A Carving Commission.

A new commission, carving a Lilac leaf.  I’ve carved plenty of spoons and ladles, but a single leaf was a new one.

I started this project by taking photos of leaves on my iPad, to use as reference.  I have a very large lilac bush in my front yard, so I didn’t need to travel far.  Next step – select the wood.  I had to use a piece that was fairly thick, because I wanted the leaf to have curl and movement.  I opted to use a roughed out bowl blank, and cut the leaf from a side wall.  

Using a sheet of Acetate, I sketched a pattern, then cut it out and placed the clear pattern on the bowl.  Being able to see through the pattern was important for grain orientation.  The leaf stem would be very narrow and thin, and I needed to be sure that the grain orientation ran the length of the stem, rather than across.  Then using the bandsaw, I cut the leaf out of the bowl.

Several days of carving and I’ve got the leaf roughed out. Now to work on the finer shaping.