Carved Panel

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Villa Park, CA
Here's a carved panel I did for a client to go on the hood over their stove. They gave me a picture of a carving and asked me to carve this based on their picture. The aspect ratio was different so my carving differs from the picture but if anyone looked at both, they'd see they were generally the same. The panel is about 38" by 24" and the wood is basswood.

I deliver it tomorrow.

They will have it antiqued by a professional finisher. I'll try to get them to send me pictures when it's all finished, but sometimes you just have to be satisfied with the money.

Mike
 

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I don't know Mike, If that's all the better you can do,,,I'd give it up. :rofl::rofl:

Seriously, that is a beautiful job there. I'd love to see the finished product too. I bet it will make them happy. :thumb:

Aloha, Tony
 
Tony, you slay me. :rofl:

Great-looking work, Mike. :thumb: With so much of they type of panel carving being done with CNC machines, it's great to see someone who know how to do it old school.
 
I know Vaughn, but I just had to get a jab in there for Mike. :D He sure does some fine work. I agree that a lot of that is done CNC now and it's nice to see hand work still being done, especially that good. :thumb:

Aloha, Tony
 
Here's a picture of the panel installed but not finished. I'll try to get a picture after they have it finished but that's not always possible.

Mike
 

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Very nice indeed! How many hours do you figure you put into a piece like that? I see you working on it in your avatar there;).
I don't know the hours because I just don't keep track. But I enjoy carving and I'm retired, so the hours don't mean much to me.

My avatar is old - I was working on some dovetails in that picture.

Mike
 
Mike that is great. You might want to make some more of them. I would finish them with a Copper leaf [gild] and then a green verti glaze, It would make your carving look amazing. It amazing anyway.
 
Nice carving Mike.:thumb: Real authentic. The thing that CNC will never match. I am fascinated by the location the customer is going to mount this in. Does the image have any special meaning to them. Seeing the cabinets next to it they seem just plain white. Just curious given the effort they are going to.:)
 
I agree with Toni...the second picture really shows the scale of the panel. It's much larger than I thought after looking at the initial picture. Superb work, Mike. :clap:
 
Nice carving Mike.:thumb: Real authentic. The thing that CNC will never match. I am fascinated by the location the customer is going to mount this in. Does the image have any special meaning to them. Seeing the cabinets next to it they seem just plain white. Just curious given the effort they are going to.:)
I don't know exactly why they wanted the carving, Rob. The only thing they said to me is that they wanted a "focal point" in the kitchen. The house is a beach house so it's not too big, but very well done.

But you know how it is, you take the money and don't question the clients. What they want, they want, and that's okay by me. I'm thankful to get the job.

Mike
 
Dear Mike,
You know it is good and very well done. Very impressive with the shallow relief. How about some insight as to the fabrication and carving of this marvelous piece? Thickness and width of the glued up bass wood as I am sure they don't sell it in Tustin at that size!:wave: How much is router done? Can you describe the making of one quarter of the piece, I'll just book match and then flip it over for the big picture.:D Your design?
Come on Mike, give me something I can work with!!!:rofl::D:thumb:
Shaz
 
I don't know what to tell you about carving it. To make the blank, I bought 4/4 basswood from Austin, about 8 feet long. I used pieces of two boards, and I think the boards were maybe 6" wide. To assemble them, you draw a line down one side and put arrows all going the same way. This is so that when you cut the basswood and put it together into the panel, all the grain is running the same way. It's bad to have a serious grain change at a glue line. You're cutting along and suddenly the wood starts splintering on you.

When you use two boards, you have to try to read the grain, or make some test cuts on both boards and select a direction.

Anyway, once you make your decision, you live with it. Cut the basswood a bit long and glue it into a panel. I used the big sander at school to sand it flat but I could have done it by hand with planes, or just left it because the carving would remove any mismatches where the boards join.

I took the panel to the clients house and made sure it fit. I had visited earlier and taken measurements but you know how that is. I made the panel just a bit large (about 1/8") and planed it with a block plane while at their house to get it to size. I *did not* want to carve the whole panel and then find out it was too small.

For the layout, I drew a vertical line and a horizontal line to divide the blank into 4 quadrants. To draw the design, I put the picture they gave me above the quadrant I was drawing on and just drew the design freehand. I used sandpaper to erase when I wasn't happy with it. When I was satisfied with the design, I used tracing paper, taped it down to the blank, and traced the design.

To transfer the design to the other quadrants, I put carbon paper on the quadrant and then used reference marks I put on the tracing paper (to align with the border and the horizontal and vertical lines). Then I just followed the design with a pencil which transferred the design to the wood. Repeat for each quadrant.

In carving it, I did not use a router. Basswood is soft and carves easily so it's fairly easy to excavate the ground areas. Also, a router gives a ground that's too "perfect", while a carving tool leaves some irregularities in the ground.

Even though I had the design drawn on each quadrant, when I carved it, I modified the design to suite my taste. If you look closely, you'll see that there are variations in each quadrant. The carving depth is about 3/16-1/4" except for the center flower which I carved deeper (I didn't measure it and can't do so now).

That's really about it. If you have some specific questions, I'll try to answer them. Remember the panel has been installed so I can't take any closeup pictures of any detail - all I can do is respond verbally to the best of my memory.

Mike
 
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Hi Mike :wave:,
At your age,
with your memory failing,
you have done a rather good job explaining
how you went about it all. :rofl:
It is that kind of explanation that is valuable to all who will read and reread this message down through time.
A lovely piece for an older fellow.:rofl:
Thanks.
Always,
Shaz :)
 
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