pops used to say to me all the time "having greater income is just a different level of being broke".... and then i'd get the speech about "living beneath your means" as if he'd never offered it before.
i should have listened more.
anyway- wedding season is approaching. i was contacted to make something like this for a couple and took the idea and ran with it. i figured i'd share here as maybe someone is going to a wedding and looking for a gift to give? this would be a really good gift...
so it's carved into teak and arrives with two lenses... one, as this one, has the little beveled slot at the top to drop leaves in... the leaves would be signed by guests... they can fall to the right of the tree and above the limb on the left, but not into the area with the names/dates.
the family name is carved out of the teak, but future ones likely won't be.. they'll instead be inset acrylic or wood... the Mr & Mrs and dates are carved into the backside of the acrylic right at 1/8" deep and flooded with silver paint. this makes a holographic affect for lack of anything better to call it- the silver letters seem to float above the name but below the surface of the acrylic.
the back has a keyhole hanger carved into it for hanging on a wall while it's still shipped with little feet to allow it to stand on a table at the wedding/reception. the leaves (or hearts as some have requested) are made from lasered craft foam and painted whatever color fits the need... i went with green for the presentation piece because... well, just because..
the silhouette and frame is carved from the same teak panel but is intended to appear to be either iron or granite... i painted it gloss black and then dusted it with a bronze to give it some appeal... there are a bunch of silhouettes to choose from- this one was purposely made for the brides and groom's long hair.. it in not my favorite one by a far cry. they wanted him kissing her forehead...
anyway, once the thing is filled with signed leaves/hearts, the couple can remove the lens with the passage for adding leaves/hearts, and replace it with one just like it but without the passage... allowing it to be sealed. this gives them opportunity to better arrange the leaves/hearts if they want to.
please pass it along for folks who may have interest!!! thanks...
