Some years ago, around 20 at a guess, I carved a letter opener out of a piece of ivy. The blade was in the shape of a Javanese Kris, something like the one below in general shape.

Well, the letter opener went missing long ago but I learned that Ivy is very easy to carve doesn't warp and dries to a fairly hard wood with little splitting.

Lately, I have been using Ivy as a means to "sketch" with, what I mean is that a quick carving can be done to either test an idea out or just to practice something a little challenging.

Last week I wanted to look at an idea to do with something that I was whittling for a friend, so I had a try at a rough carving of a Chanterelle mushroom. Not a masterpiece,  but an hour or so and the following was the result, not really finished and probably never will be.

As I say nothing wonderful but a quick and easy way of trying out an idea. This week I thought that I would try another attempt at carving a hand, I did one a few years ago and it came out okay, at least for me it did as I make no claim to artistic talent.

That hand is only a couple of inches long, however, I thought that I would like to revisit the idea. The best thing about carving a hand is that you have one with you to use as a model. This is the Ivy roughly carved out, it will go somewhere warm for a couple of weeks to dry and harden off and then I will decide whether it is goingto be finished.

There is a lot of Ivy on old trees around here some 3/4 inches across. It seems a cheap and enjoyable way of trying out ideas for whittling projects, why not give it a try.