Sask. couple adds personality and character to forgotten driftwood

A retired Melfort couple is taking their unique hobby all around the province with the help of their family.

Recently retired Elvin Preete was looking for a new hobby in 2009, and he came up with woodworking.

He enjoyed working on the lathe and creating different pieces, but he discovered his true passion in carving faces out of driftwood and bark.

“I do faces,” said Elvin Preete, of Elvin’s Creative Carvings. “That’s my main thing. I take a piece of wood and find the character. After a while, they develop their own personalities.”

While working in his shop one day cutting off ends, his wife Roxanne found an opportunity for a hobby of her own.

“He was in the shop cutting it off,” said Roxanne Preete of Rox’s Creations. “And I said, ‘Oh, I see a fairy house in it.’ And that’s how I got doing my fairy houses.”

Roxanne Preete shows one of her wood fairy houses. (John Flatters / CTV News)

With the help of their son writing poems for the fairy houses, and their daughter creating sun catchers, together they create art with driftwood they find near their home.

“The Saskatchewan River way up by E.B. dam,” said Roxanne. “Along different spots, Cadet Lake has an inlet of driftwood. Most of what you're seeing is driftwood and we take it home.”

She says the wood is pretty dirty when they find it, but a process of washing, bleaching and drying it helps make it safe to travel with.

As a result, their locally sourced Saskatchewan driftwood turned into creative art has been taken to some far away destinations.

“I had a guy a couple years ago at the farmers market from New York City,” said Preete. “He says he lives a walk away from Times Square, so that's where one of the pieces went. People at River Landing, the Lord of the Rings, that's where they lived — where the Two Towers are. We have stuff in Dubai, New Zealand, Tokyo, Japan; so our stuff is just about worldwide in different areas. It’s neat to see where pieces go.”

Elvin says he doesn't know what the end product will be when he starts carving. Sometimes the wood determines what the piece will look like at the end.

“It’s the development of the faces that I like,” he said. “As you remove the material, the face develops into something that you recognize. There are characters in them — it just takes time. And sometimes things start out as firewood, they end up as firewood. It just happens.”

While some characters come with cheerful smiles, others take on a more sinister grin.

“Some of them, you can tell something's going on,” he said. “They're in on it, but they just aren't saying nothing. They'll keep secrets, so you can tell them anything you want and they won’t spread it around to anybody else.”

The couple doesn’t sell their products online. They say now that they’re both retired, they prefer to take their art to various farmers markets and events around the province throughout the year.

“We really enjoy seeing the people, seeing their laughs. We’re both retired now so that’s what we enjoy doing.”

The couple says they’re looking to fill out their summer schedule, but they will be back in Saskatoon in November for Candy Cane Lane.