George Hollister – Well, golly GWhiz

Well, golly GWhiz, this guy has some pretty impressive projects! George Hollister of Fayetteville, GA started looking in 2009 for a new toy to add uniqueness to his woodworking projects. He purchased his CarveWright machine in 2010 through Lowes and quickly joined the CarveWright Community Forum as GWhiz.

“There is a learning curve, but it’s not steep. I started out with simple projects and spent a lot of time on the CarveWright forum learning from others.”

“I learned early to do test carves when I wasn’t sure of something and burned through a lot of foam board instead of expensive wood.”

Initially, George thought he would just make signs and put names on boxes. In 2010, he began making urn boxes for Garden of Innocence, a charity organization that helps bury abandoned children.

Then, inspired by what he saw on the Community Forum, his projects slowly grew more complex. He began working with acrylics, first a lithophane and now takes many orders for his colorful side lit acrylic signs. He is even experimenting with adding electrified wood in some of his carving projects.

George added software add-ons as he needed them. First, he added Centerline & Conforming Vectors, then the Scanning Probe with Pattern Editor, which he used to scan his daughters trophy for a pattern he wanted of a horse jumping for one of his largest projects to date.

More recently, he has added Designer PRO and Pattern Sculptor, which allows him to import and modify STL files.

“That has opened up a new world of carving and most of my current projects are using those models…”

A lifelong “tinkerer and maker”, George’s interest in woodworking began in a high school shop class. Thirty years ago, he made a chair for his 1 year old son with a circular saw, router and dowels. His granddaughter still enjoys that chair, along with her very own chair made by Grampa and personalized with the CarveWright.

George enjoys making projects for his family and friends, but also sells on Etsy and Facebook under the name Sleeping Dog Woodworks. When not in his new woodshop in Georgia, he is active in other ways like scuba diving and riding around on his Harley.

We look forward to seeing more of your projects. In the meantime, Cheers to you, George.