Description

The Otter is our original critter. He’s changed some over the years but remains the easiest to carve and most forgiving. He makes a great letter opener, or carve him more true-to-life with a round tail. He’s our go-to for first-timers and if you’re not sure which critter to get, we’d recommend the otter.

The Otter’s Inspiration

The Otter is modeled after the North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis). Known as the common otter, they’re native to much of the northern North America and the entire east coast down to Florida. They are social animals and love to play. They typically live in a burrow close to the water but are equally at home on water and land. They’ll prey on just about anything they can catch, especially fish. Even though they’re called a river otter they’ll live by any waterways including the ocean. To learn more about Otters and protecting them, visit The Nature Conservancy https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/indiana/stories-in-indiana/welcome-back-river-otters/

General Description (applies to all our Critters)

All our Critters are made from basswood and roughly 1″ thick, 1.75″ tall and 10″ long. They can all be made into nifty letter openers (just carve their nose/tail into a flatter shape with sharp edges) or carved more true to their namesake critters. While they vary in difficulty (which we try to describe in the description for each) their long, slender shape lends themselves to easier whittling and safe, easy holding (never cut towards yourself or have any part of your body in the path of the knife).

The time it takes to carve will of course vary by Critter but even moreso by experience. Most will take many hours to get right, but if you’re skilled at whittling and “hurry” they can be carved to 90%+ within a few hours. These make excellent projects for learning to carve. They’re excellent gifts both carved and uncarved.

These whittling “kits” are perfect to learn to whittle with. These make excellent carving projects whether you’re looking for a project to do with your kids, grandkids, cousins, friends, or just to do yourself. There’s no easier way to learn carving in wood. We offer ones of varying difficulty to satisfy everyone from the novice to expert. As you get better at carving you’ll be able to add more details to help make each one uniquely yours.

These make excellent group activities whether it’s for your scouting group looking to learn to carve, or your book-club looking for a new activity. All you need is a sharp knife (a locking knife and safety gloves are highly recommended) and a Critter! All of our Critters are designed to make excellent letter openers for those wanting a fun and practical project. They can just as easily be carved into a more natural shape if you don’t need a letter opener. These make excellent gifts, either as blanks to introduce whittling to someone, or fully carved to give them a piece of art. These make an excellent craft project as a stand alone activity, or provides something fun to do while sitting around the campfire talking.

Whittling is an excellent way to relax and slow down. A chance to make something truly yours and explore your artistic side. Our Critters are designed around being easy to carve but there’s no limit to the details you can add. You can easily stop once you’ve roughed the shape with a knife, or you can take it further, sanding off the whittling marks. You can leave it as the natural wood, stain it, or paint it to truly bring out the character of the critter. Carve a single critter, or carve them all, it’s all up to you!