Each of Sara Barraclough’s caricature carvings beams with personality! It’s hard to believe that master carver Sara Barraclough has only been carving for 4 years.

Her carving work originally caught the eye of the Woodcarving Illustrated Magazine team where she made her debut in the Spring 2020 issue with her charming bear project. Since then, Sara has been carving her way into the magazine over a handful of times, published her first booklet Weekend Whittling Projects, and authored her very first book Learn to Carve Gnomes, Trolls, and Mythical Creatures.

“I stumbled upon carving in 2017 when I was going through a difficult time and needed something to learn. I believe that when you are going through tough things in life, you need to find a way to channel that energy toward positive things. It works.” – Sara Baraclough

Sara carves throughout the day wherever her first job of being a mom lands her – the car, camping, or even a sports game! Sara creates her own caricatures without patterns using her own personality and expression to each piece.

“My great–grampa and great–great–grampa were Scandinavian master carvers—it is an art that I didn’t want to die out of our family. So, I thought I’d try my hand at it. It was love at first cut and the rest is history. I have been extremely blessed and fortunate to find some wonderful people in the carving community that have offered support and endless knowledge.
My daughter and I live in the sunny Southern Utah
desert surrounded by the red rocks and a whole lot of heat.
It’s my hope that one day she asks the question, “Mom, will
you teach me how to carve?” – Sara Barraclough

Sara is very active on her Instagram page @clevercarver where she built up a fan base that love to watch her carving process. Sara has been most recently featured in the Woodcarving Illustrated Winter 2021 Magazine for her Wheely Turtle toy caricature. Learn to carve with Sara with her selection of books below!