Woman begins wood carving business after leaving her old job

KENNEBEC COUNTY, Maine (WABI) - One woman from Central Maine quit her job and decided to pursue a passion that she didn’t know she had.

Now, she’s turned it into an entire business.

“I was working as a vent nurse throughout the entire pandemic. And I just got really burnt out doing that,” said chainsaw artist Taylor White.

After taking a road trip across the country with her boyfriend the two bought a house in Maine.

That’s when he bought me a chainsaw and I’ve been carving since,” said White.

In the last year she’s gone from a beginner to making some truly incredible works of art.

“Honestly, most of the time I end up surprising myself. It’s been a lot of just trial and error, a lot of frustration. Just putting a lot of hours in. It’s definitely not a magic wand that’s gotten me here. It’s been a lot of hard work. And there’s not really anyone that can teach you how to do this. You just kind of have to learn on your own,” White said.

Her newfound passion soon became a new profession.

“The first piece I ever did was a little tree. I carved a tree out of a tree. That was the first thing I did. That was actually the first two things I did. And I put them up on Facebook marketplace. And they went within two days. So, I was like, yeah, I gotta carve something else,” said White.

Her first customers were often the people around her.

“The community’s been really great. Most of my beginning sales were just from people stopping by just pulling in the driveway asking, Hey, can you carve my dog? Or can you carve this? And that’s how it kind of started and it just kind of snowballed into what it is now where I’m pretty much booked out like two three months always,” said White.

She has also begun showcasing her work on her YouTube Channel.

“And it’s been cool because it’s kind of documenting my progress as a carver and it’s happened also fast. It’s really cool to look back and see the progress I’ve made in just a year, year and a name because like I’ve come a long way even honestly in just last couple months. I’ve made a huge leap,” White said.

If you’d like to check out her You Tube channel you can click here.

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