Posted: Saturday, December 21, 2013 3:00 pm | Updated: 9:08 am, Mon Dec 23, 2013.
Local woodcarvers’ Christmas ornaments help charitable efforts By RICK OLIVO Staff Writer
When Bill Vittone was a little boy, he got a toy carpenter’s set as a Christmas present.
He spent the rest of that winter carving little carved boats using the toy chisels and scraps of wood his dad would bring home from work.
In the spring, he would send them off down streams filled with runoff water near his home in Hurley.

For Vittone, it was the humble beginning to what has become a 40-year-long avocation — wood carving.
He got his first real wood-carving set from an uncle, and immediately set about working the wood into various items,
like clocks and ornaments that he would give as gifts to friends and relatives.

It is a pastime that he has transformed into a part-time business. About five years ago, a friend who is a web designer told him it was time to start selling carvings online, and that has led to selling his deep-relief carvings worldwide via his website www.twocarvers.com.
The second carver in the name of the small business is his mother, Sue Vittone. Between the two of them, they carve relief signs that can be placed on buildings, carved portraits and incongruously, small whimsical Christmas decorations, suitable for putting on the tree.

Bill has been a physical therapist assistant for 11 years for Aegis Therapies at Golden LivingCenter — Court Manor in Ashland and every year since he has been there he has offered the Christmas decorations for sale, with a portion of the proceeds going to Alzheimer’s research, Crone’s Disease research and the Court Manor resident activities fund as well as the Whittlesey Creek 4-H Club.
Between Bill and his mother, there are literally hundreds of ornaments carved every year, in what is essentially a year-round project.
“Every year we try to add to our list a couple of new ones,” Bill said. “We trace them on the wood, cut them out with a band saw and pretty much while we are watching TV, we will sit and carve them out, and throw them in a bucket until we paint them.”
It’s the painting that takes the longest time.
“I can carve one of the ornaments in about 15 minutes, but the painting, and adding the glitter, takes two days,” Bill said.
At the end of that time, there is a new batch of Christmas ornaments; all different, but similar: roly-poly snowmen, Green Bay Packer football players in helmets, Santas and elves. You name it.
“The time between October and Christmas, we are usually very busy,” said Bill. “It seems like everybody waits until the last two weeks to put in a carving order.”

Bill said the two charities he contributes to through the sale of the ornaments were close to his heart. The Crones Disease organization, because he is a sufferer of the digestive malady and the Alzheimer’s Association, because in his job, many of the people he comes into contact with have developed Alzheimer’s.
Vittone said carving for him is a relaxing hobby.
“It’s very fun, and it’s great to be able to pass on the carvings to somebody else to enjoy, or to give as a present,” he said.
“Part of the fun of doing a commission is to give them more than they are expecting,” said Sue Vittone. “They get so excited.”
“A nurse friend of mine gave me a picture of her great grandfather throwing hay on a wagon pulled by two mules,” recalled Bill Vittone. “I remember when I gave the carving to her, within a few seconds she started crying.”
That is a scene that is repeated often, when carvings are delivered he said.
“It’s very meaningful for them,” he said.
“That is the best part of carving,” Sue said.
“It’s heartwarming to do stuff like that,” Bill agreed.
The one-of-a-kind hand-carved, lovingly hand-painted Christmas ornaments can be purchased at Golden LivingCenter — Court Manor located at 911 West Third Street in Ashland. They are on display in the lounge at the main entrance.
Rick Olivo can be reached at: rolivo@ashlanddailypress.net