What began nearly two years ago as a Christmas gift idea for each of his 10 siblings quickly evolved into a niche of a hobby for Tommy Granger. After seeing wooden Christmas ornaments, he decided to try and carve some himself. A self-taught artist, it had been some 30 years since he put the brush to canvas, but now he has redirected his creativity and shared his sense of humor by carving caricatures out of wood.

At the start of 2022, he began taking online lessons with leading caricature carver Chris Hammack, from Isla Mexico, starting out with small animals, gnomes and hillbilly folk (a popular subject in the caricature carving world).

“I’ve always liked drawing cartoons,” Granger says. “When we’d take the kids to a restaurant with paper tablecloths and crayons, I was the one drawing a road runner or something funny.” His love for cartoonish or MAD magazine-style art prompted him to explore those funny characters into pieces of wood, and he was immediately hooked on caricatures.

“Carving brings me back to the arts and occupies my time,” says Granger, who sold his occupational safety training company in 2012.

He traveled to Pennsylvania last year and to Isla Mujeres, Mexico in February to attend Hammack’s personal workshops. “I wanted to learn to carve multiple figures to tell a story,” says Granger. “Chris taught me the different cuts, like stop, “v” and gauge, and how to make the tip of the knife curl upwards, as well as what not to do. By April he told me that I didn’t need him anymore – he calls me the Cajun Beaver.”

Today the 71-year-old designs, carves and paints all of his pieces in the workshop next to his home near Youngsville, from 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. “I like to design my own so that I can tell the Cajun story,” says Granger, who grew up with French-speaking parents.

He starts with a small square of basswood, a soft, lightweight wood which renders a smooth finish. Pointing to a pile of paper figures he describes his process. “I trace the outline of my character’s front and side profiles from paper to the wood, and make a rough cut with a band saw. This eliminates the wood I don’t need. Then I redraw the person’s face and other body parts on the wood, taking away more wood with my go-to tools: a palm gouge and a two-inch flex knife. From there I start adding personality with details like the wrinkles on the face, facial expressions and gestures. After I paint the wooden figures, I seal them three times before brushing an antique finish. The group figures are mounted on a plaque.”

He insists that once you learn the cuts, carving caricatures is not hard. “The trickiest part is getting the proportions right,” he maintains. “And you always cut with the grain, turning the wood around.”

Most of Granger’s table-top creations are funny Cajun characters and scenes that he both grew up knowing and has made up along the way. “I carve in my dreams,” he says laughing.

He’s come a long way since his first carving of a guy eating crawfish. He’s graduated to an entire crawfish boil scene, bringing together a motley crew that includes a cigar-smoking granny and a young boy getting pinched on the behind by a crawfish.

His rendition of a boucherie puts a comical spin on the gory Southern tradition: one subject butchering the pig, one getting ready to boil its head, another cutting green onions and the fourth making boudin.

In “Five Flags,” an alligator stands in a barrel of water looking up with a smile, as a roller coaster of people are on their way down.

“I love trying to create funny ideas from a Cajun standpoint,” he says, citing one of his latest creations, “Cajun Speed Bump,” which displays a bicyclist flying over the handlebars as his bike hits an alligator crossing the road.

The collection of nearly 90 caricatures, mostly displayed in glass cases, also includes a few of his favorite entertainers. In a scene straight from Mulate’s dance hall, he points to his uncle, Big John Suire, sitting among noted musicians D.L. Menard, Michael Doucet and Marc Savoy. While explaining, the artist quickly pivots and grabs something, walking over with Elvis, outfitted in a white bejeweled jump suit and donning blinged-out rings. The Beatles and Mick Jagger are on his docket of entertainers to carve next.

The figures are 5 to 8 inches each, taking up to nine hours to complete, start to finish. That said, one of his personal favorites, a detailed replica of the cast from the popular TV series The Beverly Hillbillies, took about 130 hours of carving time.

Sitting in their jalopy of a truck are Jed, with his dog Duke, Jethro, Elly May and Granny Clampett at the top of the heap. Granger included all of the provisions on the truck that fans might expect: ladder, milk jug, wash tub, a little lantern and moonshine jugs. Underneath, though, are amazing unexpected details like the wooden rear-end differential and a drive axle from the back wheel to the transmission. “Judges look for these sorts of details,” assures Granger, referring to the Caricature Carvers of America competition he plans to attend in Colorado in late September.

He also hopes to become a member of the prestigious non-profit group in the near future. “You have to get voted in, so I want to meet as many board members as possible at this banquet,” he reveals. Unable to find caricature carving contests in Louisiana, this will be his first competition, and he is looking forward to entering a collection of his best Cajun figures.

“Even if I don’t win, it will be great to meet these people and see what others are carving,” he shares. One thing’s for sure; by the end of the competition, people will know Tommy Granger and be talking about Louisiana.

In hopes of sustaining the artistry of caricature wood carving through the next generation, Granger plans to begin offering small private classes later this fall, focusing on making (you guessed it) Christmas ornaments. Wooden that be nice.