Northwest Michigan 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Northwest Michigan 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Northwest Michigan 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Northwest Michigan 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Northwest Michigan 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Northwest Michigan 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall

Northwest Michigan 3D Wood Map | Laser-Cut Birch Depth Chart

$ 418.00
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.

The whole magnificent corner of the state in one chart: Grand Traverse Bay, the Leelanau Peninsula, Sleeping Bear, and the inland lakes that make Northwest Michigan what it is, carved in layered Baltic birch at 24.5 by 31 inches.

Few regions anywhere pack this much water into this little map. Grand Traverse Bay drops to some 620 feet between its peninsulas, Torch Lake runs its nineteen turquoise miles just inland, and the Chain of Lakes threads them together on its way to the big lake. On the chart, the deep bay and the deep inland lakes each get their own descending stacks of birch, so you can compare basins the way a chartmaker would: Torch against the bay, Charlevoix against Glen, all in one frame.

Each contour is a laser-cut sheet, stacked by hand into true relief, with towns and waters engraved into the wood behind acrylic glass in a solid Baltic birch frame.

This is the chart for people who cannot pick just one lake up here, and no one could blame them.

Engraved across it are Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petoskey, Leland, and Elk Rapids, with the region's headline waters each available at closer scale: Torch Lake, Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Charlevoix, and Glen Lake.

  • 24.5 × 31 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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