FINISHING OLD PROJECTS V: Marquetry

FRIDAY 22/08/2014 : MARQUETRY

What happened to the week, Friday already, haven't achieved much. Weather is terrible, raining, cold, even snake, is curled up in a ball on the roof above the fire. I don't have to look hard for an excuse to get to the shed today. Took some pics out the back earlier.

I've been trying to get a good photo of one of these lorikettes, so I can try and make it,  as a marquetry piece, a couple of weeks ago we had one really old lorikette come and visit, I guess, it was after an easy feed.

"NOW" every day.

Even the birds are photo booming these days.

Cute

Back to the woodplay, yesterday, I got stuck into the marquetry for inside the lid of the box.

Sometimes it is possible to do several pieces at a time, however you need to be very careful and never try to do two pieces, side by side. The veneer becomes very week and can fall to pieces quite easily.

Glue all the pieces into position.

It is also very important the piece is clamped  securely, insuring the face of the work is flat. The bag of sand and clamp work most efficiently for this purpose. Also the glue must be properly set or the pieces will just fall out next time you start cutting on the scrollsaw.

Make sure the face of the veneered marquetry is flat.

All finished.

Remove the masking tape.

Lightly sand the face of the marquetry, to remove excess glue, do not over sand or the effect of the shading will be lost.

From the back of the marquetry, using a small chisel push down on the edge of the veneer around the entire work, just to be certain the front is flush.

Then using a small scraper,smooth and level the back of the marquetry.

As with the front, the back needs to be perfectly flat. Clean all surfaces.

Looks OK when wet. Next post I'll finish the box.
That's all I have time for today, thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings, If you have any questions or comments please send me an email or just leave a comment in Google+ below.

Peter Holmes

holmesp06@gmail.com

Thought I'd just shear this pic of the old Ballina Post Office, it has been renovated in recent years.