The Journey of Creating Large Wood Cacti Sculptures
For the past few months, Dylan and I have been deep in experimentation, working on large wood cacti sculptures—bold, dramatic pieces standing about 5 feet tall and 2 feet wide.
The idea was simple: create stunning, Southwest-inspired wooden sculptures that capture the beauty of cactus forms while incorporating our signature artwork. The reality? Well, let’s just say we learned a lot along the way.
From Concept to Reality (…or Not Quite)
Our process started with precise laser-cut wood panels, custom-designed and cut by a large laser facility. From there:
🎨 We hand-painted the cactus bodies.
🖼️ We had our designs printed onto the center boards.
🌸 We added flowers and extra details for a finished look.
At first glance, everything was going great—until we ran into the realities of production.
The Challenges We Didn’t Expect
1️⃣ Too Heavy to Handle – The wood we originally used was too thick, making the sculptures incredibly heavy and difficult to move. We tried thinner boards, but they weren’t stable.
2️⃣ Impossible to Ship – Even if we found buyers willing to pay for them, how do you ship something this awkwardly shaped and massive?
3️⃣ Printing Problems –
- The boards had to be completely flat for the printing process to work.
- Some images needed to be huge to maintain quality.
- The printing facilities looked at us like we were crazy for requesting large wood cacti to be printed! 😆
What Did We End Up With?
A few fantastic, unique wood cacti that now decorate our own homes—but unfortunately, not a viable product to sell. It was an expensive and time-consuming experiment, but one we’re glad we tried.
Next Steps: Smaller, Lighter, (Hopefully) Shippable Cacti
Now, we’re working on a smaller version that is:
✔ Lighter – Using new materials that maintain stability.
✔ Shippable – Reducing size and weight to keep costs down.
✔ Visually Stunning – Retaining the vibrant, Southwest-inspired designs we love.
Of course, we’re still bumping into issues with printing, cost, and production logistics, but that’s all part of the creative process. We’ll figure it out… or we won’t! 😆
Either way, it’s been a fascinating ride, and we love the work we’re creating—even if we’re the only ones who get to enjoy these first giant prototypes.
Stay tuned—maybe one day, we’ll crack the code on selling stunning wood cacti sculptures! 🌵✨