Hand Carved Buffet Panel

October, 2014 – I have finished work on a hand carved panel that will be part of a custom built buffet for a family in Lincoln.  It’s a cherry panel that has a classic still life scene of food and table settings in it.   In the center is a bowl of fruit, on the left is grapes and wine glasses and on the right is a mix of corn (it is Nebraska, after all) and other foods and a stack of plates.

10/30/14 – Most Recent Photo (Click on any image to make it larger): 

Here is a mockup of the finished piece:

I’ll be carving the cherry wood using the new tools that I picked up this summer.  😀

The first thing I needed to do was draw the design full size so that I could transfer it onto the wood panel.

I taped this on top of the panel and then used carbon paper to get the design on the wood.  I made a couple of minor changes to fit the design better to the board.

Now to start carving!  I’m loving my new tools!  😀

I’ve roughed in along the bottom and LOVING these new tools – what a difference!  😀

I’ve got the bottom tablecloth close to done and have started carving out some of the table objects like the cutting board.

I’ve used a router to take out the bulk of the background, and now I’m starting on the wine glasses and wine bottle.

Some of the tools that I’m using (did I mention how much I LOVE my new chisels?)

Last night (Sept 19) I continued working on the wine glasses, bottle and start to tackle some grapes.

I have most of the left side roughed in now – that’s a LOT of grapes! What was I thinking?? 😀

After a short delay while I finished a small carving project I was back at it again.  I’ve got the bread roughed in making progress!

Now I have the bread almost complete!  It was great to finally get some final detail work done.

Time to start on the center bowl!  It was a fun challenge getting the shape carved in.

While I wait for more router bits to arrive so that I can remove the bulk of the background, I added more detail to the grapes on the left side.

I’m having fun working on the leaves on the left side – still a long road ahead!

Lots of progress over the weekend!  I have some more background routed and more of the panel roughed in.  Moving right along!  😀

And here’s a little closer view of the area I worked on last night – still being roughed in.

Now that I have the background cleared out, I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress.  Time to continue roughing in the shapes and then start finishing out some detail!

Started work on the cups and plates last night!

I’m having a lot fun working on these details and figuring out the depth of each element in the carving.  The watermelon and lemon are almost done and the oysters are coming along nicely.

… and here’s a little closer look (Click for larger):

all of the major carving has been completed, now I’m adding details and sanding… finishing little areas that I got bored with…
Getting a little closer each day!  Sanding out the details and watching it all come together.  😀