Intarsia, ever heard of it? Well, it’s been a long while since we even thought about this type of project. Ah, you thought we were talking about knitting didn’t you. Well, maybe we’ll discuss that later, but right now the project we have in mind involves wood not yarn. You may know intarsia uses a technique where you create a mosaic or picture out of wood that is cut to a pattern and glued together onto a wooden backing or support. When it is done right the results are amazing.
New ideas found at a woodworking show
We first came across this woodworking project when we teamed up with a family member making bookshelves, pen sets, tables, picture frames, and other wooden products. Together we set up a small shop with our table saw, drill press, lathe, band saw, jig saw, and all the woodworking tools to go with them. Including our safety goggles, we might add. Anyway, we kept fairly busy making, and even selling, the items we produced. We were going along quite well but eventually wanted new ideas and decided to attend a local woodworking show.
Intarsia patterns were great
While browsing through patterns at the show we discovered several that involved intarsia. We had a basic idea what it was because we had seen a example of a beautiful eagle hanging on the wall at a doctor’s office. However, we did not have any experience with this type of woodworking. There was a pattern of a clown and a Christmas wreath that we really liked and decided to try our hand at making them.
We liked the idea and went to work
The only example we had for this type of project was the eagle we saw at a doctor’s office. The artist who made the eagle used different types of wood that created wonderful shades on the eagle. We liked the idea and went to work making the Christmas wreaths first, then the clown. First things for this project? We went shopping for wood.
Selecting wood and cutting the pieces
We knew we wanted several pieces with dark tones and pieces with varying light tones. After finding just the right colors and textures of wood, we laid the pattern and cut the pieces we needed. The wreaths took a lot of patience because the pattern called for several individual leaves. After cutting the pieces we set them in place to make sure all the parts were cut correctly. Then one piece at a time we sanded and shaped them to fit together. Next came gluing them to the backing and then staining the finished product. Needless to say the wreath turned out to be one of our popular items in the shop. Everyone wanted us to make one for them. The clown was special because we used weathered wood for the shoes and the wood colors for the clown gave it amazing character.
Project for the holidays
So, why do we even mention this project on our website. Well, we came across the pattern for the wreath and the clown the other day. It brought back memories and thought we would share our memory of a great project with you. Unfortunately, we don’t have pictures of our work, but we can show you Judy Gale Robert’s website to see the patterns we used. They are both still so wonderful.
Click this link for the: Christmas Wreath
Click this link for the: Clown
Who knows, maybe we’ll try our hand at intarsia again.
Happy Woodworking!
The Project Crew at My Project Club
