Baptismal Font Project

One of my long term projects is a commission to build a baptismal font for the Phippsburg UCC church. The church is celebrating it's 250^th anniversary this year, and monies were set aside for several commemorative pieces of furniture to celebrate the anniversary. As an aid to myself, and to better visualize the design for the church committee overseeing the project, I decided to create a full-sized mock-up of the font. This allowed me to get a better sense of the mass and proportions of the design. Early work on the model led me to increase the diameter of the center supporting pedestal from 7 to 8-1/2 inches, as this gave the font greater visual impact. I increased the diameter of the top basin segment by the same amount to keep everything in proportion. I love the size and grounded-ness of the large built up base molding. The profile was based on molding profile found in an early New England church, dating to around 1720. It looks satisfyingly Gothic to me, and speaks to the traditional look requested by the church. I still need to create the octagonal ogee profiled top for the basin before presenting the font to the committee for approval or design changes. Even in plain pine with moldings only applied part way around the font, this is a nice looking creation.