Carve Your Own Totem Pole

If you are interested in making your own totem, this book has lots of inspiration and tips and patterns

This book help me a lot when I was carving a 9ft totem pole. While mine was not the same as those in the book, it did the job.

I plan on carving a totem to go on my garden shed. This book tells me what tools to use and how to go about it.

Nice, but not quite what I was expecting. I planned to make small totems in my home with a few basic tools but this book concerns huge outdoors projects the size of trees (and big ones) using lumberjack equipment. No reflection on the book of course but it was a bit of a shock. I reckon it's a 5 star book for the purpose intended.

bought for my son cant wait till he starts carving

The book is amazing and very appealing. I cannot wait to start carving. :-)

Bought for friend - he absolutely loved it - bright pictures and full of advice and instruction Very good. arrived very quickly - well packaged - very happy Thanks.

This arrived in good order and the content was exactly what I wanted with colourful pictures. It was difficult to know if it would be suitable and I am sure my partner will be able to make himself a wonderful Totem Pole using the information in this book.

I've already started a Totem Pole, but it is my first, so I skip around reading different parts of the book that are appropriate for what I'm working on. The book has great diagrams and tells you how the natives carve and the tools they use. Apparently, a small ax/hatchet with a straight blade is one of their primary tools and it appears homemade chisels and mallets are their other primary tools. I would highly recommend this book for first-time Totem Pole carvers that have some carving experience. My Totoem Pole is a somewhat green Juniper; 10 feet high with a 6" diameter at the top and approximately 8 " at the bottom! I bought it at NW Sustainable in SE Portland because that is one of the only types of poles they stock and I believe they also have cedar posts. I did some research on Juniper and the article said that Juniper will last a lot longer than Cedar in inclement weather conditions! I thought I could complete it in around three month as a winter project, but it is taking me a lot longer because when your carving in 3 D you have to have very good profile pictures so that you get the proportions balanced! The book provides some really good pictures, but since I'm not an artist, I needed better profile pictures, which you can purchse off the internet. One site is Teachers Paying Teachers (TPT)!

トーテムポールを作りたくて、本を探していて出会いました。 今まで数冊の関連図書を購入しましたが、これが最高の１冊です。 洋書ですが、英語がわからなくても大丈夫です。 豊富な図版で直感的に理解できると思います。

many tips & tricks & inspiration

I envision my backyard woods dotted with hand-carved totem poles that depict people in my life and fun moments.....just sticking out of the woods here and there......reminding me of the magic of the Native-People-that-make-totem-poles. Longed to make them. Told my teenage sons "come ON, let's try to make a totem pole, it can be a bonding activity like that brick patio we did when you were six." Both of them REMEMBERED the brick patio and said they thought I was crazy. One of them said: "You don't know how to carve a totem pole." SO I BOUGHT THIS BOOK. And, low and behold, there are actual DIAGRAMS in this book showing one how to divide up the pole into distinct shapes. There are even patterns. This book sits proudly on my coffee table. I plan to carve my own totem pole when those kids go off to school -- won't they be surprised when they see what their momma can do? Anyone else WITH me??

This is just what I was looking for! This book provides a great starting point for designing and carving your own totem pole. The explanations of the basic shapes and colors used in traditional Northwest Coastal totem poles as well as the meanings of some animal symbols helps in guiding and inspiring the design process. The sections on carving tools and techniques were very helpful. This isn't a book on how to become a woodcarver, so someone who has never carved anything might want a general woodcarving book also. There are so many quality books devoted to basic woodcarving techniques I was glad to see these authors focused completely on the subject I bought the book for, rather than repeat info I already had. The book was filled with high quality illustrations and fantastic photos that really helped me understand the concepts being discussed. As for another reviewer's characterization of the poles in this book as "totem-like objects"..... I guess I have some confusion there. The authors of this book (and several others I've read) describe the purpose of traditional totem poles as, well, to say whatever the owners wanted to say. That's what I imagine most carvers want when they pick up a gouge and set to work. If one needs to be historically accurate to call one's work "totem pole" then one would first need to be of the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast, then be apprenticed to a master carver for some years before starting one's first pole, wouldn't one? I would highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to have fun and carve their own story in wood.