The carvings are done with a computer controlled router, also called a CNC (computer numeric controlled) router. The router functions similar to a printer except that while a printer adds material - ink, the router carves away wood or other material.
The Photo Carvings and Relief Carvings are carved into premium Maple. Half-Tone Carvings are carved into painted MDF (Medium Density Fibre-board). Lithopanes are carved into a translucent plastic.
From the time we receive the order till it is shipped is about one to three weeks.
Normally photos get sent to us by email. However, photos can be sent by regular mail as well. If sent by regular mail, we have to do extra work (scan the photo etc.) for which extra charges apply. The original photo is returned to the sender with the carving.
The short answer is yes. Now for some important details. Photo Carvings are quite finicky while Relief Carvings are very accommodating. To get a beautiful, crisp, detailed Photo Carving, a very high quality original photo with good, clear contrast between the subject and the other details is needed. If the photo is somewhat washed out or generally on the dark side, the Photo Carving of the photo will reproduce and accentuate the effect. It is important to keep in mind that creating a Photo Carving is not the same as simply making a wooden copy of a photo. There will be a minor drop in resolution/clarity. Therefore, the unique contrast characteristics (washed out appearance because of a hazy light effect or generally dark lightning effect) will be accentuated in the Photo Carving, sometimes making some of the details a little more difficult to distinguish from others in the Photo Carving. A Relief Carving, on the other hand, reliably produces clear results of most any photo, even ones that the photo carving process has difficulty with. The smaller the Photo or Relief Carving, the larger the subject of the carving needs to be for the subject's details to be clear and crisp. It is best if the original photo is sharply in focus as the carving process will faithfully create an out of focus carving of an out of focus photo. Sometimes this is desirable such as when the subject of the photo is in focus and the background/foreground is out of focus in order to create an intimate atmosphere.
We use premium Maple because of it's relatively even, white to yellow colour, the strength of the wood fibres which beautifully hold fine carved details and the fact that it does not have strong grain lines to distract from the carved images. We do our best to select boards of even colour tone that are as free as possible from defects such as knots for each individual Photo or Relief Carving. However, wood, being a natural material, inherently has some colour and grain pattern variation and therefore we do not warrant that the wood on any carving will be perfectly even in colour or be free from heavier or lighter grain lines.
Yes. Requests would fall under our "Custom Work".
Yes, we do custom work. Please contact us by email with any descriptions/drawings you would like to discuss or by phone to get the ball rolling. We are very good at helping to bring concepts (even vague ones) to reality.
Yes.
Can I offer carvings of photos I have taken or photos that are directly related to my business for sale through my business? Yes. Please go to the "Services" section of this site to see the "Reseller's Agreement".