My niece drew an olive branch as a little character, with two leaves for arms and a smile squeezed into the stem. I wasn't sure the joke would survive once the pencil lines were carved into wood. The sketch they sent kept the smile just where she'd drawn it, and the crooked leaf on the left stayed crooked. In person the fine cuts give the drawing more presence than I expected. We hung it low enough for her to point out which leaf is supposed to be waving.

I bought this with my sister and we kept going back and forth on the reference. I'm glad we picked the unposed one. The portrait has Dad’s usual squint and the little tilt he makes when he’s listening.

Quietly beautiful. I keep noticing more around the eyes.

The piece arrived in good order and the edges on the frame are neat. I had pictured a slightly lighter image overall. Once it went on the wall by the stairs, where it gets more light, the valley really opened up.

The gum leaves were my favourite detail. Delicate without getting lost.

This started as a drawing my son made of the two of us as birds. He was worried they'd change the long legs. The carving kept them exactly as he drew them and left lots of room around the figures.

The curve of the horse’s neck is the best part.

My horse has a white blaze that goes off centre halfway down. That was the one detail I checked first. They got the asymmetry and somehow also caught the bit of mane that always falls over his eye.

The piece is lovely. I would have liked a clearer size guide.

They got my mum’s half smile exactly right.

The design looked quite graphic in the preview. In person the cuts vary enough that you can follow their direction across the panel. I prefer that slight irregularity to the perfectly smooth finish I was expecting.

I originally wanted the largest size and ended up going smaller after measuring the wall properly. The piece feels right in our space now, although I would have liked to see the framed dimensions more clearly when choosing. What I didn't get from the preview was how the direction of the cuts changes the surface. The lines near the centre are dense and almost disappear in the evening. In the morning, when light crosses from the kitchen window, that part is the first thing I notice.