Manhattan Map

In the churn of moving I found the process of carving a new map rather therapeutic.  Clearly this something I should do more often.

The client was looking for an anniversary gift and since they had lived in Hoboken when they'd met their partner a map of Manhattan seemed like a good idea.  As maps go it's relatively straightforward but I kept having to start over due to one dumb reason or another.  There was no one thing that was particularly difficult, just a litany of human errors.  I'm pretty happy with the final (and fourth) attempt though and I'll bet the client and their partner will enjoy it on their wall.

Did the carving in the living room while the studio is still under construction.

Because the leather had a significant curl to it I used 1/4" MDF for the backing to make sure it stayed flat.  I normally use 1/8" for the backing but it just wasn't going to be rigid enough to hold the leather flat.