb some more, read some more, etc. And just when I'm about to skim over some seemingly silly thing like grotesquely carved figures from South Africa I suddenly find myself reading about a history of native customs and what these "artifacts" actually represent. It's then that I realize how diverse our world is. It's probably why he put this collection together in the first place!
Since this and his other books are generally older, there is not much reference to power carving as we know it. I did come across some references to 3000 b.p.m. pne! umatic carvers, so I guess he was not unfamiliar with new technology (though I don't think he had much use for it). And in this book specifically, many chapters deal with third-world groups that have or continue to carve with crude hand-made implements. This is where his emphasis lies. I also got the impression that the author is pretty serious about his work. The reading is matter-of-fact and quite dry, though every once in awhile he
suprises you. There's one little section on "Questions I wish you hadn't asked" that are pretty amusing. Have you ever heard questions like; "Wouldn't a sander be quicker?", or "When are you gonna put some of these on sale?"!
Like I say, this book has been around for awhile. It even smells like a "moldy-oldy"! However, it's still in good condition and presents many great examples of carving from basic through masterpiece, along with a short background on virtually every item presented! . I didn't count them all, so I can't tell you there really are 1001 designs. I guess we'll have to take his word for it. Or, check it out and count them yourself!
"1001 Designs" is currently available for checkout in the Guild library.