Lehman Township artist gives new life to old wooden objects
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For Bob Moss, the fun starts even before he starts carving.
It starts when he goes to a flea market or an antique co-op with his wife, Gwen, and daughter, Paige, and spots old wooden rolling pins. Or baseball bats. Or maybe some darning eggs, wooden spoons or potato mashers.
“I don’t look at them and see a rolling pin or baseball bat,” said Moss, 46, who lives in Lehman Township. “I see a piece of wood that someone made into a rolling pin or baseball bat.”
He also sees the possibilities — because he knows he can bring out his tools and give that piece of wood a nose, a hat, maybe a beard and, of course, a personality.
“They’re fun and happy, bright and whimsical,” he said of his one-of-a-kind carvings, which he markets as “Whittling Whimsy Wood Carvings by Robert ChrisMoss.”
ChrisMoss, get it? There are plenty of Christmasy Santa Claus figures in his collection, along with snowmen, mice and ghostly creatures suitable for a Halloween display.
Moss’ adventure into the world of carving started a few years ago when he visited a local craft show.
“I liked the whole vibe, the community of artists,” he said. “I went to Home Depot the next day and bought the tools.”
“There are multiple ways that I carve,” said Moss, who is self taught and doesn’t use patterns. “One is with a knife and chisels. I use those tools in carving something soft like basswood.”
For harder woods like maple, he might use a rotary tool called a dremel.
Explaining he never sold online before the coronavirus, Moss said he used to enjoy displaying his work at craft shows such as Arts at Hayfield at Penn State/Wilkes-Barre and Dickens of a Christmas in Wellsboro.
“I miss the interaction with the people, face to face, when they’re viewing my stuff,” he said. “I didn’t expect every person to walk into my booth and buy something, but if they talked for 10 or 15 minutes and left with a smile on their face, that meant a lot.”
This year, he started selling online “and completely sold out … I had 17,500 likes.”
He’s sent pieces of his work to Australia, to Canada and to England.
“One just went to Tanzania,” he said. “Facebook is a world-wide thing.”
Moss sometimes gets up as early as 4 or 4:30 a.m. to start carving, but that’s not all he does.
He works for Pennsylvania Bedding, a manufacturer based in Old Forge, and also trains for ultramarathons, often running with his teen-age daughter and the family’s two dogs.
“I run because my daughter does cross-country for Lake-Lehman. I started running to run with her,” he said, explaining recently that he was looking forward to running 31 miles over a trail that would include the Boulder Field at Hickory Run State Park.
Most of the customers for his rolling pin art are women “in the 40 plus age range,” he said. “They can remember baking with their moms and grandmoms. That’s one reason the rolling pins are so popular. Then they have those memories come back every Christmas (when they display a Santa Claus rolling pin.)
Now that he’s not going to physical shows, Moss said, he doesn’t worry about stockpiling inventory.
“I make it, post it and sell it,” he said.
You can see more samples of his work on the Facebook page for Whittling Whimsy Wood Carvings by Robert ChrisMoss, where it has garnered such comments as “adorable,” “very creative and great craftsmanship” and “You are a true artist; I love these.”