By Roy Murton.

Artistic skill is not a pre-requisite of Marquetry. At school almost all will have traced maps or something and now we will try to show you that you can adapt that tracing skill to create fine pictures in wood using first a pencil and then a craft knife. I feel sure that many people are put off by the name Marquetry because they confuse it with marketing, thinking we are trying to sell them something when in fact we are only trying to teach them a skill that will absorb them and amaze their families.

We are fortunate to have recruited four new members during our autumn/fall term in 2004.They are Eddie Grigg, Stan Adelman, John Hallet, and Ron Smith.

All but Ron Smith were completely new to Marquetry. Ron had already made one small picture from a kit. I explained to them that there was no right or wrong way to do marquetry but the window method was the way we as a group worked and I would show them the method that we use to create our pictures.

Eddie, John, and Stan were complete novices so I took a small piece of Sycamore veneer for each and drew a square a rectangle, a triangle, and a circle on it to demonstrate the difference in cutting with the grain of the veneer as opposed to cutting across it.

I explained that as the veneer still contained a small amount of moisture it was necessary to lubricate the scalpel blade periodically using white candle wax. This prevents suction which could grab at a bare blade and possibly split the veneer when the blade was withdrawn. I emphasise white wax because using coloured wax might mark light coloured veneer and have a detrimental effect on the finished work.

I changed the locking screws to the opposite way that they are supplied because the way the screw protrudes can cause blisters on the inside of the second finger and can be quite “off putting “ to a beginner. The knife is held in much the same way as a pencil and that the heel of the hand should rest comfortably on the cutting surface. The knife should be held at a sixty degree cutting angle to the veneer and the blade should be square to the surface.

Each beginner was given a cutting board. The blade is used as a piercing tool using only the very tip of the blade pushing downwards. I then advised each of them to hold the veneer on the cutting boards using their thumb and first finger of their left hand so that both digits were about three centimetres away on either side of where they were working so that even if their blade was affected by suction it could be easily freed without breaking the veneer.

With the piercing method it is possible to cut very accurately whereas using the knife as a cutting tool in the normal way the blade could follow the grain rather than the cutting line.

As they were all right handed I told them to place the tip of their knife on the line at the bottom right hand corner of the square and push the blade downwards into and through the veneer which made a small sit one or two millimetres long. They then put their blades slightly further along the line and pushed the tip through the veneer again.

By starting from the bottom right of the shape they would always be able to see the line that they were cutting along otherwise their own hand would have obscured the line they were trying to follow. When they had reached the top of the first line it is necessary to turn the wood in order to pierce along the next line. It is always best to try to keep the hand in one position and move the wood rather than twisting the wrist. By doing this there is more control over the knife. This process was continued until the shape had been cut out  and the shape  should fall out leaving what we call “The Window”. If it doesn’t fear not! it just means that your piercing’s were in some places too far apart and can easily rectify by re- piercing .

A contrasting piece of veneer was placed behind the window that we had cut positioning the grain in the direction required. This window was to become our template. This was secured by two or three small pieces of white veneer tape stuck in such a position as to hold both pieces of veneer together.

Using the window as the template our beginners were shown that it was essential to put the blade of the knife pressing on the inner edge of the window, at the bottom right hand corner and proceeding to carry out the same piercing action as with the first, turning the veneer in exactly the same manner as before.

I have found that this starting at the bottom right hand side is better for right handed people and that left “hander’s” should start from the left hand bottom corner

Once a shape has been pierced around it should always be held up to the light to make sure there are no unpierced areas If there are re pierce them. Do not be tempted to force the piece out as you will invariably split the veneer which will be very frustrating and could lead to your not finishing what could otherwise be a “masterpiece”.

Once the second piece of veneer is freed from the veneer around it should ‘pop’ into the window and you can then rub a thin film of P.V.A. glue over the top forcing it into the cracks at the edge. Do not use too much glue as being water based it will cause the wood to swell.

It is then necessary to smooth the pieces down. For this I use a teaspoon and press down with the bowl of the spoon. This application of the glue also tends to enlarge the veneer to a very small degree and helps to fill any very small gaps that may be left. The joined pieces are then once again held up to the light to see if any light can be seen which would show how closely or not the piercing has been made to the template. I tell them that if there are some gaps don’t worry, with marquetry you can only get better and you can always re –cut that piece anyway.

At this point I always say “”Welcome to Marquetry” because what they have just done is to have learnt the basic of all Marquetry and all our other members work the same way.

You should not attempt to work on the shape immediately next door. So in this case I told them to work on the triangles next, which they did, using the same method. When working on a shape with sharp points, it is “oh, so easy” to lose the “points” when you are cutting the piece to be inserted. So to prevent this I advised that they stick veneer tape over the surface of the piece they would use as the insert and they should cut through the tape as well as the veneer. This tends to hold the veneer and avoids breakages to the points. Alternatively the veneer to be inserted can be smeared with P.V.A. glue. This works nearly as well as the tape method but takes a little longer as one has to allow the glue to dry before it can be used.

After each shape was finished they held it up to the light to see how well or badly they had worked. In fact their efforts were very good indeed especially as they had never experienced marquetry before.

Eddie, Stan and John joined us in our autumn/fall term of 2004. Eddie was introduced to us by one of our oldest members Horrie Pedder. John had seen one of our advertisements in the local library and Stan had seen our advertisement in one of the local free newspapers. Ron is an old friend of Eddies and he came to us a little later in the term but he had already made a kit picture and had made quite a good job of it except that when he glued the picture to the base board it had twisted and so was out of square, not by much but he was rather upset about it but was much happier when one of our other members took it home and squared it up by cutting the base board with a band saw.

Making a first picture from a kit using written instructions is not easy, seeing someone actually doing what they have been reading about is so much easier to understand.

Having mastered the basics we gave them all the opportunity to find a line drawing from the design books in our club library. We try to get beginners to find a relatively easy picture that without too much effort can be completed within five to six weeks, because anything too demanding at this stage would possibly put them off such an interesting and absorbing hobby.

Select a picture that appeals to you. It will give you the impetus to carry on because we would not want you to find it difficult and then want to give up. People often say that they can’t draw but what they mean is that they have never been taught correctly. What is most important is that they have never been taught to observe. They have never been taught to see what they are looking at so I get people to look at their proposed pictures and SEE what is there and reproduce in wood something as near as possible to what is really in front of them.

John had selected the stylised picture of flying swallows. Stan felt that he needed more practice before starting a picture.

The next stage for making a picture is to trace the outline drawing using tracing paper. Stick the tracing paper by the top edge to the line drawing with sticky tape. Using a fairly sharp pencil, (or a ballpoint pen), trace over the line drawing. Once completed decide whether or not you want to work on the front of the picture or on the back which would result in a finished picture the reverse of the original. This means that if for example a ship on the line drawing was facing east, if the work was to be done from the back the resultant picture would have the ship facing west.

Some people prefer to work in reverse so that any grease residue stays on the reverse leaving the front clean. I however always work from the front because an ideal grain effect for the front of my picture will not necessarily reproduce itself on the rear. Also by working from the front I can see how my picture will look when finished.

Eddie and Ron had both chosen pictures which had a sky and water so it was necessary for both of them to get two pieces of veneer one to resemble sky and one to resemble water to prepare the waster. Or background veneer.

Having made the selections they glued the respective edges together and then joined the two and this became their horizons. We also stuck veneer tape on the back of the join just to hold the two pieces together until they were dry.       

Having decided which way they wanted to work, the tracing was detached from the line drawing and attached to the selected background veneer using the same method as before. It is also good practice at this stage to fix tape along the end grain of the veneer to stop it splitting due to rough handling. Having done this, place a piece of black carbon paper black side down between the tracing paper and the background veneer and proceed to trace the outline and the borders onto the background veneer. Always use black carbon paper because blue carbon tends to “bleed” and the resultant capillary action on light coloured veneer can be disastrous.

Having traced our outline onto the background veneer (which, incidentally we call “the waster”) we can commence to work on our picture. If one wishes to work on the back of their picture it is necessary to decide which side of their traced line they are going to use as a guide line. This may seem unimportant but believe me it is. Although this line is only very thin it can cause small slivers of light coloured veneer to be left unnoticed until you are ready to polish your picture.

This is only one method of “fine lining” but it is effective.

When starting a picture there is no right or wrong place to start but most people find that working from the background and coming forward easier.

Sticking the sails into the windows, Eddie & Ron found this to be a bit difficult. Large pieces should be glued along the edge in stages. Gluing large pieces in one go makes the veneer buckle and difficult to control, so stick a little at a time.

Eddie proceeded quite well and only needed a little guidance but Ron had problems with the mast of his boat. Although he had pierced as I had said, the veneer he was using kept breaking up and he was getting a bit frustrated. I told him to try again using the same type of veneer but covering the back and front with veneer tape and re-cut it. This, he did. I then told him to put some glue where the mast was to go then turn over both pieces of veneer and run the end of his pencil or plastic knife handle pushing the mast into its window.  Having done so, he removed the back veneer, turned his picture the right way up and smoothed with the back of a spoon and the mast was inserted. He then removed the paper remaining on the veneer by moistening and scraping.
 

As these tutorials are happening in more or less real time (give or take the time it takes to write it up for the web site) you will be following the progress of a group of new marquetarians up to them actually reaching the levels of competition standard.
If you are new to the art of marquetry, you should find these progress reports very useful for you to judge your own progress from, in fact you could actually use these reports to learn the art of marquetry from basics to advanced in parallel with our beginners. In subsequent reports we shall include photo's of our beginner's marquetry work for you to study. 
 

As you will have realised, this beginner's report from Roy has (of necessity) been rather a long missive because it is the first, and the introductory, one. With the next reports we will be including some photographs of our beginner's progress on their work.
If you find this report rather over-long to read on-screen, you may prefer to "right click" the report and print it out by selecting "print" from the sub-menu that appears. Many people find a printed version of a long piece easier to read from a "page" rather than a screen.

 

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