As the embargo has now been lifted I can finally talk about this.
This past Summer I was honored to be given a task by a very special woman, my daughter, to produce the cake topper for her National Parks themed wedding. Her guidance was that she envisioned something like a trail marker.
As the Wedding was being held in one of our favorite places, Acadia National Park in Maine, the idea of a tree growing over a Geological Survey Marker with trail signs nailed to it formed in my mind and I set to work. This piece like our daughter is a one of a kind. There is symbolism included that maybe only a proud (and maybe a bit sentimental) Daddy would pick up: The tree roots are compass points. Two of the signs point to their home towns (miles are from the Mt. Cadillac summit) and shows where they came from. Their signs are tipped to show their paths merging and traveling forward together.
For the base I used the Cadillac Mountain summit marker disk as inspiration. The disk and roots are carved from a single piece of basswood. The trunk and signs are all separate pieces of basswood and ultimately glued/pegged together for form this single piece standing about 8 inches tall. All pieces are hand carved and the lettering is done with a wood burner. Acrylic washes were used for color and the entire piece coated with a food safe finish.
I truly enjoyed the one of a kind project.