# Raven



## barry richardson (Aug 27, 2020)

Another one of my quirky creature carvings, the bird is carved from butternut from @Allen Tomaszek and the base is black locust, nice and heavy for ballast. had to make the feet out of epoxy putty on wire frames, finish is flat black paint rubbed out with steel wool. glass marble in it's mouth as a prop ha ha... body of the bird is about a foot long...

Reactions: Like 5 | EyeCandy! 7 | Way Cool 16


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## Bigdrowdy1 (Aug 27, 2020)

Cool !

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Eric Rorabaugh (Aug 27, 2020)

Neat. You keep on amazing us

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 2


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## trc65 (Aug 27, 2020)

Love it!

Are you by chance a Stephen King Fan? I won't say anymore, if you are, you know what I'm referencing, if not, just my crooked imagination at work.

Reactions: Like 2 | Thank You! 1 | Great Post 1


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## Brandon Sloan (Aug 27, 2020)

Such a cool creation! Very talented Barry!


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## DKMD (Aug 27, 2020)

That’s fantastic! Love the bird and the way you’ve staged it. I get the sense that the bird could roll off of the ball, and that potential movement gives it additional interest for me.

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1 | Agree 4 | Useful 1


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## barry richardson (Aug 27, 2020)

trc65 said:


> Love it!
> 
> Are you by chance a Stephen King Fan? I won't say anymore, if you are, you know what I'm referencing, if not, just my crooked imagination at work.


I know he used ravens on the cover of some of his books and in some of his stories.... but I got inspired for this one when I binged on Game of Thrones a couple of years back...

Reactions: Like 2


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## Nature Man (Aug 27, 2020)

Realistic! Keep carvin'! Chuck

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## cabomhn (Aug 27, 2020)

barry richardson said:


> Another one of my quirky creature carvings, the bird is carved from butternut from @Allen Tomaszek and the base is black locust, nice and heavy for ballast. had to make the feet out of epoxy putty on wire frames, finish is flat black paint rubbed out with steel wool. glass marble in it's mouth as a prop ha ha... body of the bird is about a foot long...
> View attachment 192741



Really cool! Colors together look really neat as well.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Tom Smart (Aug 27, 2020)

Neat critter Barry. Now you need a Beefeater to go with it.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Maverick (Aug 27, 2020)

Very nice Barry. Love the color combinations.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Tony (Aug 27, 2020)

trc65 said:


> Love it!
> 
> Are you by chance a Stephen King Fan? I won't say anymore, if you are, you know what I'm referencing, if not, just my crooked imagination at work.



I would name it Randall Flagg!

Spectacular work as usual Barry! Doc said what was going through my head much better than I would have, just too cool for words!

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1


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## barry richardson (Aug 27, 2020)

Tom Smart said:


> Neat critter Barry. Now you need a Beefeater to go with it.


one of these guys? I think that's out of my depth lol...

Reactions: Funny 2


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## Tom Smart (Aug 27, 2020)

barry richardson said:


> one of these guys? I think that's out of my depth lol...
> View attachment 192751


Yeah, the guys in the fancy suits with the flat hats. One has the specific job of keeping the ravens at the Tower of London. Yours needs a keeper.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 1


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## Tom Smart (Aug 27, 2020)

Legend of the ravens at the Tower of London.









The ravens


Meet the famous ravens at the Tower of London and discover why they are known as the guardians of the Tower.




www.hrp.org.uk

Reactions: Like 1


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## barry richardson (Aug 27, 2020)

Tom Smart said:


> Legend of the ravens at the Tower of London.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's pretty cool, I wasn't aware of that history. I watched them a lot last time we went to to Grand Canyon village, a lot of them there and they are pretty tame, being around so many people, lots of fun to watch...

Reactions: Like 2


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## DLJeffs (Aug 27, 2020)

Edgar Allen Poe:

"Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

Reactions: Like 3


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## ScoutDog (Aug 28, 2020)

Barry: That is beautiful! Rare talent on display. Thank you for sharing!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## DLJeffs (Aug 28, 2020)

barry richardson said:


> That's pretty cool, I wasn't aware of that history. I watched them a lot last time we went to to Grand Canyon village, a lot of them there and they are pretty tame, being around so many people, lots of fun to watch...



Wood Barter - so much more than just making sawdust. Educational, culture, art - get it all at Wood Barter.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2 | Sincere 1


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## Tom Smart (Aug 28, 2020)

The guys in the fancy duds are actually called Yeoman Warders. They are retired from the armed forces of the British Commonwealth, must have held the rank of Warrant Officer, served 22 years and hold the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. Besides their ceremonial duty as guards of the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London and tending to the ravens, they are tour guides and pose for gin bottle labels.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Tom Smart (Aug 28, 2020)

DLJeffs said:


> Edgar Allen Poe:
> 
> "Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
> By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
> ...


Edgar Allen Poe? And all these years I thought that was Vincent Price.


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## Allen Tomaszek (Aug 29, 2020)

That’s a great carving Barry. Love the contrasting woods and the detail. Nicely done.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Mr. Peet (Sep 13, 2020)

Looks like you had a ball doing this one Barry. Excellent for sure.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## David Van Asperen (Sep 15, 2020)

So awesome

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## TXMoon (Sep 16, 2020)

barry richardson said:


> one of these guys? I think that's out of my depth lol...
> View attachment 192751


I thought he meant Gin

Reactions: Funny 1


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## woodtickgreg (Sep 17, 2020)

I missed this. Excellent work!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## FranklinWorkshops (Sep 17, 2020)

They also pose for photos with kids. When our girls were 8 and 11, we visited the Tower and the girls were blown away by the beefeaters and their uniforms. Several of them posed with our girls. Really nice men. The ravens live a great life in the Tower and have no desire to leave it seems.

Reactions: Like 2


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## FranklinWorkshops (Sep 17, 2020)

DLJeffs said:


> Edgar Allen Poe:
> 
> "Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
> By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
> ...


Local legend says the Poe wrote that poem while staying at the Deer Park Tavern in Newark, DE, about five miles from our house. Not sure if that is true but it is a fact that he often stayed there.


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## Mike Hill (Sep 18, 2020)

First Disclaimer- I make no claim that ANY of my Eng Lit teachers liked me publicly - maybe secretly - but they did not dare publicly!

I told one that like there was no crying in baseball, there was no poetry in football!

Over the years I have learned to appreciate SOME poetry - I guess mainly because of the skill involved. As a means to communicate - it sucks. With that said, The Raven caught my eye - interestingly enough I could care less about the "story" - h. e. double hockey sticks it is essentially a love story too ooey-gooey. What I liked was the structure. But then again, at that time in my life, poetry was just a tool. When I wanted to win a girl's heart - punch out a poem, and they fell for it. One girl I was so smitten by, I carved her a copy of Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture out of redwood AND a whittled interlinked hearts out of maple. It worked for a while. 

Here is what Poe said about the structure of the poem: If you can follow it, I bow down to you! I'm better at picking my nose than understanding the mysteries of poetic structure. 

Poe had specific intentions regarding the metrical structure or prosody of the poem. In “The Philosophy of Composition,” he defines his calculated approach for ingenious versification:



> Of course, I pretend to no originality in either the rhythm or metre of the “Raven.” The former is trochaic—the latter is octameter acatalectic, alternating with heptameter catalectic repeated in the refrain of the fifth verse, and terminating with tetrameter catalectic. Less pedantically the feet employed throughout (trochees) consist of a long syllable followed by a short: the first line of the stanza consists of eight of these feet—the second of seven and a half (in effect two-thirds)—the third of eight—the fourth of seven and a half—the fifth the same—the sixth three and a half.


Second Disclaimer - I think the raven carving is pretty cool!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Tom Smart (Sep 18, 2020)

Mike Hill said:


> First Disclaimer- I make no claim that ANY of my Eng Lit teachers liked me publicly - maybe secretly - but they did not dare publicly!
> 
> I told one that like there was no crying in baseball, there was no poetry in football!
> 
> ...


Dang, Mike, that's way too heady for me. But it did say something about how hard up you were to get girls.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 1 | Funny 2


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## Mike Hill (Sep 18, 2020)

When ya ugly and ignorant of the social graces - one has to do sumpthing! Ain't wood the answer to everything?

Reactions: Like 1


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## barry richardson (Sep 18, 2020)

This is all I gotta say about that...

Reactions: Like 1 | Great Post 1 | Way Cool 1


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## Tom Smart (Sep 18, 2020)

Ha! That cat looks hungry but I’ll bet Raymond can hold his own.


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## TimR (Sep 19, 2020)

Love it Barry, your talent has no bounds in our eyes!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## DLJeffs (Sep 26, 2020)

Mike Hill said:


> First Disclaimer- I make no claim that ANY of my Eng Lit teachers liked me publicly - maybe secretly - but they did not dare publicly!
> 
> I told one that like there was no crying in baseball, there was no poetry in football!
> 
> ...



Metrical structure? Prosody of the poems? Ingenious versification? Are those even real words? My favorite poems are Robert Service's "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee".

Reactions: Like 1


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## Mike Hill (Sep 28, 2020)

Of course, I've managed to thread jack once again. But life is just so interesting! and worthy of comment! 

Unlike Paladin - I don't get too much from the Bard - BUT I do get a kick outta cowboy poetry! Some of my favorite lines, that I've forgotten come from cowboy poetry! 

Because of my choice of career there is The Builders - by Longfellow.

And then, a few years ago I ran across - The Craftsman - by Marcus Christian.

But thin blue smoke really stirs my soul - And I just had to jot down a few words in its honor!


Ye Ode to the Brisket

How oft does want of Brisket doth torture my spirit
Slave of its delicious hauteur, nothing to do but tend
Like a melancholy malcontent, glistening eyes focused
Hours and times of my hunger the plateau doth pass
Nothing but time and precious mesquite can I but offer
Low and slow doth my sweet brisket’s beauty revealed
Sublime, rouse myself; and the weak wanton hunger
Shall from my bowels unloose its masculine restraint
Not at war, stomach at peace, content in fullness.
Oh mighty Brisket, penchant of memory, smoky perfection.

Started this one, but need to finish and refine. - It has about a dozen verses, but lots of work needed.

Lonesome Bubba Blues 

Who me? I’m a lonesome smoker
Call me Smokey Lonesome
Gett’n mighty low, the shadow of a man I once knew, 
Same old truck, same old job, same old stinky socks
But not the same old me – that cruel finger of fate
The real me no one ever sees- no one really cares
I once had something good, now there’s nothing there.
I could smoke a condor, feed it to the PETA crowd 
and they’d want the recipe.






O

Reactions: Like 2 | Sincere 1


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## FranklinWorkshops (Sep 28, 2020)

This whole discussion of language in the old days versus now reminded me of this very funny comedy routine about what a children's story in the 1500s might sound like. This comedian said that Shakespeare had a vocabulary of 54,000 words compared to the average 3000 words we now use.
So take a few minutes to listen to the Three Little Pigs in a way you've never heard it before.

Reactions: Great Post 1 | Funny 4


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## Wildthings (Sep 28, 2020)

FranklinWorkshops said:


> This whole discussion of language in the old days versus now reminded me of this very funny comedy routine about what a children's story in the 1500s might sound like. This comedian said that Shakespeare had a vocabulary of 54,000 words compared to the average 3000 words we now use.
> So take a few minutes to listen to the Three Little Pigs in a way you've never heard it before.


That was fricken' awesome!!

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Mike Hill (Sep 29, 2020)

FranklinWorkshops said:


> This whole discussion of language in the old days versus now reminded me of this very funny comedy routine about what a children's story in the 1500s might sound like. This comedian said that Shakespeare had a vocabulary of 54,000 words compared to the average 3000 words we now use.
> So take a few minutes to listen to the Three Little Pigs in a way you've never heard it before.


Why does one have to make up comedy - when the truth can be so funny - forthwith!

Reactions: Agree 2


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## DLJeffs (Sep 29, 2020)

That's funny. It also struck me how funny comedians can be without resorting to foul language.


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