Every stick I have carved so far is from a dowel rod from the hardware store. The wood is called ramin, and it is an extremely hard wood. I discovered a wood shop on the west side of Cincinnati that make dowels from a variety of woods. This next stick is carved from a cherry dowel rod. In order for Moses to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt, God brought on all these punishments or plagues. They can be found in Exodus 7-12. In the title, Egyptian symbols are illustrated: a pyramid, Pharaoh, different Egyptian letters. Three little pillars separate each plague.
1) Water 2 Blood
2) Frogs
3) Gnats
4) Flies
5) Death of the Livestock
6) Boils
7) Hail
8) Locust
9) Darkness
10) Death of the Firstborn
Each plague was easily illustrated with different carvings. But it took me the longest time to decide how to illustrate darkness out of wood, plague #9. I finally decided to go with the idea of open eyes with a black background. I did create a video of me carving the little pillars in time lapse. (video) I finished this Bible Stick in 1996. It took me about one year to carve.
Click here to see the stick in 3-d
(click on photos to enlarge)
Bible Sticks 