Wood Carving

[poppell]

I see very nice wood carvings in the gringo-oriented souvenir shops.
Specifically carvings of big game fish.
Unfortunately, all of the carvings are small and pedestal mounted.
I want a large (36-48″ overall length) wall mount carving of a sail fish to mount over a fireplace.
Can anyone point me towards a source? finding the artisan would be great.
Any arts and crafts people in this readership?

[jrego]

Have you spoken to anyone in the Craft Town of Sarchi? We visited furniture stores here where everything is hand made. There was a king size bed head and footboard which was heavily carved in one shop. Exquisite. I spoke with the carver and I believe he said this took him 4 months to do. It was very pricey. I mention this because if there is someone in Costa Rica who can do what you require, Sarchi is where I would start. Coming from San Jose I believe it was the first furniture store along this road. I hope this helps.

[guru]

I second the above post. We were looking for a carved wood angel for a gift and all we found were molded ceramic pieces that could have been from China for all we knew.

So we asked the operator of the crafts co-op in Sarchi and he sent us a block down and one off the main road to a small house. There a carver of religious icons had a small shop. The artists wife met us at the gate and his daughter who spoke more English than the wife negotiated the price. Out of the few pieces he had available was the standing angel sculpture we wanted. It was about 14″ tall carved in a blond wood. The piece was signed and one of three similar pieces the artist had made.

We did not negotiate at all. The price of $75 US for a piece that would take a week to carve with machinery was outstanding. I’ve done quite a bit of carving and sculpture and know about how much time it takes (4 to 5 days minimum for this piece). This was good money by Tico standards but did not take the ART into consideration.

Although Sarchi is considered the crafts capital of Costa Rica, the work there is done all over the country, particularly near supplies of wood (logging and saw mills) which is everywhere. Much furniture is made near Ciuidad Quesada. Ask around.

[Author]

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