Trellis work page 2

Okay, now that you have learnt to do Basket Weave, Alf is going to take you through the intricacies of Trellis Work. Trellis work is very dependent on the initial layout you draw on your waster veneer. Once you have got that right, the rest of the design will fall into place, so let's let Alf explain:

"Trellis Work"
a tutorial presented by Alf Murtell

Well here we are at Trellis work. You're first step is to decide what background veneer you wish to use, this is the veneer that will show through the trellis work, so you will want one that complements your trellis effect. The most important consideration will be the initial marking out of your background veneer. Alf suggests that you can either tape over the background veneer so that you can mark out on the tape, or you can use a white "leaded" pencil to mark out directly onto the veneer.

The next thing is to check out the items you require for your trellis work, they are:

Requirements:

· Cutting board with a lip along one edge

· 2 x blocks of wood 1½” x ¾” x ¼” (metric 38 x 19 x 6 mm)

· Masking tape or veneer tape

· Sand for sand scorching

· Veneer: Sycamore, Mahogany or Walnut

PHOTO: Background veneer with marked out grid

The above illustration shows the background veneer after it has been taped over and marked out with a 1/4" grid (6 mm). It is essential to accurately mark out the grid to ensure a uniform trellis pattern.

PHOTO: Alf uses blocks to cut uniform strips

PHOTO: Alf dips 1st piece into hot sand

As with Basket weave, Alf cuts some more strips of sycamore and scorches them along their "long sides", but this time Alf doesn't use any stringers. Alf joins them together as you will see in Example 2, Alf then cuts them into strips (as you will see in Example 3) by using the methods shown in the above left hand photo so that he ends up with several quarter inch (6 mm) thick strips to build his pattern from.

PHOTO: Trellis effect example 2

PHOTO: Trellis effect example 3

PHOTO: Alf cuts slot ready for prepared insert

An important difference here from the basket weave tutorial is that you don't glue the strips together, because you will want to insert each 1/4" x 3/4" (19 x 6 mm) piece into the slots you cut in the background veneer. To illustrate this point take a look at "Example 4" on the right of this text >>

This example of trellis work is shown in the vertical layout.

The shorter ends you see in this example are only 1/4" x 3/4" pieces cut in half. The dark bits you see between the "pieces" are the background veneer with the covering tape peeled away.

After the individual pieces have been inserted into the background veneer they are then held in position with a smear of white PVA glue rubbed into the cuts.

PHOTO: Slot ready for piece to be inserted

"Example 4" showing window and piece
ready for insertion.

PHOTO: Trellis work done diagonally

"Example 5" above shows trellis work set out in a diagonal layout.

Again, the dark area's between the "trellis strips" are the background veneer with the covering tape peeled off.

PHOTO: Alf builds up the Trellis pattern

PHOTO: Alf shows the completed example

PHOTO: Alf shows audience a finished and decorated box

Well, there we have Alf's lecture on Trellis work. As you can see on the example Alf is showing the audience in the above photo, the trellis work makes a wonderful decoration for a small box. We hope you are finding Alf's lectures are helping you with your marquetry. Alf will be back with some more demonstrations and lectures over the next few months, so that is something you should find will be well worth looking forward to.