Charleston, South Carolina 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Charleston, South Carolina 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Charleston, South Carolina 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Charleston, South Carolina 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Charleston, South Carolina 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Charleston, South Carolina 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall

Charleston, South Carolina 3D Wood Map | Laser-Cut Birch Depth Chart

$ 418.00
Size
Frame
24.5 x 31 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.

Charleston in laser-cut Baltic birch, 24.5 by 31 inches: the harbor where the Ashley and Cooper rivers meet, carved one depth contour per layer with the forts, creeks, and channels that made the city.

Charlestonians say their rivers join to form the Atlantic Ocean, and standing on the Battery it is hard to argue. The harbor they form has seen everything: Fort Sumter at its mouth where the Civil War began, the shipping channel now running beneath the Ravenel Bridge's white spans, shrimp boats working out of Shem Creek at golden hour. The Lowcountry tides push six feet up every creek, exposing the pluff mud that perfumes the whole peninsula at low water. On the chart, the two rivers' engraved channels converge around the peninsula exactly as the toast describes.

Contours are laser-cut sheet by sheet, stacked by hand, engraved, and finished behind acrylic glass in a solid Baltic birch frame in Dark or Light.

Holy City steeples above, harbor below: this chart takes the water's side of the skyline.

The engraving spans the peninsula and both rivers, Fort Sumter and Sullivan's Island, Shem Creek, and James Island's creeks. Companions: Hilton Head and the South Carolina Coast.

  • 24.5 × 31 in
  • Solid Baltic birch frame in Dark or Light
  • 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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