THE ART OF MAKING INTARSIA

In 15th Century Italy, the inlaying of contrasting woods to form pictures was called Intarsia.  It is the process of crafting spectacular wood mosaics from a palette of surprising  wood colors and beautiful grain.  Basically, it is the process of painting a picture, or design, with individual wood pieces.  The process begins with selecting the type wood,  grain and wood color to match each piece of your design.  Following that, each piece is cut to the specific shape needed to make the collective pieces form the picture being crafted.  After all of the pieces are cut to form the desired picture, or item, each piece is shaped with a sander to develop the dimensional picture.  In addition, consideration must be given to the thickness of the individual piece in order to assist in making the item three dimensional.   When this is accomplished, each piece is again sanded a minimum of twice more to produce a smooth finish.  The process is completed at that time by gluing the finished design to a wood backboard.  It should be noted that no paint, or stain, is used - only the natural colors of the wood are protected with several coats of a clear finish (except for the USA eagle which has the banner colored for emphasis during the trying times to our country).  Due to variances in wood color and grain, each item will be different.

CREDITS

As a retired couple of 16 years, we have found that our work with Intarsia has been most rewarding, as it has stimulated our minds and exercised our bodies.  Any success that we enjoy with Intarsia can largely be attributed to Judy Gale Roberts and Jerry Booher (of Roberts Studio), who have provided us guidance with Intarsia and is the source of most of our Intarsia plans.  If you are interested in Intarsia, we invite you to visit their web site at  www.intarsia.com.