This was a commission from a long time colleague from Edmonton, celebrating their 20th anniversary and the joining together of families, a mother, daughter, and husband. The central tree is larger to symbolize strength and unity.
My wife Kathleen came up with the idea of three trees twisting together, with conjoined roots.
I carved this in basswood, finished with wood butter from Wagner Hills Market, and is 8 1/2” x 11” x 1” thick.
The tools I used were primarily carving gouges, everything from a number 2 sweep, 15 mm wide, to a number 9 sweep, 1 mm wide. Deciding how to carve the leaves was a head-scratcher for me until I was working on another carving and found the solution. I simply used a number 7 sweep gouge about 6mm wide, and plunged it into the wood on one side before plunging it into the wood on the opposite side and out popped a leaf! Some of them needed a little cleaning up at the bottom so I carved a centre line using a micro v gouge from Flexcut Tools.
Grant McMillan Wood Carvings 