OPUS X: ALMOST THERE

By freehand, I drew out the Fuente Fuente Opus X label on a sheet of MDF enlarged to 30" across. My first attempt at a cigar label had gone quite well in the carving process. My only downfall was that I decided to carve almost EVERYTHING. While it made for a beautiful carving, it took forever to complete.

Once completed, I began the process of painting it. As if the carving wasn't difficult enough, the painting was just as painstaking of a process. Getting the colors right was quite a task, but it was obvious that Carlito Fuente put a lot of effort into them by the result.


I had only finished painting the carved portions (as seen above), when I decided to bring the carving by Enrico's Cigar Hideaway. Since they are primarily a Fuente shop, I figured they would enjoy seeing it. Within ten seconds of walking in the door with the carving under one of my arms, the man behind the counter said "I'll give you $1200 for it!" While selling it was the last thing that was on my mind, I was quite shocked and flattered by the offer.

Up until this point, the carving had been a typical piece of art for me. I knew all of its flaws and wasn't completely happy with the piece. Maybe I was missing the forest for the trees. After the offer for the piece was floated, it was then that I knew I was onto something.

THE FIRST CIGAR CARVING

I wanted my first personal carving to be aesthetically pleasing and have meaning to it. I had been smoking cigars fairly regularly since high school. My first really memorable cigars was a Romeo y Julieta Cedros De Luxe No. 1 that I smoked freshman year at Furman. I was hooked! My local cigar shop back home in NJ was primarily a Fuente store. The shop was called Enrico's Cigar Hideaway, and yes, they spoiled me rotten. While I couldn't get my hands on the Cubans that had gotten me hooked, the Fuente smokes that I bought at Enrico's were phenomenal. On occasion, I would treat myself to an Opus X, Fuente's super-premium line. The cigar label that was ever so carefully wrapped around these cigars is an absolute masterpiece...intertwined letters, gold beading, rich reds and oranges, all printed on thick embossed paper.


Not only were the cigars fantactic and the label amazing, the family behind the cigars was a story in itself. The Fuente family has been spotlighted several times by Cigar Aficionado and other magazines. Their journey of building the Fuente legacy is quite an awe-inspiring tale. A perfect subject in all respects!

Five carvings in 3 years is not exactly what we'd call worthy of a profession, but it was still a very rewarding albeit time-consuming hobby. With the exception of the fraternity badge, each was a gift that I had painstakingly made and then gave away (I find this is an awfully painful thing to do as an artist).

I had graduated college and the time had come that I really wanted to make something for myself that was wall-worthy. It took me a while to find a suitable subject, but when I found it, I just knew it would be perfect (and gutsy as you'll see when you read above).

A SLOW START

Being that I was in college studying my life away (big white lie?), I didn't have much time to spend sitting alone in my dorm room carving for hours on end. After all, I was having too much fun and would've hated to gain a reputation as a loner.

I did however find time when special occasions arose. My next piece was a carving of a cross for my father. Big Gordon has worn a very unique cross ever since I can remember. It is a beautifully intricate silver cross filled with intertwining religious symbols. Years ago, he had a replica of the cross made which I now wear (infrequently for fear of losing it). I liked the texture and color of bare carving so I decided not to paint it.

After my gift for my father, I carved two smaller crosses, one for Nancy, my mother, and another for Lindsay, one of my sisters. These were Christmas gifts that I made, both uniquely geared towards their styles.

CROSS FOR MOM:

CROSS FOR LINDSAY:

By senior year I had only done pieces for myself and my family (sans one sister, but hers is in the works). My roommate Hank was getting married after graduation, and I wanted to make him and his fiance something special. I decided to carve them a Celtic heart. It came out just as I had hoped.

MY BEGINNING!

As the story goes, way back in 2000 I was a Freshman at Furman University pledging the Sigma Chi Fraternity. As a part of our pledge program we were each required to make a replica of our badge. During the last week of our pledge period, we would carry the badge we made everywhere we went...a creative lesson in accountability demonstrating that we would always be seen not just as a student but a representative of the fraternity.

Generally the pledges would get a sheet of plywood, and, using a stencil, would outline and cut out however many badges were needed for the class and the paint them. Some spent the extra money to buy pre-cut letters and designs from the local Greek shop to make things easier.

Being me and often feeling the need to be different or go the extra, often unnecessary step, I took a little trip to my toy store...HOME DEPOT. There I found medium density fiberboard or MDF. This extremely dense material seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. I took home a piece and carved for days using only an exacto knife. The finished product was fairly imperfect, but it was a creation and I carried it proudly knowing the sweat and blood (literally) that I had poured into it.


A seed had been planted. Although it was years before I really focused on carving, I had seen what I was capable of, and took kindly to my new hobby.