Leaf and Fruit Carving

October 9, 2012 MaryMay Deep relief carving

I have a challenge for anyone out there. What is this a carving of? I have been calling it a fruit (I referred to it as a “fruit” when I videoed the process for my video web site). But I think it might be more like a nut that is cracking out of its shell. Anybody have an idea?

This is in walnut (could this be a carved walnut? The leaves aren’t walnut) and is quite thick – 1-1/2″ thick and the original is on a headboard of a bed. My client wanted to make a matching bed with the carving matching the original. It was a fun carving to do because of the depth. So much of my carving ends up being shallow relief, so it was nice to carve something almost fully 3-dimensional.

Learn how to carve the leaves and nuts in this video posting

I’m heading off to Pasadena, CA on Thursday to teach sessions on how to carve the ball and claw foot and acanthus leaf on a cabriole leg for the Woodworking in America show. I have never been to the WIA, and am not sure what to expect – such as how many people will be in each session. I have heard that for Roy Underhill’s demos there is over 100 people with standing room only. So… I’m really not sure. Might be 10 people, might be 100. The most I ever did a demo in front of was about 250 for the Greenville, SC woodworkers guild. I only forgot to breathe a few times – fortunately I did not pass out. I do much better in front of people with chisel in hand and doing what I know best – making wood fly. Put me behind a piece of wood with my trusty gouges, and I’m at home.

9 Responses to “Leaf and Fruit Carving”

Mike Manning says:

October 9, 2012 at 10:54 pm

Mary,

It looks similar to the structure of a walnut with the seed shell inside the husk. Search Walnuts on the Wikipedia website. Also, I would suggest comparing the leave pattern in your carving to other exmaples of Walnut leaves..

Great work as usual. When are you coming back to teach a class at Woodcraft in Greenville, SC. Let me know if I need to twist Paul’s arm.

Mike

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curt seeliger says:

October 9, 2012 at 11:13 pm

I don’t think it’s a fruit . If it is a fruit, it appears to be a schizocarp breaking into 4 or 8 parts, also very unlike a walnut (and the surface is wrong for both the husk and the shell of any walnut).

I think it’s a flower — the outer parts are sepals or some other subtending bracts, and the inside is the wrinkled/convoluted petals of a flower with the stamens somewhat exserted. This is something you might find in the poppy, morning glory or maybe cotton and okra families (respectively Papaveraceae, Convolvulaceae and Malvaceae).

More to the point — wow, great carving and great reproduction! Thanks for posting this (and everything else). I enjoy watching as things take shape.

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Sid says:

October 10, 2012 at 9:13 am

Looks like hickory to me. The husk splits four ways to reveal the nut.

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Lou says:

October 10, 2012 at 11:18 pm

Looks like a Buckeye, busting out of it’s husk.

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Shannon says:

October 11, 2012 at 9:39 am

I think that’s Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors! Give it a drop of blood and stand back

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Mark says:

October 14, 2012 at 9:31 am

Hickory and walnut are both good guesses but the shape of the nut is wrong for both. But anyone from the South or parts of the Mid-West could tell you that’s a pecan.

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MaryMay says:

October 15, 2012 at 12:09 am

Thanks for all the responses, suggestions, and “others”. I think I’ve come in for a landing on a nut – something obviously breaking and opening in 4 sections. I have a pecan tree in my yard, and yes – the nut could be a pecan (the carving is a little rounder and fatter) or it could be a hickory or walnut as suggested. I have not seen a Buckeye. However, the leaves have me a bit baffled. My guess is that they took some liberty in the design because carving the leaves of a pecan tree just wouldn’t fit with the design they wanted. The leaves are more of a fruit tree shape, not a nut tree.

Shannon – Little Shop of Horrors was one of my favorite movies about 20 years ago (was it really that long ago???) The one with Steve Martin and Bill Murray in the dentist scene? Maybe that’s where they got the idea!

Thanks again for your input. I guess I need to change my defining it as a “fruit” in my video – oh well. I think I’ll just call it a generic “nut” to keep it at least in the correct category.

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Robert Lindh says:

December 24, 2012 at 1:19 am

Buckeye.

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Stephen Follis says:

March 14, 2013 at 9:16 pm

It looks to me somewhat like a Golden Rain Tree. They were common, traditional yard ornament trees, grown throughout the deep south or cottonbelt.

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