Replies

1. 
   3steers | Dec 22, 2024 04:46pm | #1

   I am a beginning carver and I learned a lot of basics from her site before everything went behind the pay wall. While other issues have put my carving on hold for now, her site gave me the info I needed to start and I liked her approach. I know she has some furniture specific, bed posts etc, videos. One can sign up for a week free, or nearly free, trial and see if it fits one's needs.

2. 
   joeleonetti | Dec 22, 2024 08:46pm | #2

   I bought her Townsend ball and claw foot video series to learn how to carve a ball and claw foot. I found it very helpful. I think she provides enough info so that you can start carving. Practice, rewatch, practice some more. I learned how to woodwork by Paul Sellers. If I were looking for an online woodcarving instructor, I would likely choose Mary May. I have been carving for a year. Time actually carving is the best teacher and if you couple that with Mary May showing you how, you will be in good shape.

3. 
   badger1805 | Dec 23, 2024 01:16pm | #3

   For beginners, I think her videos are great. I liked that they are long and unedited, as they show every cut she makes and she describes what she is doing and what tool she is using throughout the video.

   I, too, started out carving a few years ago with the intent of using it on furniture (I also bought a few of the Mary May resin casts), but I found that I liked it so much and found it to be so challenging that I have done more of it than woodworking as of late (high relief and sculptural/in the round), including two projects that were recently published in magazines. After many years of woodworking (well over 100 projects), there just isn't much need (or room) for more furniture projects.

   Carving uses a much different set of artistic skills than woodworking, and is a bit more difficult than woodworking, IMO. I'm sure my comment will generate some negative comments, but to each his own.

4. 
   rclark5 | Dec 24, 2024 06:22pm | #4

   I'm a pretty basic woodcarver, would not aspire to being called intermediate. I've carved some egg and dart moldings and can do some architectural stuff, but I don't have good spatial awareness (I draw like a 6 year old). I watched a lot of Mary's videos when they were free, and was signed up for a while as a subscriber, but just didn't use it enough after that to make it worthwhile. She's a great instructor. Start out with her courses, see if you like her approach. As someone mentioned, a lot of it is gaining muscle memory.

5. 
   lat_axe | Dec 25, 2024 05:04am | #5

   Not to denigrate the ability of any presenter at the subject-matter they attempt to teach but ..... teaching is a very different skill to carving, as is putting together (directing, producing and editing) an instructional video.

   "Long and unedited" often means, "Filled with tedious, repetitious and irrelevant content full of ambiguity and unexplained technical terms".

   Personally I look for video instructionals that are not just a stream of consciousness but well-produced in terms of organisation of the content, clarity of the information and keeping to the point. Unless such videos are produced, directed, scripted and edited by a professional organisation (as with Fine Woodworking videos, for example) many subject experts will fail at presenting that subject effectively in a teaching manner.

   PS I can't comment on his videos, having never seen any, but Chris Pye's two volumes "Woodcarving Tools, Materials and Equipment" are a very good guide indeed to the fundamentals of wood carving. He makes the point that many assume that an understanding of the tools and techniques will just arise with experience, but that this doesn't happen in practice. What does happen is that would-be carvers develop untutored experiences that lead to poor results or even an early abandonment of their attempts to learn.

   https://www.amazon.com/Woodcarving-Materials-Equipment-Chris-Pye/dp/1635618142/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2FRQRDXSMCGRC&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.T5B9Mn4iX9_AOKVZSTv4IqmMWris_gongk-VIWBGi8-yHjBY-JPhtmChFD9aM41FDhY5bV6mtXVyyF-27K5x0eDP_6qu8Gb5xwU_Zwq4RhY21wyRq9W784AAvx-aDnwrFdI7C4d-_Vv4fSWzVOMlgrBaeuQ-lNz3IctmDOPNpPQtGd7u0oYYY6jWplnpRq-R2gdsNfSK1sj6OmYA8Iq-UaczBPAk-93SXq3pKKbaBhI.asp1iNcc7XB6fBhA04EniMQpzi8t2tqL4u_a9V0kiO0&dib_tag=se&keywords=Chris+Pye&qid=1735121522&s=books&sprefix=chris+pye%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C149&sr=1-2

   These two volumes are a model of information organisation and explanation. They cover a vast amount of basic information essential to getting the best use from the many carving tools & techniques that are not found in the great majority of how-to carving info out there, even that in this magazine (which is generally well above the standard of most WW info sources).

1. 
   badger1805 | Dec 25, 2024 09:01pm | #6

   IMO Mary May is a good carver but an even better teacher.

   When I used her videos, I would watch for say ten minutes, then pause the video and do the carving. If you are bored, then fast forward through it.

   You say: "Long and unedited" often means, "Filled with tedious, repetitious and irrelevant content full of ambiguity and unexplained technical terms". Have you actually watched any of her videos? None of what you say applies to her videos, so I'm not sure why you offer an opinion of Mary May, which is what the OP asked about. There's a lot more to be taken from watching her entire process of carving than can be obtained through the type of magazine articles about carving that I see.

   I do agree that the Chris Pye books are excellent. Nothing replaces the benefit of watching the carving process, however.

1. 
   lat_axe | Dec 26, 2024 04:16am | #7

   I have watched two YouTube vids of Mary May and found them disorganised and often obscure, basically because their verbal content consisted of a serious of statements that were incomplete, unexplained in the detail and often ambiguous.

   One way of interpreting this is that I'm too thick to take in decent info. Another is that the info isn't decent. :-)

   It may be a matter of taste and expectation held by people from different cultural backgrounds. (I'm a highly sceptical Northern Briton - never a fan of anything or anyone). I find most of the YouTube stuff I come across about woodworking to be too disorganised, ambiguous and often more about the presenter than what's presented. Displaying "a personality" seems to be the main point, rather than the woodworking.

   In contrast, who's style do I find the most educative? One example is David Charlesworth, who gives information that's extremely clear, complete and unambiguous .... but at a glacial and exhaustive pace that many find frustrating. I also had a look at a couple of Chris Pye vids on YouTube, since I last posted in this thread. Another presentational and organisational style that's clear, to the point and not packed with superfluous gabble or long obscure shots of someone just chiselling or gouging at summick sans-explanation of what's going on and why.

   All a matter of taste, perhaps.

   I also had a look at the Mary May articles in FWW. As with all FWW content, they benefit hugely from the production, direction, editing and presentational overlay imposed by the magazine editors on the providers of the info.