A new marquetry project is on the table, a picture of my one year-old grandson, Freddie. A photo of Freddie in a swing was cut down to just a portrait of his head. After spending some time, not very successfully, to get the picture ready for the laser cutter, a decision was made to do this work the old fashioned way on the scroll saw.
The picture was printed approximately life size. Areas of differing color were outlined and the different colors numbered 1-23. This is seen in the photo below.
The next step is veneer selection. The box was pulled from the top of the basement upright freezer, where the veneer sheets are stored in a box in a bag with a wet paper towel, my attempt to keep them from drying out. The photo below shows the veneers selected and the table describes their use.
| Veneer Nos. | Use | Colors | Photo Loc. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-6 | Face and Ears | lightest brown | right top |
| 7-9* | Mouth | pink, red, burgundy | center top |
| 11-14 | Hair | heavily figured | center bottom |
| 15-16 | Grass bkgnd | plain tan | left top |
| 17-19 | Shirt | wavy figure | right bottom |
| 20-23 | Eyes | dk brn to black | left bottom |
* The teeth were originally veneer 10, but veneer 1, 2 or 3 will be substituted.
The items listed under "Use" in the table may just be the packets needed to build this picture. The lines dividing the colors were traced onto tracing paper. The work began with color three in the right cheek (left in the picture). Using carbon paper the shape of color 3 was transfered from the tracing paper to the veneer labeled 3. Surrounding lines were transfered as well.
Before proceeding I quickly read through Marquetry Notes to reinforce a few important details. The scroll saw was already tilted 7° with the left side low. A #2-0 blade was installed. An important consideration is that the top keeper piece stays on the left side of the blade during cutting.
A piece of veneer #2 was cut with the Xacto knife and then taped to the veneer with the sketch using green painter's tape. Using the tracing and carbon paper the design was transferred to this new piece of veneer. Locations and directions for saw blade entry and exit were noted. The one line between the two parts was cut with the scroll. After cutting the new piece that was on top, the keeper, was removed and fit to the bottom piece from the right side of the cut. Veneer tape was wetted and applied to the front face, or show face. This taped cut was allowed to dry under the pressure of the cutting mat for 15 minutes.
At this point all of the lines were retraced over the veneer tape in preparation for adding the next piece of veneer, also color #2. The same process was repeated and this time documented with the five photos shown below. During drying times a second packet was started, the opposite cheek.
All of the redrawing of lines is required as these lines are used to align the tracing paper for drawing on the new piece to be added.
The process has been repeated numerous times to prepare more packets. The cheek on the right was completed and work is now progressing on the nose and upper lip packet. Hair will be tackled next. The hair was done in two packets, left and right. Both packets are now complete. All that remains are the eyes and mouth/chin.
The work is somewhat slow as a fifteen minute waiting period follows each addition of veneer tape, which needs that time to dry. I find the work very relaxing.
Almost November and today began the work on the chin and mouth. Should be straightforward, though the tiny teeth might be a challenge. The lower lip and inside of mouth were cut and taped together. The tongue and lower teeth were put together as a unit and then cut into the mouth. The upper teeth and the upper lip were then added to complete the mouth. The picture below shows the tongue and lower teeth cut into the mouth after a few tiny patches of the darkest wood around the teeth. This is the back side. The second photo below, also of the backside, shows the mouth packet completed. Gotta love the "chicklet" teeth, a Halloween mask on Halloween. As the third photo indicates there is still alot of work to do before this looks like a baby's face, sort of "Picassoesque" at this stage.
The ear packet on the left side of the picture was tackled next. This included hair outside the ear and a bit of the sweatshirt. The sweatshirt followed, beginning with the left, a little more complex, side. The completed packets are seen below.
The sweatshirt on the right side of the picture was made this morning, only two pieces. The chin packet was then joined to the two sweatshirt packets. This part of the picture is shown below. With the sweater done as two pieces there is a cut across the veneer below the chin, not the best, but hopefully not too bad looking in the final product.
After spending some time pondering how best to make the eyes, some changes were made. The black veneer was supposed to be the iris as the picture is very dark. This seemed like to much, so a dark brown veneer that was to surround the eyes was chosen. This veneer is very heavily figured and readily cracked just upon handling, so it will be softened. The veneer was thoroughly soaked by spraying, and with a rubber glove wiping, the veneer softening liquid from Veneer Supplies. The veneer was wrapped with shop towels and clamped between two boards. At least a day will be required for the veneer to dry, with shop towel replacement every six hours.
A day later and the veneer was dry by feel. Both eyes were done at once, taking advantage of the fifteen minutes needed for the veneer tape to dry. One change was made after studying the picture, the whites of the eyes were switched from a light veneer to the darker veneer used for the sweater, 17. These packets began with the brown iris to which the whites were attached on both ends. Depending on how they look a black pupil may be cut in.
The eyes were quite the challenge and both had to be redone at least once. They were both completed this morning, much to my delight. The nose had an additional piece added as I didn't want to add it to the eye on the right. The photo below shows all of the packets somewhat situated in their eventual positions.
Assembly began with the two hair packets. These were aligned and taped, cut and taped with veneer tape. The photo below shows the two hair packets taped together. The nose packet was targeted next. First, the rightmost eye was attached and second, the adjacent cheek was cut into place as seen in the second photo below. The third shows the piece after adding the eye and cheek on the left. Getting closer to the big glue-up and reveal!
The ear on the left side was aligned, taped, cut and taped with veneer tape. This leaves only the shirt chin packet combination, the hair packet pair, and the grass background. The three additions to the face will be added in the order listed above. The first two long cuts are both challenging with many tight curves. The background addition requires a long, but simple broad curve cut. The two backgrounds need to be cut together first and that was tackled while the veneer tape dried on the ear addition.
The many sharp turns when cutting the chin/shirt part to the bottom of the nose/cheeks were managed by slowing the speed of the scroll saw dramatically. An accurate cut was the result.
The chin/shirt and middle face were cut together and are shown below in the first photo. The second photo shows the later addition of the hair completing the grandson.
Aligning the background with the overlaid face was a challenge and eventually solved by making crosshatches in corners and using these for alignment. The long line connecting the two was cut from the left side of the picture around the head to the right side where the cut separated the background and the shirt. The photo below shows the completed veneer picture. The second photo is the back side which will be glued to the backer board. Now a backer board needs to be cut after clearing off the tablesaw, which has served as the marquetry workspace. The work also needs more than a dozen small spots filled in as well as pupils. The eyes definitely need pupils.
Patches were cut for the holes, some minuscule in size, and glued into the back side. A few holes had ragged edges and were cleaned up before the patches were glued in place. Grain direction was matched with each patch.
Round pupils would be ideal, but cutting round holes and matching round pupils by hand is near impossible. A hole punch will be fashioned from metal and used to cut both. The pupils, not easy to see in the photo, were measured at 1/8", so that is the targeted size for the punch.
A short length of 1/4" drill rod (brass didn't work) was located in the scrap box. One end was faced and then drilled through with a 1/8" drill. The headstock was rotated about 7° and the end was tapered. The photo below shows the punch at this stage. The end was honed, back in the lathe, with coarse and then fine Norton stones.
The punch easily produced round cutouts from the black veneer. The punch was set high in the brown iris and with a few whacks of the brass hammer produced a clean hole. This hole is shown with the adjacent black pupil before gluing. The second photo shows the pupil after adding glue and putting it in place. The other eye was treated similarly. The effect is subtle, but I think worth the minimal effort required.
A sheet of 1/4" birch plywood (Menards, not Baltic) was cut to the size of the frame made a while back for a different project, 8" X 11". The marquetry was aligned on this backer board and its overlap marked. The excess veneer was cut off with scissors. Glue was spread over the backer board, the marquetry piece was aligned, and both were placed in the vacuum press on a sheet of wax paper. The press was turned on and the glued panel was pressed for three hours, over 1100 lbs of pressure, seen below. The second photo is fresh off the press. It will be given at least eighteen hours before initiating scraping and sanding.
Scraping took about forty-five minutes this morning. Two wooden blocks were clamped to the table saw with the taped piece sitting easily between them. The scraper was used to remove the 90% of the tape, an early morning physical challenge. Sanding with 180 grit paper using the oscillating sander removed the remainder. This sanding was followed by sanding with 220 grit paper. The last step prior to applying lacquer was staining the frame. The stain, a mixture of two colors used previously on a table, was wiped on and allowed to dry overnight. This set of steps is documented in the photos below, with the last posing the newly stained frame over the marquetry.
The frame dried for four hours. After lightly sanding the frame with 400 grit sandpaper both the frame and the marquetry were moved to the garage and set up for painting. Three thin coats of spray lacquer were applied in two hour intervals. A day was allowed for the lacquer to completely dry. Two 1/16" holes were drilled in the sides of the frame, close to the inside edge. Two tiny washers affixed with #2 wood screws held the washers in place, clamping the picture into the frame. The photo below shows the final framed marquetry.
