Oak Tree Tile Trim, Part One

I hope I don't jinx myself but I'm going to capture a step by step process on how I'm going to make my trim around the oak tree tile mural. It's just that I've never done this before so going public with this prior to completion makes me a little nervous. You know, in case I screw it up or something.

So this is where the situation begins. I made an oak tree tile mural over a time period of 4 months, starting October 2005. It is the protective backing to the wood stove. I have the mural up but I need to place trim around it, and I want it to blend in with the cap for the wainscoting:

This is measuring out the cap (sample piece) to see how far it sticks out. This cap will go around the perimeter of the room, sort of like a tall chair rail. I need to make the trim to the mural match this so it will blend in:

Here are some sketches I made, copying a similar pattern to the cap of the wainscoting:

And transcribing the sketch to 1/2" plywood to make a cutting form:

And the final form sketched out to be cut:

The rough cut, done by a $20 jig saw with a metal cutting blade:

After seeing the rough cut, it looked like a disaster and I thought I'd have to start over but after sanding, I was happy with. This is the tool I'll use to make my clay trim to be installed:

Stay tuned for part two!: