FrankEV

I received a commission from my son-in-law’s sister for me to make her a piece of Intarsia as birthday gift for her husband who likes Beachy scenes, and more so, one that includes a Lighthouse. I happen to have a pattern, that was shared by Allen Barr on FB, of a slightly abstract version of a Lighthouse which she felt would be perfect. This is my interpretation of Allens Pattern. I first needed to convert his PDF of a paper print into a digital file so I could reduce his 15” diameter size and print out the pattern on one piece of 13”x 19” (Super B) paper. The final piece, including frame, is a nominal 12 ½” diameter. Wood used: Aspen, Basswood, Black Limba, Blue Pine, Monkeypod, Padauk, Spalted Maple,Wenge, Yellowheart, and Quarter Sawn White Oak for the Frame. Finish is multiple coats of rattle can spray Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish. Comments and critiques are allways welcome.

Thank you, that is what the Intarsia medium is! The use of various natural different color wood, combined with SS cutting, sanding, shaping/sculpturing, gluing and finishing, to form Art pieces.

Ok, this is not for the FB February/March PAM, but it is an Umbrella Girl anyhow. I found this slightly risk-kay, un-titled, different, Stain Glass pattern that I’m calling ‘Umbrella Girl Embarrassing Moment’. I adapted the Stain Glass pattern for Intarsia, creating a nominal 11” x 16” pattern which includes the fixed frame. Wood used: Aspen, Alder, Blue Pine, Orange Osage, Poplar, Roasted Birch, Sapele, and Walnut (Frame). My supply of Blue Pine is not Blue at all, but it’s areas of near Whites, Pinks and Grays made a decent sky while I found a fairly Geen piece of Poplar for the water. The wood used for the beach has a defect and the white Aspen for the lower part of the dress has dark areas, enhanced by the finish, that were not removable by sanding. Both, much more noticeable in the photo than when viewed hanging on the wall. Finish is multiple coats of rattle can Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish spray. Comments and critiques are allways welcome.

Well done. How is it standing?

It is easier than you think. Just remember it is very addictive.

The FB February/March PAM is a series of eight Umbrella Girl patterns provided by Bob Beaupre. Entries can be one or more of the eight. You can find many finished versions Umbrella Girl Intarsia on Pinterest and I happen to run across a version of Number 7 by a Mehmet Biçer. Although the subject is not particularly interesting to me, after seeing Mehmet’s version I decided I would make only one and I also chose to do number 7. I used the photo his as guide for my presentation. I resized the patten slightly to fit a 9 3/4” x 11 3/4’ oval. Wood I used: Aspen, Basswood, Blue Pine (5/8” thick for Oval), Cherry, Mahogany, Purpleheart, Wenge, and Yellowheart. The project was an easy cut but cutting the hat gave me fits (pun intended) during fit-up. That damn hard Purpleheart…you get my drift! The finish is multiple coats of rattle can spray Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish. This is the image of the biece by Mehmet. Comments and critiques are always welcome.

Try again. I was editing!

Not that easy with the assembly glued in place. Air brush work is dificult to repair in this kind of situation. See revised Post. I think it looks better.

Yes but it was my background coloring that put the sun underwater. EDIT: See revised Post

You are 100% correct. I'm contemplating how to fix. My adding the coloration to the backer caused the problem. I did not see the problem until I took the pic and submitted this post. Sometimes you don't see a mistake until it is too late. I may attempt to remove the sun. it is too late to change the coloring of the background. EDIT: See revised Post

I adapted a free image of a metal wall hanging to create a nom 10 ½” x 14” Intarsia pattern. Wood used: Aspen, Basswood, Poplar (textured with a wire wheel and enhanced with Green Acrylic paint applied with an Air Brush), Padauk, Walnut, Wenge, Yellowheart, and a Tan mystery wood for the island. The backer is a nominal 5/8” thick Premium Pine panel that was lightly painted using an Air Brush to create a sea to sky background while allowing some of the strong Pine grain to show through. The rails of the Walnut fixed frame are 1 ½” wide forming a 15” x 19” panel. Finish is rattle can spray Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish. Comments and critiques are always welcome. EDIT 2: Yep the sun WAS in the water!!!!! Did not see it until I looked at the original photo with this post. The glue had not curred fully and I was able to remove the sun completely without much visable damage to the background. I'll be deleting the sun from the pattern. With my interpretation of the Island, I feel it is no longer needed. Kind of looked wrong even without the colored background.

Great work. I like both...nothing much more to say!

I adapted original Stained Glass Art by Jillian Sawyer to create a 99 piece, 10” x 15” pattern. Wood used: Aspen, Cedar, Orange Osage, Padauk, Poplar, Roasted Birch, Sapele, Yellowheart, and Wenge. Wood used for leaves and stems was enhanced with Green Dye and the Butterfly wing veins were highlighted with a black sharpie. Assembly is mounted on a 1/8” thick BB Ply backer and finished with multiple coats of Clear Gloss Spray Acrylic Finish. The Poppy was intended to be dark and light Red, much like how Blue was use in the original art. My choice to use Cedar wood for the light Red was poor with the color being more Brown than Red. This was not apparent to me until I brought the Butterfly assembly against the flower assembly. Although this should not have been necessary, but since assembly was too far complete, I found it necessary to improve the Cedar with Red Dye. Comments and critiques allways welcome.

Very Nice. I realalize you said first project, but FWIW, a #7 blade is really large. I'm an avocate of using the smallest blade possible for the kind of cutting you are doing and the thickness of the material you are cutting. You might find a #3 or even a #1 blade would be eaiser to work with for this kind of cutting and materil thickness. Just my two cents.

It seems from what I have gathered there are two ways to approach following pattern lines. It really has more to do with the pattern than the cutting itself. Thick line patterns vs. very thin line patterns. Those who use thick line patterns, they need to split the line to be accurate. Those, like myself, that like very thin line patterns can approach the cutting a little differently. For thin flat fretwork type panel cutting and using (me) spiral blades, the line is more of a suggestion as where to cut. Again using very small blades, a slight deviations from the line to either side does not usually effect the image unless very long,very straight cut lines are needed. Such deviations seen under 5x magnification are not apparent froma normal viewing distance. For Intarsia, however, I find there is a need for much more accurate cutting to obtain a good fit-up. I use the approach of cutting up-to/next-to the line. I cut just to the outside of the individual pieces so if any fit-up sanding is required, there is material to work with. You can always remove material, but you can not add material that has been cut away. Remember, there is always the loss of material between individual pieces due to blade thickness. Again, this is why I prefer, for cutting 3/4" thick material for Intarsia, to use using the smallest regular blades possible...I like Pagus #3 MGT-R for most wood species but they dull and break easily on very hard wood, like Purpleheart. Let me state this is MY way of cutting. It works for me. But, it certainly not the only way to be accurate and successful at cutting any kind of patterns using a Scroll Saw.

Love it. Great wood choices. Great choice for the mounting slab. Yes it is all about applying the finish that make it all come together!

The photo I used had dead leaves, so I assumed it was a winter scene. My leaves are not green as they would be if not winter. I did not even think about the indication of snow on the branch. I just followed the photo when making the pattern. I enjoyed doing the flat fretwork, especially with adding color, but my stockpile of finished pieces was getting too large and insperation for new pieces was getting more difficult to find. Intarsia seemed interesting and challenging. I still get to work with color, if not with paint. Pieces are generally smaller and I don't have to make frames. AND, as I was warnned, without a doubt Intarsia is addictive! In your final question, I guess you are asking about comparing precision between Fretwork sawing and Intarsia sawing. Loaded question! Read on if you have the time. Art panel Fretwork sawing is tedious and care must be taken not to cut into adjacent cut-outs, but following the lines super accurately is not as imperative to the final image. Of course, drilling and treading the blade in the many hole panels I did is a SPITA. I enjoyed useing spiral blades to cut the very thin plywood panels. The results of the cutting is apparent immediately and quite satisfying to the senses. Adding color was my way of kicking the resuts up a knotch. Intarsia, on the other hand, is less about the sawing and more about interpretation of the wood and art being created. That being said, accurate sawing is imperative to get a good fit-up of the pieces. Cutting the same line twice exactly the same is the key to good Intarsia. No quick cutting using spiral blades. However, the sawing is actually the lesser part of the effort when doing Intarsia. The sanding to get good fit and finish, shaping (or sculpturing if you will) to make the art come out of the wood, the wood choices to obtain the art colors, the assembly/glue up, and even the application of the finish must all come together before the art can be viewed and the senses satisfied. You only get a hint along the way of what the final piece will look like before the final finish is applied. I also like to create the patterns for the projects I do. For my flat fretwork I was making more and more of my own patterns. For Intarsia, there are many very good patterns available by some very talented Artisans, but I really do not care to do OP's patterns. I spend many hours at the PC to make my own Intarfsia patterns which I share freely. This is also what makes Intarsia challenging for me.

I adapted a winter scene photo of a Chickadee to create a 10” x 10” Intarsia pattern. This pattern requires very accurate cutting to get a good fit-up. Wood used: Aspen, Basswood, Costa Rica Mahogany, Mahogony, and Wenge. Dye was applied to Aspen for the Light Grey areas. I used a 5/8” thick Premium Pine Project panel from Lowes for the free form plaque type backer. The backer perimeter edge was cut at a 4-degree bevel and then a router was used to round-over the top edge using a 1/8” round-over bit. The completed assembly was protected with multiple coats of a Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish. Comments and critiques welcome. I will post the pattern in Pattern Exchange.

Oh what you can do with a little paint! Really nice. I've got a couple of Seg projects on the back burner bu there is just not enough hours, when I can only do about 3 hours a day.

Pants. long sleeve shirt with laytex glloves ooverlapping and taped, full face respirator mask with scarf to prevent dust from getting on head and neck...and then go at it. Comments from other Intarsia makers have stated the same thing about various woods. Seems like everyone reacts alergy wise differently. I use a full respirator mask when shaping and sanding and a vacumn system. However, my shop is small and dust gets airborn, so it still gets into my nose and it makes me sneeze a lot. Fortunately, no other adverse reactions. I've been meaning to try Bloodwood. I think I will be very careful when I do.

Yep, cute! You might consider rounding the edges of the various layers to give it a more sculptured look.

Nah, you don't want to do that.

True Intarsia uses the natural color of various wood to create the Art. Green and Blue are not readily available as natural wood colors. As I stated in my post, I dyed Aspen ( avery White Wood) the blue and geen areas. All others parts of the Duck are the natural wood color, although I did add the dark shading/shadow by applying a very thin coat of Acrylic Paint with my Air Brush. And yes, I do purchase many various pieces of wood to get the many various colors needed to do Intarsia. Not an inexspensive hobby.

I adapted a photo of a Mallard Duck in Flight to create an 11 ¼” x 10 ¼” Intarsia pattern. Wood used: Aspen, Basswood, Orange Osage, Roasted Birch, Sapele, Yellowheart, and Wenge. Very accurate cutting is needed to get a good fit of the many small parts, especially in the wings. To enhance the piece, I used dye to color Aspen for the Green and Blue areas. For my version I also added some dark shading to match the image using an Airbrush. Backer is 1/8” thick BB Ply and the completed Assembly was protected with multiple coats of a Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish. Original Photo. My version! Comments and critiques welcome. I will post the pattern in Pattern Exchange.

The ornaments look great. I don't have a Hegner, but I'm thinking using a shorter stroke will minimize the number of teeth the is doing the cutting. This would lead me to the idea that the blade would possible dull quicker, heat build up may be greater and breakage may be more frequent. That all being said, I also suspect these possibilities may be very insignincant. JUst what my brain thinks when I read about the shorter stroke.