Local Artist Dustin Wiggs Likes A Challenge
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
He asked what her two favorite things were, and he was told it was frogs and crosses.
Using his artistic skills, Wiggs carved a mother frog holding a baby frog, sitting at the base of a cross. He wanted to give it to the family on the anniversary of her death this year in remembrance of her and her baby. After the piece was displayed in a Lakeland Art Association art show, he gave it to them this week.
Wiggs gives most of his art away as gifts.
“I realized when I was very young that I could draw really well. Through high school, I did mostly pen drawings, black and white, glass etching, pencil drawing and stuff like that. When I was in college I started playing around with wood carving and it quickly turned into my favorite hobby,” Wiggs said.
When he started wood carving, he’d carve anything he could put his mind to.
He said, “I love a challenge, so anyone would give me an idea and I would attempt it. Each time I attempted something, I was able to do it, so I just kept pushing myself farther. Mostly everything I make I give away as a gift.”
Each time he finds a new kind of wood, he tries to work with it. He tries to incorporate different types of wood into each new project.
Some of the first carvings Wiggs did were chess pieces.
“I figured if they were small and detailed like that, I could do a larger project, so that was my first attempt. They worked out. Hopefully one day I’ll finish the full chess set,” he said.
“I’ve done many carvings ... the frog sitting in the park (carving) was for my sister, who absolutely loves frogs. That year for Christmas I picked a family member and it happened to be her to make a project for. This time I wanted to challenge myself to add lighting to it, and I was able to,” he said.
The carving features two frogs sitting on a park bench. On the back is her favorite Bible verse. Wiggs submitted the piece to the First Annual Robbins Juried Art Show at Warsaw Community High School this year, and it was one of two pieces accepted.
“I wanted to attempt my first relief carving, which is where you take a flat surface and carve into it to make it look like the object is coming out of it. It’s a style of carving. I wanted to challenge myself in trying it so I did the Notre Dame carving, which is a very basic relief carving, for my boss, who loves Notre Dame. It turned out, and I really enjoyed it, so I attempted a second one, with a lot more detail, which is the wedding album,” he said.
The album also was in the Juried Art Show.
“The wedding album was a gift to my wife so we could, of course, put all of our wedding photos in it and it could be personal for her,” he said. “It’s completely hand carved. I wanted to also make it a picture frame itself so part of the face of the album is a picture frame.”
Another large project that Wiggs created was the “Battle Shots.”
“When we have get-togethers with our friends, we always come up with games to play,” he said.
They had found a picture of a makeshift oversized Battle Ships board drawn on a tablecloth and using shot glasses to play the board game.
“It gave me the idea of building a full travel-size collapsible board to play Battle Ship with shots. I could take it over to friends’ houses and it completely unfolds. You pull out the ships and the ships hold the exact same amount of shot glasses that the game of Battle Ship holds pegs,” Wiggs explained.
Every single line on the game and the words “Battle Shots” were hand carved. It took Wiggs about 10 hours to carve it and another few days to sand and paint it. He carved handles into it for easy carrying.
“It’s been a really big hit with all my friends and family. Everytime we go somewhere, they always say bring your Battle Shots,” he stated.
Salt Rocks
A little more than a year ago he met Rhonda Williamson, the owner of Himalayan Salt Creations, 112 N. Buffalo St., Warsaw. He started doing carvings for charity for her. Williamson sells salt rocks in her store.
“For another challenge, I tried to see if I could carve and engrave them. I was able to,” Wiggs stated.
Besides working for the Warsaw Parks Department, most of Wiggs’ time is taken up at the rock store doing engravings for customers and charities.
The largest rock he carved was for Kosciusko Community Hospital. It weighed around 170 pounds.
“There’s an extremely large variety of requests from customers of the store. Patriotic themes, sports themes, names and dates in remembrance. I did one for yoga, one for ABATE, the breast cancer society, for fundraisers, lots of sports themes, basketballs and baseballs, a lot of college stuff. I’ve done so many. My favorite ones are the patriotic ones – the eagles, the flags,” he said.
“I love any type of art. I love a challenge. I was born a color-blind artist,” Wiggs stated.
Salt Cave
There are only a few therapeutic “salt caves” in the world, with the closet one being in Naperville, Ill., Wiggs said. Williamson had the idea of designing a full Himalayan salt cave in the back of the store to use for therapy sessions.
Wiggs said, “She had a gentleman who absolutely loved the store and the products and offered to donate to help fund the building of the cave and bathroom facilities. Thanks to Mr. Till, his donation was greatly appreciated.”
Williamson looked into contracting it out but it was tens of thousands of dollars to build one. Wiggs stopped in to drop off a carving. He talked to her about her ideas, then went home and did a lot of research on what the cave was and what it needed to be functional. He drew up numerous floor plans and ideas, then took them to her the next day.
He started working on the cave July 10, 2012. He plans to have it finished by the First Friday July 5.
There’s a wheel-chair accessible ramp bringing you up to the cave as many of the store’s clients are elderly.
A lit brick portion of flooring allows wheel chairs to navigate without going through the 2-1/2 inches of granular salt that covers the rest of the floor.
On the left wall is a large rectangular area of lighted salt bricks that glow in their own pattern.
The center of the room houses the main piece, an octagon shape with 150 feet of light and numerous heated salt rocks hidden throughout that gives a warm glow to the whole room.
Farther in the room on the left is the “fireplace,” designed out of salt rock, topped by a mister where salt is dissolved and emitted into the air.
Beside that is the brick “well,” with another 150 feet of light, making the whole well glow. Above it is a waterfall that helps with the ambiance of the room.
The next corner is a piece that looks like jail bars that holds more salt without taking up a lot of floor space. A similar piece is in the opposite corner of the room.
Wiggs’ favorite piece of the cave is designed to look like an aquarium. Inside it is a large rock with a carving of a soldier kneeling at the cross, and underneath it, it says “One Nation Under God.” It also has a large light behind it and spotlights shining on it that make it glow.
The last piece in the room near the door is a 7-foot cross made of the salt bricks that glow. It is Wiggs’ second-favorite piece.
The entire structure of the cave is all built with salt and sawmill cut beams all from the same tree.
“I wanted the look of the cave to almost be a barn style,” Wiggs said. “Barn-style beams are what holds the ceiling and the walls together. I wanted that look. Across the ceiling are rocks that hang and also are warmed and lit with lights.”
There will be zero gravity chairs where customers can sit and relax. Customers have stated that they want miniature versions of the cave in their home, so that’s something else Wiggs could end up doing down the road.
Now that the store’s cave is coming to completion, Wiggs will continue with his art, among his many other hobbies. He did Taekwondo for 11 years, has been body building for the last couple of years and loves to do landscape design. He’s also working to become a certified EMT.
“I’m always looking for the next challenge,” he said. “I’m always looking for things that haven’t been made before.”
He’s wants to meet other wood carvers and is willing to learn more. He wants to recreate many of the native weapons, from clubs to spears, and eventually make something for everyone in his family. A friend challenged him to carve Mount Rushmore into a rock, and he’s already picked out the rock for that project.
He also plans to enter more art shows as he has pieces available. The two shows he entered this year were the first time he entered anything since high school.
“It was fun and I want to do that again in the future,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]
He asked what her two favorite things were, and he was told it was frogs and crosses.
Using his artistic skills, Wiggs carved a mother frog holding a baby frog, sitting at the base of a cross. He wanted to give it to the family on the anniversary of her death this year in remembrance of her and her baby. After the piece was displayed in a Lakeland Art Association art show, he gave it to them this week.
Wiggs gives most of his art away as gifts.
“I realized when I was very young that I could draw really well. Through high school, I did mostly pen drawings, black and white, glass etching, pencil drawing and stuff like that. When I was in college I started playing around with wood carving and it quickly turned into my favorite hobby,” Wiggs said.
When he started wood carving, he’d carve anything he could put his mind to.
He said, “I love a challenge, so anyone would give me an idea and I would attempt it. Each time I attempted something, I was able to do it, so I just kept pushing myself farther. Mostly everything I make I give away as a gift.”
Each time he finds a new kind of wood, he tries to work with it. He tries to incorporate different types of wood into each new project.
Some of the first carvings Wiggs did were chess pieces.
“I figured if they were small and detailed like that, I could do a larger project, so that was my first attempt. They worked out. Hopefully one day I’ll finish the full chess set,” he said.
“I’ve done many carvings ... the frog sitting in the park (carving) was for my sister, who absolutely loves frogs. That year for Christmas I picked a family member and it happened to be her to make a project for. This time I wanted to challenge myself to add lighting to it, and I was able to,” he said.
The carving features two frogs sitting on a park bench. On the back is her favorite Bible verse. Wiggs submitted the piece to the First Annual Robbins Juried Art Show at Warsaw Community High School this year, and it was one of two pieces accepted.
“I wanted to attempt my first relief carving, which is where you take a flat surface and carve into it to make it look like the object is coming out of it. It’s a style of carving. I wanted to challenge myself in trying it so I did the Notre Dame carving, which is a very basic relief carving, for my boss, who loves Notre Dame. It turned out, and I really enjoyed it, so I attempted a second one, with a lot more detail, which is the wedding album,” he said.
The album also was in the Juried Art Show.
“The wedding album was a gift to my wife so we could, of course, put all of our wedding photos in it and it could be personal for her,” he said. “It’s completely hand carved. I wanted to also make it a picture frame itself so part of the face of the album is a picture frame.”
Another large project that Wiggs created was the “Battle Shots.”
“When we have get-togethers with our friends, we always come up with games to play,” he said.
They had found a picture of a makeshift oversized Battle Ships board drawn on a tablecloth and using shot glasses to play the board game.
“It gave me the idea of building a full travel-size collapsible board to play Battle Ship with shots. I could take it over to friends’ houses and it completely unfolds. You pull out the ships and the ships hold the exact same amount of shot glasses that the game of Battle Ship holds pegs,” Wiggs explained.
Every single line on the game and the words “Battle Shots” were hand carved. It took Wiggs about 10 hours to carve it and another few days to sand and paint it. He carved handles into it for easy carrying.
“It’s been a really big hit with all my friends and family. Everytime we go somewhere, they always say bring your Battle Shots,” he stated.
Salt Rocks
A little more than a year ago he met Rhonda Williamson, the owner of Himalayan Salt Creations, 112 N. Buffalo St., Warsaw. He started doing carvings for charity for her. Williamson sells salt rocks in her store.
“For another challenge, I tried to see if I could carve and engrave them. I was able to,” Wiggs stated.
Besides working for the Warsaw Parks Department, most of Wiggs’ time is taken up at the rock store doing engravings for customers and charities.
The largest rock he carved was for Kosciusko Community Hospital. It weighed around 170 pounds.
“There’s an extremely large variety of requests from customers of the store. Patriotic themes, sports themes, names and dates in remembrance. I did one for yoga, one for ABATE, the breast cancer society, for fundraisers, lots of sports themes, basketballs and baseballs, a lot of college stuff. I’ve done so many. My favorite ones are the patriotic ones – the eagles, the flags,” he said.
“I love any type of art. I love a challenge. I was born a color-blind artist,” Wiggs stated.
Salt Cave
There are only a few therapeutic “salt caves” in the world, with the closet one being in Naperville, Ill., Wiggs said. Williamson had the idea of designing a full Himalayan salt cave in the back of the store to use for therapy sessions.
Wiggs said, “She had a gentleman who absolutely loved the store and the products and offered to donate to help fund the building of the cave and bathroom facilities. Thanks to Mr. Till, his donation was greatly appreciated.”
Williamson looked into contracting it out but it was tens of thousands of dollars to build one. Wiggs stopped in to drop off a carving. He talked to her about her ideas, then went home and did a lot of research on what the cave was and what it needed to be functional. He drew up numerous floor plans and ideas, then took them to her the next day.
He started working on the cave July 10, 2012. He plans to have it finished by the First Friday July 5.
There’s a wheel-chair accessible ramp bringing you up to the cave as many of the store’s clients are elderly.
A lit brick portion of flooring allows wheel chairs to navigate without going through the 2-1/2 inches of granular salt that covers the rest of the floor.
On the left wall is a large rectangular area of lighted salt bricks that glow in their own pattern.
The center of the room houses the main piece, an octagon shape with 150 feet of light and numerous heated salt rocks hidden throughout that gives a warm glow to the whole room.
Farther in the room on the left is the “fireplace,” designed out of salt rock, topped by a mister where salt is dissolved and emitted into the air.
Beside that is the brick “well,” with another 150 feet of light, making the whole well glow. Above it is a waterfall that helps with the ambiance of the room.
The next corner is a piece that looks like jail bars that holds more salt without taking up a lot of floor space. A similar piece is in the opposite corner of the room.
Wiggs’ favorite piece of the cave is designed to look like an aquarium. Inside it is a large rock with a carving of a soldier kneeling at the cross, and underneath it, it says “One Nation Under God.” It also has a large light behind it and spotlights shining on it that make it glow.
The last piece in the room near the door is a 7-foot cross made of the salt bricks that glow. It is Wiggs’ second-favorite piece.
The entire structure of the cave is all built with salt and sawmill cut beams all from the same tree.
“I wanted the look of the cave to almost be a barn style,” Wiggs said. “Barn-style beams are what holds the ceiling and the walls together. I wanted that look. Across the ceiling are rocks that hang and also are warmed and lit with lights.”
There will be zero gravity chairs where customers can sit and relax. Customers have stated that they want miniature versions of the cave in their home, so that’s something else Wiggs could end up doing down the road.
Now that the store’s cave is coming to completion, Wiggs will continue with his art, among his many other hobbies. He did Taekwondo for 11 years, has been body building for the last couple of years and loves to do landscape design. He’s also working to become a certified EMT.
“I’m always looking for the next challenge,” he said. “I’m always looking for things that haven’t been made before.”
He’s wants to meet other wood carvers and is willing to learn more. He wants to recreate many of the native weapons, from clubs to spears, and eventually make something for everyone in his family. A friend challenged him to carve Mount Rushmore into a rock, and he’s already picked out the rock for that project.
He also plans to enter more art shows as he has pieces available. The two shows he entered this year were the first time he entered anything since high school.
“It was fun and I want to do that again in the future,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]
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