Quilted Poplar Maple Leaf Bowl

[Maggie Shapiro]

Final piece:



Lesson #1: Do not use a super hardwood like ash! I carved this for a few days before my aching hands gave up in protest and I had to seek out a softer wood...hence the quilted poplar!


I used the maple leaf stencils from Power Carving Depot for this piece


I don't have a photo (only a video) of the roughed out bowl I started with, but this pic shows you that I left it approx 1"-1.5" thick so that I could have room to layer the leaves

 

[Maggie Shapiro]

This is the bowl mostly roughed out, with the leaves shaped a bit but still with some thickness to it. I lost one of the leaves because I made the connections too narrow (you can see a leaf along the top left rim with 3 exclamation marks!!! to warn me!). I removed the wood in the negative space using a drill bit and the some of the coarse Dremel burs. I recommend Kutzall - they have several kits that feature multiple burs and I ended up using many of them. For future pieces I'll probably invest in a handheld mini saw or maybe a scroll saw to remove these areas because this was the most time-consuming part of the project.


I had a bark inclusion that came out very quickly with the burs so I had to do some inlay on the top and bottom of the bowl. Eventually I got the leaves to the thickness I liked and started drawing the veins on the top and underside of the leaves. I was really worried this would be near impossible but it turned out to be much easier than I thought. One thing I'd definitely do differently next time is to make a shallower vein on the top of the leaf - these were a tad too deep and sharp and I ended up having to use another Kutzall bur to smooth the edges followed by sandpaper to really smooth everything out so that the veins flowed into the leaf better.

 

[Bob Taylor]

Gorgeous!

 

[Maggie Shapiro]

To achieve the lifelike leaves, I thinned them out around the edges. I didn't want to go too thin in the center because a lot of the leaves were wavy and I was worried I'd pierce them...(which I did to one of them but I carved out the holes). I also sanded lightly around the edges so that they weren't so sharp and pointy.

 

[Maggie Shapiro]

Gorgeous!

Thank you Bob!

 

[Paul Lajoie]

Wow, I’m guessing you’re low on how many hrs it took you! Gorgeous work thanks for sharing!

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Just amazing and gorgeous. Really. Wow.

 

[Maggie Shapiro]

Wow, I’m guessing you’re low on how many hrs it took you! Gorgeous work thanks for sharing!

Thank you Paul!

 

[Maggie Shapiro]

Just amazing and gorgeous. Really. Wow.

Thank you so much Alan!

 

[David Wyke]

Excellent work, really inspiring! I’m going to give it a try soon.

 

[Maggie Shapiro]

Excellent work, really inspiring! I’m going to give it a try soon.

Thank you!! I’d love to see pictures!

 

[Jim McLain]

Great job and nice to see the progress pics.

 

[Maggie Shapiro]

Thank you Jim!!

 

[Tom Gall]

Great piece, Maggie! Thanks for taking the time and effort to document what it takes to make something like this.

This is what the "Projects" Forum is all about. Not, as some have recently posted here, simply a photo or two of something they recently made. Those posts should be in the "Discussion" Forum or the "Gallery". Just my 2¢!