I do marquetry.
I just finished a piece it’s called, “Moon, Mountain, Tree.” This was done as part of a beginner’s class at the Nor-Cal Marquetry Club – a chapter of the American Marquetry Society
My first Marquetry Piece
My latest project has been buying some new tools for my marquetry shop. When I joined the AMS I invested in some basic hand tools and supplies but have decided to add a couple of things to my tool kit.
My shop space is small for more on that see my shop page.
The first was a new scroll saw. I bought the DeWalt DW788 20-inch variable speed. This was one of the ones they had at the AMS class and I liked it. After looking at other models and prices this was the one that had the best price/performance ration for me. This is a hobby for me and the DeWalt is a good saw for the money. It’s a good sized saw and likely big enough for the small projects I’ll be doing. I’ll be using it for double bevel marquetry. And I have a couple of non-marquetry projects I’ll be doing with it.
I also bought a vacuum press from http://www.veneersupplies.com/(aka Joe Wood Worker). I got one of their smaller kits and a 4’x4’ vinyl vacuum bag. I’ve been told I could possibly have saved some money here by piecing the kit together from different sources and making my own bag. The trade off is time and knowledge. With a couple of clicks I ordered the full kit and it arrived a few days later with complete assembly and operating instructions. Plus if anything went wrong I knew I could call Veneer Supplies and get help. I am very happy with this press. It took maybe 45 minutes to assembly and test (much of that just unboxing and reading the directions). I also purchased some of my supplies and hand tools from Joe. They also sell veneers but I haven’t bought any from them yet.
Vacuum press in action
The hand tools I already have are:
- Veneer saw
- DeWalt scroll saw with blade sizes from 5 down to 3/0
- X-acto knife (#11 blades)
- Scalpel – #3 handle with #11 blades
- Various glue bottles
- Cutting mat
- Veneer roller
- J-roller
- Steel rulers
- Small steel framing square
There are a few supplies I’ve picked up too some are:
- Veneer tape
- Painter’s tape
- Appi tape (a low tack tape)
- White glue
- Cold press glue
- Veneer softener
My basic supply of veneers I purchased from http://www.certainlywood.com/
They sell a Maquetarian’s package which is a random sample of lots of veneers. Mostly small stuff but nearly 100 square feet of veneer – perfect for starter kit and more than enough for several marquetry pieces. If you’re just starting out, this is a great package to get.
This is a tissue box that I did:
Turtle Tissue Box
and a chess board I did:
Chessboard in progress
I took a class on marquetry on wood turnings. Here are a couple of pictures:
Turned plate with a marquetry inlay.
Unfinished goblet with marquetry band
Andrew's View of the Week 
WOW! I am impressed! I think you are so fortunate! What beautiful pieces of marquetry! Love the “turtle” design on the tissue box! I signed up for a woodworking class in 1980–but I soon learned that everyone there, including the teacher, was there to use the tools and there was no instruction! I was so disappointed —and then LIFE began and that was my first and last woodworking class. But I truly admire your determination to learn a new delight and I admire your work, Andrew!
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Thanks for your kind words. It’s an investment in time to learn this.
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nice work – came across you thro a reblog on the 1951 club site, about getting people to read you – smile – well I nearly missed your marquetry work but as I found it – perhaps you would like to contribute a picture to my “Gallery of Your Work” see the link below and related posts – I am learning wood turning at the moment!
http://julzcrafts.com/2015/06/10/some-thoughts-on-a-gallery-of-your-work/
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Hi Andrew. Thank you for liking my poem Picture! Peace and Best Wishes. The Foureyed Poet.
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This is an old artform not often seen today and it is grand. My grandfather did a lot of inlaid pieces, so this is refreshing to see!
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I just love doing marquetry. Been hooked on it ever since I started.
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Looks like fun. What I like about it is you can make it simple or as ornate as you’re able.
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They are all stunning. 🙂
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Thanks! I enjoy working on them.
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Hi Andrew. I admoire those who can use their hands to create. I can even make non drip paint drip. Thank you for liking my poem Family Gathering! Best Wishes. The Foureyed Poet.
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Thanks for stopping by. and don’t worry about dripping paint – just tell people you were going for a ‘rustic’ look and weren’t sure if you did enough drips…
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you’ve got some awesome work here. i’m uber jealous of that vacuum pump!
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Thanks – I love doing this work.
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It’s such a lovely craft, Andrew. It must be so satisfying to see the finished pieces. 🙂
Many thanks for the follow. Sorry I’m a little late getting here.
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I love doing this. I haven’t updated this page in awhile. Guess it’s time for some new pictures.
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I didn’t realize there was a local marquetry club, I should go to a meeting.
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come by and join us. The next open meeting is Nov 18, see: https://norcalmarquetarians.wordpress.com/
I know the folks there would be interested in your work.
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788 is great! I got the RBI HAWK 20″ that is super, but is not very portable. so ended up getting a used Dremel 16″ – is great on the RV road, vibrates a bit, but can be clamped down to any picnic table
I also got the Joe Woodworking 4’x4’ vinyl vacuum bag. only used it a couple times, but am way more confident in it than the cheap vacuum bags I bought from Harbor Freight they were good and extremely affordable, but not as safe as the Joe Woodworking 4’x4’ vinyl vacuum bag.
Ralph
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I love my vacuum bag. Now I’ve just got to finish cleaning my work bench so I can get back to some marquetry projects.
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I was so pleased that you liked my wee post about my lavender garden ! I have always loved marquetry and I’m glad to see someone is keeping the real art of inlay alive. Throughout my music career I bought & sold many beautiful guitars and I always found it interesting to view the musical instrument collections of museums as I travelled. Museums tend to collect pieces that are examples of unique craftsmanship, many of which were never meant to be played. Some of the most beautiful examples of marquetry are hidden away in museum musical instrument collections.
If you’re interested, I’ll hunt down a few of my favorites and post them for you.
Keep up the good work 🙂
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My wife has a small lavender garden and we always have so around so I was naturally attracted to your post.
It would be nice to see pictures some of those instruments. The marquetry club I belong to has a couple of Luthiers and they do amazing work.
and I am a fan of your music – got a couple of your CDs in my collection.
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So glad you’ve enjoyed my music. With the weird way that MS affected my ability to listen to music I turned to pursuits I could not practice as I travelled. Lavender is hearty and grows quickly, one of the things I enjoy most is watching the big bumbly bees that come to gather the pollen. As a child, I used to pet bumble bees but I don’t feel quite the urge to do that now.
I would say that a lack of bees in my holly tee and lavender plants has been alarming over the past four years.
On a separate subject, I am sorry to hear that you’ve lost a close friend. I have been very secluded in Arkansas and have made no close friends here… very unusual for me. When I hear a close friend has passed away, and I can’t just fly up to Cincinnati for the funeral, it makes the loss even worse.
I hope you can find some comfort in knowing you were lucky to meet and grow close with your friend in this big world of ours. I hope you have others near you to share your grief and lighten your burdon.
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Not only is your work beautiful and well crafted, it’s marketable as well. Those would probably be snapped up in a craft market.
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Some day I might sell my work. I get random thoughts of this being a nice source of fun money when I retire. Right now I don’t have any pieces I’d be willing to part with.
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Great work. You’re very talented.
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Man! Not only am I impressed with your work, but the way that you document so much of your efforts, you are leagues ahead of a lot of us other crafters. I either get busy and forget to take pics or post my work, or never get it finished to take a pic! lol Keep up the great work!!
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Thanks for checking out my work. I have to pick which pieces I am going to document because is distracting. What I’ve shown here is only a small part of what I’ve done. If I documented things the way I’d really like to then it would take twice as long to finish a project. And now I am back out to the shop for some more work.
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Beautiful work.
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