carving wooden hearts
With Danny Todesca.
According to an old German legend, there are spirits in every tree. Travelers believed that these wood spirits protected them during their travels and they would knock on the trees before entering the forest to pay respect. This is where the expression “knock on wood” came from.
We were inspired by how wood spirits convey the living nature of trees. Often times, people don’t respect the life of something unless it reminds them of their own nature. That’s why we decided to carve 6 anatomical hearts and place them inside tree holes for people to find.
the supplies
This was our first time carving so we did a little research and gathered what we needed.
carving
We experimented on some wood to learn the cuts. Then, we got styrofoam and planned out what the anatomical hearts should look like.
sanding and varnishing
After each heart was carved, we sanded them down with 80, 120 and 150 grit sandpaper. Then, we varnished them.
the veins
We purchased a green varnish to paint on veins to give the hearts a more heart-like appearance. We choose green to represent the chlorophyll, the life blood of trees.
placement
We put them in Forrest Hill Park as a nice surprise for those wandering around.
