And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet.
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (1923)
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by the magical surface of a tree when the bark peels off cleanly in the spring. What a sensory thrill.This shrink pot features that surface, as well as the root flare of the birch tree. I cut the piece from the base of the tree a couple springs ago, hollowed it, and fit the bottom. You can’t delay with that part of the job when making a shrink pot. Right after that, I peeled the bark and allowed the fresh natural surface to oxidize to a golden brown.
The bottom is a bit of a wonky shape and the stresses in the wood of the root flare resulted in a surface crack or two as it dried. I’m fine with that in this case, and the piece is solid.
A few weeks ago, it was time to design and carve the lettering. I wanted the lettering to be a little playful. After doing some sketching of general ideas, it was necessary to work out the final design and spacing on the piece itself. To keep the surface clean as I messed around with a pencil, I wrapped the shrink pot with yellow “Frog Tape” painters tape. The yellow stuff is made for delicate surfaces and it’s very thin and a bit stretchy. It adapted to the contours of the surface and left no residue when I removed it.
While the tape was still on, I carved the pattern of the major elements with a v-tool right through the tape. That wasn’t to full width or depth, just enough to get rid of much of the waste and set the locations of the letters. The shot above shows the progress at that point, after I removed the tape.
Then I did the rest of the carving with my penknife and a few small gouges. I’ve gone over that process in other posts.
It’s difficult to see the carving in one shot since it’s on a curved surface. The slideshow below goes through a sequence of photos. The pot will sort of rotate as you click through. The pot is 9″ (23cm) high.
This barefoot shrink pot, along with the windblown bowl I shared a few weeks ago, will be part of the InGrained exhibition opening December 2nd at the Wayne Art Center. They will both be available for purchase there. The folks at Wayne tell me that, although there will be no online version of the show, they are happy to make arrangements for sales if contacted by someone not attending the show in person.
David Fisher, Carving Explorations 
two things it brings to mind. one, you still amaze me. Two, you should show that to JoJo.
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Ha! Yep, JoJo has made the earth very happy.
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Utterly beautiful
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Your setting the bar very high for me Dave
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I love the fact that you can still see the tree in the finished piece. This is beautiful, thank you for sharing it David.
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Gorgeous work. And I will be there at the Wayne show! Can’t wait!
Thanks Dave for sharing.
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Imagination, vision, ingenuity and skill once again from Dave!
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Unbelievably beautiful, Dave. Your work continues to amaze me and your artistry seems to grow every year. Making a shrink pot from the base of a small birch was magical itself but the lettering and choice of poetry makes this a masterpiece. I suspect that Kahlil Gibran would be pleased and impressed.
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Beautiful work and lovely statement
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Next level. Wow. And thanks for the advice on yellow frog tape. Hmmm, stretchy…
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I’ve used the green Frog Tape before too, Eric. It’s a little thicker and a little stickier. They both have some stretch. Note, that they’re not elastic; i.e. they won’t spring back like the athletic elastic tape.
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Just gorgeous, Dave. I love art that delights both my eyes and my fingers. Wood always cries out to be touched, and combined with the poetry of words this object is delightful!
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Thank you, Linda. I appreciate your point about touch. It’s such an important way to experience an object, and you’ve expressed it so well.
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Absolutely beautiful letter carving David, as always! You should come to Wisconsin and do a letter carving class. I’ve done a couple shrink pots with the splay of the root, I found it a challenge to form a good groove to fit the bottom. Again thanks for your inspiration.
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Another beautiful place I’ve never been. Thanks for the invitation; hopefully someday.
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