I’m contemplating a new woodworking project. I carved a couple of bowls that for various reasons1 I decided not to finish. I didn’t want them cluttering up the shop so I was going to throw them into the burn pile. But then I got this crazy idea.
Create a tide pool diorama. Carve a few starfish and other tiny tide pool creatures and glue them into the bowl along with some shells and rocks. And I can solve the rotten wood problem by partially (or completely) filling the bowl with epoxy. The more I think about this idea, the more I like the idea.
This, I thought, will be a great place to make use of all those exotic woods I have left over from the Hundred Birds Project. So I went digging through the wood stash and came up with pieces from more than 30 different species, including exotics of many different colors, woods with distinctive grain patterns, and even some burls. My tidepool creatures will be very colorful.
I’m in the earliest planning stages, although I’m pretty sure this project will happen. I need to read up on tidepools and decide what types of creatures to carve. This one should be lots of fun.
Footnotes
- While carving, I encountered rotten patches of wood in some critical places. I’d have to carve those away and fill large areas with epoxy. Whereas I could do that, there are two reasons I don’t. First, I don’t think the result would be worth the effort. The elm is pretty enough, but it’s not so exceptionally beautiful that I want to spend that much time on it. I can get all the good quality elm I want from trees in my yard. Secondly, it’s not the direction I want to go with my bowls. I’m a huge fan of inlay to fill cracks, but I don’t at all like the look of large areas of inlay. ↩︎