Source for exterior floral carving?

[Dancing Dan]

Got a 2-story bay full of these carvings, all deteriorated. Thought about a mold, but they're 3-D. Don't know if there are any sources for this sort of thing anymore.

[MarkMc]

Take a look at Enkeboll

[mike maines]

I could be wrong, but I think Alex Hamilton has some sort of technique for replicating stuff like that: http://www.tidewatermillwork.com/index.php

[Lavrans]

Anyone with a Shopbot or pretty much any of the sign making CNC's has photo replication software. You can take in a picture and it will replicate the image to any depth you would like. The better ones can change it to a line drawing where you can fix some deterioration. Otherwise you may be able to splice pictures together.

I haven't looked lately, but the xbox 360 imaging technology boom has made camera replication pretty amazing, and quite accurate. The days of having to make molds may be nearly gone.

And then, you can make a mold of it and have it replicated in foams or plastics.

Or you may be able to find something close enough...

[calvert]

DancingDan, One of my greatest frustrations in the restoration business is the difficult time I have getting carvings done. Not having a steady flow of that type of work is a detriment in trying to establish a good relationship with a carver.

Several years ago on a "period" Louis XVI bedroom job I needed some carved brackets and was fortunate to come across a very skilled carver who produced the pieces in about a week and for a reasonable value. He took his craft very seriously and I had him do a few subsequent jobs although he became
increasingly difficult to get in touch with. I tried to get together with him several times for another project last year, only to find out he moved to Rome to further his studies.

I have spoken to another craftsman who does do work for the furniture industry and is located near Williamsport, PA and operates under the name "FineArtWoodcarving". Sorry I am not providing a link but you can certainly do a search and come up with a phone number as I don't think he has a website.

The only other advise I can offer is something Lavrans mentioned and that is the use of foam for the carving. Companies that provide high density urethane board for the exterior sign industry use materials that range up to 30lbs./cu.ft. and there are foams used in the pattern making industry that go to 60lbs. I did have one carver I used make some gable carvings for a victorian carriage barn ventilator from 18 lb density foam. I did have enough of one of the originals to give him a good idea of what he had to replicate. Most of those types of designs were symmetrical so having one side is usually enough to understand what the entire piece looks like.

A sign foam supply company may be a good starting point as they will have the ability to lead you to a few fabrication shops which may be able to deal with photographs to reproduce the required pieces. One supplier is "Coastal Foam" which has a web site,I believe under the heading "Precisionboard"