Mulberry & Turmeric: Learn From My Woodcarving Mistakes

I love woodcarving, especially with mulberry. I am still a beginner, but I do seem to have a natural ability for it. For my first commissioned piece that I sold, it was a custom moon piece. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, it was all going great until I decided to add turmeric. I made the mistake of asking AI instead of doing research and talking to other woodcarvers. So, learn from me and let’s talk about what a mess I made, and how I turned it around.

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First Commissioned Piece

I’ve been woodcarving for about six months now. Usually every Sunday, since that’s my only day off from work. I usually make wands, commander staffs, candle holders, and things like that. However, I have a good friend who has been plagued by troubles for a while now. I was so excited when she asked if I would carve her a piece with a moon she could hold in the palm of her hand. Of course, I said yes!

She left a lot of details up to me, but really wanted a moon. While digging through pruned branches in my backyard, I came across one that had a natural moon design in it. It was so perfect!

Mulberry Moon Woodcarving

Now, keep in mind that most of the photos in this post are before the moon was sealed. I’m also a newbie, so that’s why my piece doesn’t look perfect. Perfection will come in time. I also only currently have hand tools. As someone with Chromosome 15q13.3 Microdeletion Syndrome, my autism causes problems with my fine motor skills. That means I had to do the carving and sanding all by hand. A Dremel is on my to-do list!

Since there was a moon naturally in the wood, I just traced it and carved it into that. While carving, though, I got one of my crazy ideas.

How Turmeric Got Involved

When I was about done with the carving, I thought that a brilliant yellow would really make it pop. Turmeric sure can, but only if you do it properly. Now, here’s what happened. I went to AI instead of doing my own research and talking to others who do woodcarving. So, I prepared the turmeric and rubbing alcohol mixture. First of all, AI must have thought I was painting a house and not a palm piece. I wasted so much rubbing alcohol and turmeric! Turns out you only really need a dab, not an entire cup.

Oops!

After letting the mixture sit, I got a jar of water and a paintbrush. Then, I started putting “drops” of the turmeric “paint” on the moon woodcarving. Two drops and it was already soaked. At first, it looked brown. However, as it dried, it turned a rust orange, and then bright yellow! Now, if I had stopped there, we would have been fine. In fact, if you look at the image here, you can see the rust orange/brown on the outline of the moon. If it had stayed like that, it would have been PERFECT after sanding and sealing.

Dream Messages

Unfortunately, I don’t always stop when I should. Over the next few days, I kept adding more turmeric. I wanted the yellow to be “level” with the moon. However, that won’t happen because the turmeric mixture soaks INTO the wood.

Then, I had a dream, and in that dream, I was pouring turmeric into my woodcarving, and it overflowed. Normally, I would consider overflow to be abundance in dreams. However, I had the feeling that I was in an absolute panic. So, I woke up and knew I’d better leave it alone. No more turmeric!

Too Much Turmeric

I did leave it alone after that. Well, I left the turmeric alone. I started sanding (which works great for wiping away mistakes). I was hoping the color would turn yellow again, like it did in the beginning. However, I clearly used way too much, so now it’s like a burnt brown, as you can see here.

Sealed & Sent

Even though the color didn’t come out the way I wanted, it’s still a wonderful piece and an Amandah Original. You can’t tell how smooth it is, but it’s like butter. Turmeric does point out your mistakes more, as you can see above. However, it’s still a great piece, and even though I made some mistakes, my friend still wants it sent! I personally think the lines and rings in the wood are absolutely gorgeous. Of course, the more you work with a particular piece of wood, the more of your energy goes into it. So, hopefully it brings her some luck!

The plan for the next few months is to practice my woodcarving and get it perfect. I am also ordering a Dremel, which will help me with sanding everything out. I might try the turmeric again, but not for a while.