Tuesday 14 February 2023

Marquetry - my first attempt

I've always liked the look of wood, especially polished wood with pronounced grains. I have a very old wooden model boat that I wanted to restore and while researching online how I could strip it back and polish it up, I stumbled across Marquetry. Though I put it out of mind initially, the idea of making pictures from wood veneers kept niggling at me. Obviously it was an itch that just had to be scratched.

Many hours were spent watching online video's and reading articles on the subject, but I've never been one to learn that way. I'm very much a hands-on, trial-and-error, figure-it-out-as-you-go sort of guy, so I sent for a small pack of mixed veneers so I could have-a-go. Though many sites suggested very simple shapes to begin with, I thought I'd learn more by trying something a bit more testing. 

From my own collection of photos I chose a picture of a Robin that I've painted and drawn many times, and I traced over it just in very approximate outlines. I played with various veneers considering the direction the grains should run and the overall 'tonal value' of the wood. Viewing the photo in greyscale helped a lot when choosing lights and darks.

There are a number of different techniques with Marquetry. As a beginner I chose the "Window" method as it looked the easiest. The first thing I learned when cutting is how easily the knife slices through the wood when going with the grain, but how hard it can be when cutting across the grain. Cutting irregular shapes proved harder than I'd expected and the very thin veneers often split. I'm hoping experience will help me get better at that.

Finally I had all the pieces taped together and I glued the whole thing onto a scrap of wood. I gave it a good sanding and several layers of Shellac varnish to finish it off.

A marquetry design based around a Robin

Though this isn't an accomplished piece of work, I'm not disappointed in it. The gaps between the  various pieces leave much to be desired and the veneer choices could have been better, but I learned so much from the process. Next I will try a different method to see if that suits me better. If YOU have experience of Marquetry I'd love to hear from you.

As for the model boat.... I'll be covering that in a future post.


6 comments:

  1. Wonderful first attempt, John! Thank you for your visit on my blog. I still treasure the many snowdrops photos you sent me years ago! I had not been painting for a long time due to lockdown stress and covid but I'm making a restart.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lockdown stress and covid are difficult to overcome but I'm pleased to hear you're making a restart. I shall be visiting your site more often from now on. Thank you very much for all the considerable likes and comments you've made on my FB page - they are very much appreciated.

      Delete
  2. Good to see you (and Judy) up and running again There used to be a bunch of us...good days. Your Robin is wonderful. If that's your first then I look forward to what lies ahead. I'll try to get my blog back into life, but I'm so busy ... I told you I'm also learning a violin and halfway through a masters in Forensic Psychology didn't I?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Violin AND Forensic Psychology on top of everything else. How on earth do you find time to eat and sleep? Hats off to you and thank you for popping over to leave a comment.... it's good to see you again.

      Delete
  3. This looks like fun and can be so beautiful. You are off to a great start. Thanks for finding my blog, I will enjoy visiting here. I added your blog to my blog reader.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The anonymous comment was from me. Slow on the draw this morning.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are very much appreciated and I value every one. Thank you