I learnt how to carve bas relief from a master sculptor in Southern Vermont named Julian Isaacson. I used a discarded set of nesting tables that needed some love. Julian taught me the basics of how to carve using a hammer, various chisels, veiner tools, and an imprinting stamp.

This nesting table set was most likely built in the 1960s. I couldn’t dig too deeply into the wood because of how the table was constructed. So I chipped away shallow sections of the wood around the snake to make it appear raised. I finished both tables by stripping the aged veneer with citrus strip, sanding them down, painting them with homemade chalk paint, and then embedding red glass eyes into the snake.