Canandaigua Lake, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Canandaigua Lake, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Canandaigua Lake, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Canandaigua Lake, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Canandaigua Lake, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Canandaigua Lake, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Canandaigua Lake, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall

Canandaigua Lake, New York 3D Wood Map | Laser-Cut Birch Depth Chart

$ 248.00
13.5 x 43 in
Baltic birch, hand-stained water
Up to nine laser-cut birch layers
Carved bathymetric relief, laser-etched labels
Soundings: NOAA nautical survey data
How the Water Becomes Wood

A chart is a stack of flat sheets until the water's real soundings tell it what shape to take.

  1. SurveyReal bathymetric sounding data sets every contour line before a single cut is made.
  2. CutEach depth band is laser-cut from its own sheet of Baltic birch, up to nine layers deep.
  3. StainWater layers are stained by hand, reading darker the deeper the water runs.
  4. StackThe sheets are registered and stacked in sequence, and the bed's true shape rises out of the wood.
  5. EtchDepths and place names are burned into the grain itself, never printed on it.
  6. FrameA solid Baltic birch frame and acrylic glass finish the piece, ready to hang.

Canandaigua Lake in stacked Baltic birch, 13.5 by 43 inches: the Chosen Spot of the Seneca people, sixteen miles of Finger Lakes water carved one depth contour per layer.

Canandaigua takes its name from a Seneca word meaning the chosen spot, and the shoreline argues the translation daily. At the northern city pier stand the historic boathouses, a row of little wooden houses on the water that has become the lake's postcard. Partway down, Skenoh Island, one of the only islands in all the Finger Lakes, marks the shallows off the north end. Kershaw Beach fills with swimmers all summer, and the hills toward Naples at the southern foot turn to vineyards and grape pie stands each fall. On the chart, the lake's single long basin steps steadily down through the birch, deepest off the steep middle shores.

Each contour is a separate laser-cut sheet, stacked by hand and engraved, with acrylic glass over the relief and a solid Baltic birch frame.

The boathouse view has launched a thousand engagement photos. Now it can hang over the couch.

The engraving runs from the city and its pier down past Onanda Park to Woodville and Naples at the foot. Companions: the full Finger Lakes chart and clear Skaneateles.

  • 13.5 × 43 in
  • Solid Baltic birch frame
  • Acrylic glass front, ready to hang
  • Free next-business-day shipping on orders placed by 2 PM EST
  • 14-day returns
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