Name: Michael Feeney
Occupation: Troll guy in Mount Horeb
Web site: www.woodenchicken.com

I'm the person who carves the trolls along the Mount Horeb Trollway.

I started working with the Mount Horeb Chamber of Commerce in the mid-1980s when I was asked to create a folk-art project.

When they saw my work with troll carving, the chamber got a grant for me to do four trolls. One of the first was "The Chicken Thief" at Olson's Christmas House on Main Street. "The Accordion Player" is nearby at the Mount Horeb Telephone Co.

There are 20 trolls in the village, and they all have names and stories (which can be found on my Web site, www.

woodenchicken.com). Many of the trolls are loosely based on a composite of former Mount Horeb residents.

I've worked with many other types of media including drawing, painting, creating jewelry and sculpture. I had a period of creating fantasy figures and dragons in the late 1980s and early '90s. I also did humanoid fruit and vegetable art where I put faces on edible items. But I've found my niche carving trolls.

Thanks to the Internet, customers have found me, and my work is now located throughout the country including Montana and Pennsylvania.

My carvings are massive and very heavy, and they take a long time to finish. I begin the process by sketching many versions before I determine just the right look. I then create a clay model of the troll with all of the detail, then I have to find the right log for the carving.

One project, in Hubbard, Iowa, was done on site on a century farm. I was asked to create a carving on a maple tree that had been hit by lightning. The tree had been planted by the great-grandfather of the farm owner shortly after he emigrated from Germany.

I created a 25-foot-high carving of a farmer beside a cornstalk. The farmer is looking at an ear of corn in his hand and there are corn borers looking down from the exposed kernels.

It's important to me that my trolls look good. Although it takes months to carve a troll, I don't leave it until there's a twinkle in its eye.

What I Do invites people to tell in their own words what they do to make a living. The column runs every Tuesday. To suggest someone to feature, contact Jill Carlson at jillcarlson1957@gmail.com.