Elizabeth Brown (Liz) is a woodcarver who started carving in 1993 and hasn’t stopped.  Her “guard dog”, Bowie, enthusiastically greeted me when I arrived at her Creating Space at Corner Store Studio, in Liverpool.  Liz was carving and laughingly assured me he was not a killer.  Join me for a visit with Elizabeth Brown, woodcarver.

The wood shop is a wonder.  Look around and you will see all manner of tools, machines, carving knives, lots of beautiful carvings, not only Santas,  and an awesome coffee bar.  I was treated to a London Fog tea. Liz made herself a coffee and we begin to chat.

I planned for the coffee bar as an extension of my carving studio.  Something extra. A place where people could grab a coffee, get a carving, or watch me work a while. Then Hallmark and Covid happened!   Not much traffic in the studio now.  Silver lining, I get all the great coffee I need!  Maybe I should be called the Caffeinated Carver?

At her carving station there are Santas in various stages of completion and plenty of wood curls on the floor.

I can’t carve fast enough to meet all the demand.  As soon as I carve a bunch they are sold.  When I was approached by Hallmark Channel to carve Santas for a movie, I was not sure if I wanted to be involved.  My partner, Jeff (Connolly) encouraged me to Google Hallmark Christmas movies.  Was I ever surprised! I don’t have a tv, so I had no idea how popular they were.  Since the movie, Nostalgic Christmas,  came out last year, every day in this shop has been like December!

About those movies. Unless you have been off the grid you have probably watched, or at least heard of, Hallmark Christmas Movies.  A seemingly endless amount of heartwarming, formulaic stories about Christmas romance. 

In the case of Nostalgic Christmas, a beautiful, big-city department store toy buyer, Anne, returns to her hometown.  There to help her father close his old-fashioned toy store, she meets a lumberjack, plaid-shirt wearing, hometown hunk.  You can guess the rest.  While I don’t want to give anything else away, every wooden Santa, finished and unfinished, was carved by Elizabeth Brown “Carver Chick”!

It took a lot of time to get the Santas ready for the movie.  Working with the movie people, meeting deadlines, and carving the Santas was a whirlwind!  At the same time, she was in the process of a huge reno of the carving studio,  the former Quickway market property.   When the Santa props were delivered they had to wait for 6 months for the movie to air.  All the while wondering what would come of it.

It aired October 31 2019.  The next morning I woke up to discover my website had sold out overnight!  30 Santas!  Just like that! Although I didn’t get a credit in the movie people found me anyway! It was wild, emails, waiting lists, mailing lists.  It exploded.   

Then CTV did a story and it aired across Canada.  After which Liz had to hire help to deal with the 100s of emails!  She smiled and told me that she was probably one of the only non-essential service people longing for a day off during Covid!

I was slammed! Me being me, I had trouble saying no to special orders and commissions. It was a lot and exhausting! I was carving Everyday!!! Soon I realized I had to change.  It was impossible to keep up with special order Santas.  Now I create and carve and Santas appear.  About 8-10 per week, more or less.  Mondays, I have a bunch ready to go on the website.  You should see me with my computer split screen.  I get the email ready to go for my 500+person mailing list.  Then I get all the photos ready to be uploaded to my website.  Next I click each in quick succession and in 3 minutes, or less, they are gone!!!!!   Over a year later it is still crazy!

Every time the movie is replayed new people discover her carvings.  Her partner Jeff arrives at the studio just in time to share his take on how busy it is! Really busy!!! Then he is off prep- painting Santas.  A carpenter by trade, he now works in the studio full time. 

I am so grateful Jeff works with me now! We renovated this place together and I am fortunate to have his expertise in the shop.  For the Santas,  he roughs out the wood and I do all the fine carving  work.  Then he does the base painting and I do all the fine finishing. My son Elias also works part time in the shop. Without their help I would never have been able to produce what I have. We are a great team!

It is easy to see how much artistry goes into making these beautiful works of art.  How, or where, does she find the Santa in the wood?  Does she put him there or is it something different? She lights right up and laughs as she explains.

I assume he’s already there because I have never failed to find him.  I start by using a bandsaw to shape it slightly and give myself a ‘jumping off’ point.  I  shape and adding details as I go.  I carve with a mallet, gouges and my knife. I don’t use any particular pattern. Each Santa is unique and one of a kind. The painted Santas, and fishermen, are all carved in basswood.  It is a hardwood with tight grain that holds detail very well. But I can, and have, carved in many kinds of wood.

I was very interested to know what she thinks about as she carves.   Is it something that requires laser-sharp attention?  She has a very specific philosophy. 

I have long told my students that the beauty of carving wood with hand tools is that you can’t carve and stress. This skill requires just enough attention to be meditative and calming. I listen to podcasts, music, and listen movies while I carve.   Notice I said listening? It would be a bit dangerous to watch while using sharp tools! 

I have been teaching carving lessons in my own studio, at Lee Valley Tools, NSCC, NSDCC, and the MARC over 18 years. I have taught hundreds of students, some have become accomplished carvers and many have remained enthusiastic hobby carvers. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has derailed lessons in most forms, but I would recommend folks interested in taking up the craft take at least an intro class to get them started. 

Her hands are strong, and are her livelihood.  Naturally, I asked whether, after carving for 28 years, she has had any mishaps that required a stitch, or two or three!

NO stitches in 28 years. Not even a close call! I do, however, cut myself on occasion, with just one or two bad ones a year. Mostly I do not notice until I squeeze some lemon or use hand sanitizer.  It Stings!!

Now that we are in the second wave of this pandemic sometimes it feels like there are more pressures.  Whether it is the pandemic, holiday stress or other things. Liz and I are in agreement that it can be helpful to talk about stressful situations.  We are all in this together and can support one another.  

Ok, so I’ve recently been diagnosed with MS which I don’t mind sharing.  Why? Because when I hear how other people handle their troubles, I feel comforted.  Often inspired.  Yes, we all have stress and lots of it is made worse by this pandemic. They say MS is like a snowflake disease in that it is different for everyone. For me, the lesson I believe in and have shared with my family is listen to your body.  Which applies whether you have MS, or not.  I have a wonderful support system and I make a point of  resting when I need to. 

I work really hard at what I do and carve all I can! I still find it exciting to see each Santa! If my carvings make people happy, that makes it worthwhile.  

Liz and I did this interview early in November.  So I sent her a message the other day to ask a few more questions.

1. Are there any Santas available to buy from the shop? 

Yes.  We are open, for now,  just on Saturdays from 10-4. I’ll have a small number of carvings available each Saturday. With the uptick in cases  I have sanitizer and we are ready. 

2. What does she have planned for the holidays? Will she get a break?

My plan for holidays is same as it usually is. Work til the 23rd and collapse on the 24th. 😊

3. Being grateful.

I remember dreaming about what kind of life I’d like to have when I was a very young woman. I imagined working for myself, doing something creative, and living in a farmhouse with property and privacy. It was only about 5 years ago that I realized I had finally created that life and I am very grateful every single day. Yay me! Lol.

To see more of Liz’s work follow her on Instagram or Facebook or visit her website.

Thanks to all of you for reading, and sharing, Creating Space.  Our South Shore is filled with talented & interesting artists.  I love sharing these stories with you.  Hope you all have a safe and peaceful holiday!  Please share with me what you will be doing to carve out some self-care time during this busy season.