David W. Crothers ~ Custom Woodcarving Artisan

For more than twenty years I have been engaged in woodcarving professionally. Initially, I carved "in-the-round" but very quickly became intrigued with the immense design possibilities of a centuries old and very unique form of carving known as kerbschnitzen , or chip carving . What drew me to this method was its purist nature, in that it involved doing all the work from the deepest segments to the most delicate with just one knife , including all of the lettering. Additionally, it enabled me to carve items of a functional nature that were meant to be handled rather than items that were purely for static display.

[The knife pictured is the only cutting tool employed to do all of the carving -- from the deepest segments, to the straight lines, to the intricate detail and script (including the dots over the i's!). The compass and pencil are used to lay out the design directly on the wood. After design layout, all guides are put aside and the carving is executed freehand while holding the wood to be carved in my lap. The key to achieving the crisp look of the final product is to excise each segment of the carving in one piece on the first attempt.]

I began gaining recognition in this artform by creating custom heirloom boxes. Soon I was receiving requests to create works that would house cherished mementos or mark a special occasion in patrons' lives or the lives of someone they loved. Early on I made a decision to write a "provenance" with each unique box so that the circumstances surrounding its creation would not be lost with the passage of time. The provenance has an immense impact when the box is presented to the recipient while adding not only considerable emotional value but also actual value to the box when it is passed along through future generations. As word of mouth spread I found myself consistently busy carving these specially requested heirlooms. Commissions led to my work being placed in private collections throughout the United States and in various countries around the globe (with inscriptions carved in various native languages). Along the way I had the good fortune to have my work selected for publication in both national and international magazines recognizing my carving accomplishment.

More recently, I was requested to create some unique products with the express purpose of reproducing them via a casting procedure, therefore making "custom work" available to a larger audience at a very affordable cost. Two examples of these products are the Wine Bottle Display Stand and the Gothic Cross shown in the Collectibles section under "Unique Gifts"and a custom box created for the Aloha Island Coffee Co. as a Limited Edition Package to house the world's rarest coffee.

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