Welcome to the World of Woodworking Intarsia!
Intarsia is a wood working technique that has gained enormous popularity in the last decade. It takes several forms and can vary in complexity from very simple to highly detailed. I find it a very satisfying form of woodworking.
An Intarsia project begins by laying out the subject in the fashion of a jig saw puzzle. Various colors and depths are used as discriminators for the separate pieces of the puzzle. Woods are then selected to represent the colors required. In some variations, one type of wood is used for all pieces and they are stained to the desired color. Each piece is contoured to fit the image and the puzzle is assembled and glued to a backboard and frame. The Toucan was created using several pieces of pine cut to fit together in the proper form and then stained using colors.
The eagle is very similar but - the only colored stain involved is a light white for the head and tail and a black for the eye. The remaining shades are variation in the shade of the wood.
From the earliest times, the ancient art of Intarsia - the making of decorative and pictorial mosaics by laying precious and exotic materials into or onto a groundwork of solid wood - has been an important art form. Intarsia has also inspired both marquetry and inlay.
The salmon on the left is different all together. This is created from woods, cherry and maple, left over from a project I made for my father many years ago. He had supplied the materials and these were the last of them. Since he had taught me to fish and was there when I caught my first salmon from Sebago, I thought this was a fitting use for his wood.
I was introduced to Intarsia through a magazine article several years ago. The article was about a young lady who had become an expert in this art form. Judy Gale Roberts. She continues to be the most renowned artist in this art form. I've made several Intarsia projects from her plans and when I have created my own, they seem to copy her style.
These geese look nice hanging on the living room wall. They were made of pine and then stained various shades, including a white, to add the coloration. I made two first and then added the middle size to populate the wall a bit more.
This Intarsia project was a pair, mother and daughter, of dolphins. I had been eyeing the plan in one of the catalogs for a long time. About August, I decided this would be a good project to make for all of our girls as Christmas Presents. I ended up making 10 sets. They came out great and were a perfect Christmas Gift. Who can resist this pair?
As you can see from the above examples, I seem to prefer figures from nature. I did this one for my sister-in-law and brother out in the southwest. Once again it's a Judy Gale plan and she used various shades of cedar. Well - that's not easy to find here in the northeast and when I do find it, I can't afford what they are asking for it. So - regular pine it is again. I stained it with acrylics watered down to a wash and used near natural colors. Looks pretty good don't you think?
The photos shown on this page are examples of Intarsia I've done. Some use various woods and others are simply pine that has been stained. They all are very attractive and draw lots of attention. The most difficult part is contouring them properly - but even that is pretty forgiving.
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