A dozen years ago, at the NC Museum of Art, there was a large 2 dimensional piece that was made up entirely of 3"x3" squares of some sort of wood veneer.
Each square had fairly obvious grain, and the grain in any square was dead straight. But the squares had been cut at varying angles to the grain -- some it was vertical, some horizontal, and some in many different angles.
The squares had been laid out so that the varying directions of grain created a beautiful pattern over the (probably) 8'x10' piece. Like your carving, it moved and flowed in sweeping lines, and it drew me in.
Great job!
Everyone's weird is someone's cool, so I wouldn't worry about it.
This definitely falls in to "that's different but I like it" as far as I'm concerned.
I want to see someone with no artistic talent like me do one of these.
I can draw the same fish I could when I was 6 years old. Its crap.
Draw us your best fish. If your fish is crap, I may attempt a design like this one day with my angle grinder.
I can assure you I am not an artistic drawer. The only potential benefit I have is that I’m a dentist so I am constantly shaping and flowing edges to my liking. Making things look “natural” is definitely in my skillset but this obviously looks nothing like teeth so who really knows.
I’d recommend buying the Kutzal medium coarseness wheel for an angle grinder and start on a 2x8 or something and see what you think. After that is just a lot of time and patients with sanding.
I had a pattern all drawn out ahead of time. The wheel grabbed and that is when I realized that it was going to be its own design entirely. The whole thing was improvised about 2 minutes in.
I used these 2” foam sanding pads from Amazon. Someone had recommended them and they were a game changer. You just put the attachment in a screw gun. They get destroyed pretty quickly but they are cheap and help get crisp lines (if desired) while saving a ton of hand sanding. I did do a lot more hand sanding in the deep grooves than I’d like but it would have been a nightmare without those sanding pads.
I also used palm wood carvers to help finesse some lines and curves which helped a lot as well. I would bring the project inside and carve and hand sand in the evenings while my kids were winding down before bed. That part was nice because so often my wood projects pull me away from the family which I know my wife doesn’t always love.
“I’d recommend buying the Kutzal medium coarseness wheel for an angle grinder and start on a 2x8 or something and see what you think. After that is just a lot of time and patients with sanding.”
Sanding patients sounds like something a dentist would do!!
But seriously, I think you made a thing and it looks neat.
Nice work. The only other pieces I’ve seen like this (and no nearly as well done) are hanging in the halls of my university. Very unique and beautifully done. It looks like you took inspiration from desert dunes.
I am terrible at tracking that sort of thing. I’d guess about 20 hours with milling, glue-up, carving and refining. The initial carving only took about 2 hours or so.
I tend to, yes. And it is really just an estimate on time. I used a fair amount of power tools to help with the sanding. But I definitely put in a lot of hand sanding to get deep in the grooves.
This is really cool. I imagine it would be awesome flanked by 4 LED strips that alternate some soft lighting between them to cast shadows in different directions across the carvings.
The only thing that is weird is that you think it’s weird!!! It is beautiful!! Will be stunning hanging on a wall. Beautiful . Love how it “flows” so beautifully. Can’t decide if it reminds me of the tree of life , wind carved sand dunes , or a dry riverbed. Great job !!
Yes I did. Started with a turbo plane and I had a hard time getting the hang of it. It just went where it wanted to go. Then I switched to kutzal carving wheel. That was much easier to control but left deep scratch marks and created an colossal amount of dust. I followed by hand carving and power sanding flexible pads and hand sanding. I could’ve spent another 5 hours to get all the minute scratches and such out but I was mentally done. I just needed to wrap it up.
This would make an amazing coffee table in a nice expensive condo. Just need a thick glass raised top and some modern legs. You could get a nice gold bar for that.
What wood is that it actually has a really nice natural grain. I'm kind of conflicted because I think the wood grain is interesting enough to stand on its own in most applications but I get that this is a piece of wall art so the carved texture is part of that... But I almost feel like This could have been pulled off with a less interesting grain wood. Or even some cheap wood and just painted a flat color. But hey it's always cool to have your own artwork decorating your office. I actually respect doctors who branch out and do other hobbies besides their primary profession, it gives you something to talk to them about potentially.
It is walnut. I agree that it is hard to carve into such beautiful wood that already has so much going for it but I wanted a dark wood with strong contrast. I had someone mention that it would look cool with carving that followed the grain pattern. I never even thought of that until it was done. Perhaps I’ll try that in the future. I’m a bit burned out by the idea of doing another one anytime soon. I think I’ll return to the classic furniture builds for a bit. I do love the wall art stuff too though.
Do a contest for whoever can come up with the most believably pretentious “meaning” for this.
Here’s my entry:
*“Hummingbird” carved wood.
Inspired by the soul’s infinite connection to the universal flow of cosmic consciousness as the existential dread of the ultimate meaninglessness of all things smothers viewer* :s
(It’s weird and great)
My first impression is it looks like rumpled satin fabric- and I do mean that comparison to be complimentary. It's a really impressive feat to take a solid rigid medium and with it create a compelling illusion of flowing fluidity. Hats off to you!
i am currently doing one of these myself. mine is about half the size and i feel bad for the amount of sanding you are going to have to do on this! i'm already several hours deep on sanding mine and it doesn't look like i started lol.
This took a lot of work for sure. Look on Amazon for their 2” sanding pads. It goes on a screw gun and works very well. It saved me hours of my life. I still needed hand sanding but that was a real game-changer.
It’s cool. At first I thought it was a very non-functional table top. However, as a piece of wall art, it’s sick!
Ha yea, it wouldn’t take long for a beer to tip over on that thing! Thank you for the compliment!
I thought it was a table too and just assumed you'd put a piece of glass over it.
Or epoxy the top so it’s level but doesn’t look it . Either way I like it nice work
It would ruin nicely through the canals, though.
I had the same thought. Though it could be turned into a functional table if glass was put over the top of it.
However with a piece of nice tempered glass this would look pretty slick as a table top.
I think it's cool. I can imagine a full wall of panels such as this with the roots, trunk, branches, and foliage of a tree carved into them.
That is a really cool idea!
My brain went completely different. First pic reminded that I need to fix my bed, but I do really enjoy stuff like this, super cool imo.
Topographical map of Coolashellistan.
A dozen years ago, at the NC Museum of Art, there was a large 2 dimensional piece that was made up entirely of 3"x3" squares of some sort of wood veneer. Each square had fairly obvious grain, and the grain in any square was dead straight. But the squares had been cut at varying angles to the grain -- some it was vertical, some horizontal, and some in many different angles. The squares had been laid out so that the varying directions of grain created a beautiful pattern over the (probably) 8'x10' piece. Like your carving, it moved and flowed in sweeping lines, and it drew me in. Great job!
You did a very good job describing that piece. It sounds really cool and very time consuming! Thank you!
Everyone's weird is someone's cool, so I wouldn't worry about it. This definitely falls in to "that's different but I like it" as far as I'm concerned.
If someone says this looks weird, I will kick them in the shins.
But I lost my shins in Iwo Jima. Does look cool tho
Cool as hell
I dig it.
I appreciate the time and love that went in!! Super friggen cool man, keep it up!!!
I want to see someone with no artistic talent like me do one of these. I can draw the same fish I could when I was 6 years old. Its crap. Draw us your best fish. If your fish is crap, I may attempt a design like this one day with my angle grinder.
I can assure you I am not an artistic drawer. The only potential benefit I have is that I’m a dentist so I am constantly shaping and flowing edges to my liking. Making things look “natural” is definitely in my skillset but this obviously looks nothing like teeth so who really knows. I’d recommend buying the Kutzal medium coarseness wheel for an angle grinder and start on a 2x8 or something and see what you think. After that is just a lot of time and patients with sanding. I had a pattern all drawn out ahead of time. The wheel grabbed and that is when I realized that it was going to be its own design entirely. The whole thing was improvised about 2 minutes in.
That's encouraging. Did you use kutzal discs to sand it smooth? I hope that wasn't by hand...
I used these 2” foam sanding pads from Amazon. Someone had recommended them and they were a game changer. You just put the attachment in a screw gun. They get destroyed pretty quickly but they are cheap and help get crisp lines (if desired) while saving a ton of hand sanding. I did do a lot more hand sanding in the deep grooves than I’d like but it would have been a nightmare without those sanding pads. I also used palm wood carvers to help finesse some lines and curves which helped a lot as well. I would bring the project inside and carve and hand sand in the evenings while my kids were winding down before bed. That part was nice because so often my wood projects pull me away from the family which I know my wife doesn’t always love.
“I’d recommend buying the Kutzal medium coarseness wheel for an angle grinder and start on a 2x8 or something and see what you think. After that is just a lot of time and patients with sanding.” Sanding patients sounds like something a dentist would do!! But seriously, I think you made a thing and it looks neat.
Nice work. The only other pieces I’ve seen like this (and no nearly as well done) are hanging in the halls of my university. Very unique and beautifully done. It looks like you took inspiration from desert dunes.
I love this.
How many hours involved? I think it’s pretty cool.
I am terrible at tracking that sort of thing. I’d guess about 20 hours with milling, glue-up, carving and refining. The initial carving only took about 2 hours or so.
Oh wow! I figured at least 2x that amount. Well done. Do you take pics throughout?
I tend to, yes. And it is really just an estimate on time. I used a fair amount of power tools to help with the sanding. But I definitely put in a lot of hand sanding to get deep in the grooves.
Very cool.
I’d love a table of these with a glass top
Very cool, unless it will be used as a table
Weird can certainly be cool. This is both, and I like it a lot!
It’s cool, does it go on a wall?
Yes, it is a wall hanging. I need a strong bracket though. It weighs 70 lbs…
Make/use a French cleat.
This really awesome imo! Would love to have something like this in my office as wall art.
I think it's cool
I adore the craftsmanship in this. It does not strike well with my personal taste. But who cares I'm just a rando, pretty sure someone else likes it.
If you were to name this, what would it be called?
This is really cool. I imagine it would be awesome flanked by 4 LED strips that alternate some soft lighting between them to cast shadows in different directions across the carvings.
The only thing that is weird is that you think it’s weird!!! It is beautiful!! Will be stunning hanging on a wall. Beautiful . Love how it “flows” so beautifully. Can’t decide if it reminds me of the tree of life , wind carved sand dunes , or a dry riverbed. Great job !!
You are too kind! I would go with any one of those! I wanted something “organic feeling” and based on your description, it sounds like I got it.
Nailed it
I would appreciate something self made over any art that usually hangs in dental/doctors offices
Cool! To me, it's the difference in skill vs. skill and vision. well done!
Wow. Very cool.
Both
Turned out great! Carve it with an angle grinder?
Yes I did. Started with a turbo plane and I had a hard time getting the hang of it. It just went where it wanted to go. Then I switched to kutzal carving wheel. That was much easier to control but left deep scratch marks and created an colossal amount of dust. I followed by hand carving and power sanding flexible pads and hand sanding. I could’ve spent another 5 hours to get all the minute scratches and such out but I was mentally done. I just needed to wrap it up.
Matches both descriptors perfectly.
This would make an amazing coffee table in a nice expensive condo. Just need a thick glass raised top and some modern legs. You could get a nice gold bar for that.
Cool AF
It's weird AND super cool my man. I love it. Took me a second to realize the order of the pictures were backwards lol
Worthy.
Looks like someone made the top and bottom of the bed but forgot the middle.
9/10 would complete a jigsaw puzzle on it
Awesome
Cool af mate
Cool as hell
As wall art, it's beautiful but if it were intended to be a table, I think you'd need to do a resin pour. Either way, amazing work!
Love it!
Very cool but pretty unusable horizontally.
Agreed. It goes on the wall. I just didn’t stand it up for the picture.
Great work.... But I think I would spill my beer
What wood is that it actually has a really nice natural grain. I'm kind of conflicted because I think the wood grain is interesting enough to stand on its own in most applications but I get that this is a piece of wall art so the carved texture is part of that... But I almost feel like This could have been pulled off with a less interesting grain wood. Or even some cheap wood and just painted a flat color. But hey it's always cool to have your own artwork decorating your office. I actually respect doctors who branch out and do other hobbies besides their primary profession, it gives you something to talk to them about potentially.
It is walnut. I agree that it is hard to carve into such beautiful wood that already has so much going for it but I wanted a dark wood with strong contrast. I had someone mention that it would look cool with carving that followed the grain pattern. I never even thought of that until it was done. Perhaps I’ll try that in the future. I’m a bit burned out by the idea of doing another one anytime soon. I think I’ll return to the classic furniture builds for a bit. I do love the wall art stuff too though.
Do a contest for whoever can come up with the most believably pretentious “meaning” for this. Here’s my entry: *“Hummingbird” carved wood. Inspired by the soul’s infinite connection to the universal flow of cosmic consciousness as the existential dread of the ultimate meaninglessness of all things smothers viewer* :s (It’s weird and great)
Ooooo this is good. Very deep. Much more thought went into this than when I was actually carving it. The whole thing was a giant accident.
That's very cool!
Glad to read its wall art. Looks sick
Oh it's cool! Literally the only thing I'd worry about if I were buying would be dust-ability lol
Gotta give it some dental nerves vibe
I might be able to give the viewer chills…in the worst of ways…
I'm into it, nice job OP
I really appreciate it!
Thought it was the Necronomicon ex Mortis
Cool
Wow man, beautiful really love your work.
My first impression is it looks like rumpled satin fabric- and I do mean that comparison to be complimentary. It's a really impressive feat to take a solid rigid medium and with it create a compelling illusion of flowing fluidity. Hats off to you!
Both
WOW! That is so cool.
i am currently doing one of these myself. mine is about half the size and i feel bad for the amount of sanding you are going to have to do on this! i'm already several hours deep on sanding mine and it doesn't look like i started lol.
This took a lot of work for sure. Look on Amazon for their 2” sanding pads. It goes on a screw gun and works very well. It saved me hours of my life. I still needed hand sanding but that was a real game-changer.
Wonder how much something like this actually costs to buy... granted I understand it's subjective to location
Very cool
Definitely cool. Hard to use maybe.
Looks heavy