Carved Dresser Legs

I recently finished a really exciting and challenging project for a fellow SAPFM member, Jim Podesva. Jim is making a reproduction of a beautiful Thomas Seymour dresser from the late 18th century, and he asked me to carve 4 highly ornate carved legs. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Jim did a beautiful job in turning the legs, and the wood was an amazing Honduran mahogany. The most complex and detailed part of the carved leg is the ribbon, grape vine and reed section. This is the order that I carved that section:

1. Lower down the reed section to an even surface
2. Lower the background of the grape vine
3. Carve the grape vine design
4. Carve the reeds

Next, the micro-acanthus leaves. These are only about 2-1/2 inches long, but have the same details as larger leaves. I also carved beads, laurel leaves, and flutes to continue the carved details.

I filmed the entire process of carving this leg and it is currently available on my online school.

If you are a Premium Member to my school, you can watch the process of carving every detail of this leg.
Check out the following introduction videos for this project:

Part 1 – Carving a Ribbon, Grapevine & Reeds Introduction video
Part 2 – Carving Laurel Leaves
Part 3 – Carving Acanthus Leaves
Part 4 – Carving Beads
Part 5 – Carving Flutes
Part 6 – Carving Reeds and Laurel Leaf Foot

If you want to purchase the entire leg project, you can find that here.

Next project is carving a traditional Charleston Rice Bed. Yeah!!
Well… I might just have to finish writing a book on carving acanthus leaves first…