Bjarne Jespersen
Magic woodcarving is the art of carving a piece of wood into parts that are loose, but cannot be separated. Traditional examples are wooden chains and balls in cages, as seen in such items as Welsh love spoons and European wool winders. My book Woodcarving Magic explains the geometric methods I have used to introduce new levels of sophistication to the subject.
My carvings this year are of a type I call "magic spheres". The "magic" becomes apparent when you manipulate the object and discover that its parts are in fact loose and able to move slightly among each other - a very surprising experience! You will not find anything like them in traditional carving, nor in my book, but hopefully in a second book focusing on this type of carving.
The six scarabs are carved from a solid sphere and stained after their separation. The pattern is based on a sketch by M C Escher that he never worked out as a finished drawing; perhaps because of an awkward position of the legs. I have solved the leg issue by allowing two mirrored versions of the tile.