Study Pieces

Well, only some of your explorations turn into full-fledged completed projects. About thirty years ago, a customer approached me about a billet head for their boat. Eventually, they settled on a rather uninspiring traditional carved spiral design. But I spent a little time on some quickie samples of other designs. This one was never shown to that customer. It was between a billet head and a boarding plank in style and not quite appropriate for either.
The design was dragged out of a book of traditional carving motifs. However, I modified it radically, and it’s very different from the original.

I liked it enough that it did not go into the kindling pile that winter and was stored against future use. With further modification, I might reuse it.

One of my wife’s great-grandfathers was an accomplished carver. When his house was cleaned out, boxes and boxes of small carved studies were found. He also experimented with and saved studies for future use.
We are a saving bunch.