I had the bonus of a customer with very firm ideas for this job, sending a great detailed drawing with his vision and dimensions required.
There was a perfect piece of oak on hand, and I sawed it and planed it to size before cutting it into the oval on the bandsaw.
There were three levels to carve : the letters being the highest, the frame next, and the centre, lowest area. I carefully levelled out the frame first and then worked between all the fiddly awkward bits .
With the frame finished, it was the same process but deeper for the centre.
The effect required was “bubble-writing”, presumably to give an appearance of dough ~ so I the began to round the letters.
Once oiled it was complete! It was a trickier project than I anticipated, with all the tiny areas that needed clearing of wood ~ between the letters and in the holes of the letters themselves ~ but it was pretty much identical to the customer’s vision so I’d call it a success.
