Popular Post Greg Slagle Posted February 17, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 Ok, so I tried intarsia again... I tried to slow down and do a good job but the anxiety was still too much... All I could think about was getting the project completed so my stress would go away... Anyway, the snake is made entirely of Pine with various paints and stains... The frame is Western Red Cedar painted black... The backer board is Birch stained Carmel... I may make one last attempt at intarsia by using hardwoods instead of soft... I don't know exactly how to feel about this one... nebur9362, Charlie E, RabidAlien and 11 others 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawson56 Posted February 17, 2019 Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 Super CoolI have done Intarsia in the pas,an Eagle, Wolf.They did not turn out as well as yours did.Your doing Great. Greg Slagle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don watson Posted February 17, 2019 Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 Great job. Well done. Greg Slagle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveww1 Posted February 17, 2019 Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 very nice job Greg Slagle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meflick Posted February 17, 2019 Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 (edited) The stress was not caused by the attempt at doing some Intarsia work, but by your subject a snake stresses most people out. The one thing that gives my hubby nightmares . Remember, its only wood and you can always go back and recut a piece. and most of us are our own worst critic. I think it looks fine. What is it that you don't like about it? Pine is probably not the best wood to work with as it is so soft. I would try to work with harder wood when trying to cut for Intarsia. Part of the fun and the challenge of doing intarsia work is finding that perfect piece of wood with just the right color and grain. Look into some of Judy Gale Roberts Intarsia books - she provides great info. on learning to do Intarsia work. You can find them on her site here: https://intarsia.com/collections/books Kathy Wise also has some great books: https://store7626357.ecwid.com/#!/Books/c/15463196/offset=0&sort=nameAsc Judy has several free patterns on her site as well: https://intarsia.com/pages/download-free-intarsia-patterns They are good to work with for a beginner as they often have much fewer parts. Kathy also has some on her site here: https://store7626357.ecwid.com/#!/FREE-PATTERNS/c/31408046 The pig is a good pattern to start with - you can first do it as a "segmentation" piece cutting it all from one piece and practicing the shaping. Then do it again using different types and colors of wood for some of the pieces. Judy also provides some great free articles on Intarsia work on her website here: https://intarsia.com/pages/beginner-intarsia here: https://intarsia.com/blogs/news and here: https://intarsia.com/pages/faq Bruce Worthington has a free Intarsia E-Book with instructions on his website where you make a Teddy Bear: http://www.intarsia.net Don't be so hard on yourself, like anything its going to take some time to learn to do Intarsia work, it still will never be "perfect" to you probably, as you know where the issues or "flaws" are but to most people who look at it - it will look great. I have to remind myself of that all the time. We learn with each project that we do. If you have only done two now, you haven't learned much right - after all we go to school for years - we had to learn to roll over and then crawl before we could walk right - that didn't happen over night. You are doing fine. Just keep at it. Edited February 17, 2019 by meflick Greg Slagle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Slagle Posted February 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 I am going to attempt to use Sycamore and Walnut on a small project to see if I like it better using hardwoods... If that doesn't work out right I'll probably just give up on intarsia altogether... Not sure... I'm not hard on myself with my fretwork projects, it is just with intarsia that my confidence falters... I like Judy Gale Roberts' site... I peruse it every now and then... I purchased the following book years ago... meflick 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran L Posted February 17, 2019 Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 Nice looking snake --- as long as it's wood and not in my woods!! Umm- by the way, we've seen your other work, I think you'll nail intarsia the way you did your other projects. Greg Slagle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordster Posted February 17, 2019 Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 Well done Greg ..I would give him lots of room. Greg Slagle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heppnerguy Posted February 17, 2019 Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 4 hours ago, Greg Slagle said: I am going to attempt to use Sycamore and Walnut on a small project to see if I like it better using hardwoods... If that doesn't work out right I'll probably just give up on intarsia altogether... Not sure... I'm not hard on myself with my fretwork projects, it is just with intarsia that my confidence falters... I like Judy Gale Roberts' site... I peruse it every now and then... I purchased the following book years ago... NO NO. Do not give up on intarsia. You did a really fine job on your snake project. Make sure the first several pieces are not a difficult one to do. Trying something really hard at the beginning of anything, will almost always leave a person feeling defeated. I would suggest keeping your projects with no more then 35 pieces. That way you will have a feeling of accomplishment and success. I too, often get anxious when I am cutting something that takes a long time and then I start to rush to get it finished and that usually leads to some disappointment. So take it easy. have fun. Meflick has some wonderful suggestions for you. The book you posted is a good one to start with. You will find the pieces are probably 35 or less, each. So take your time, feel good about your shaping efforts, glue them together carefully, when you are finishing it, again take you time. Pretend you are making it as a special gift that will be seen by many, knowing they all will know YOU made it. Go for it and continue to post your work. I am also one who is rarely ever completely happy with most of the things I cut, for one reason or another, just because I know every little mistake in it. Have fun and don't try to advance too quickly. It will always be a learning experience. I know, I have been at it for nearly 12 years and I still consider myself a mediocre Intarsia and scroller craftsman. That is OK thought because for most, I enjoy making what I make and love giving a lot of them as gifts. Dick heppnerguy Greg Slagle, RabidAlien and meflick 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirithorse Posted February 18, 2019 Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 Nice work, Greg, The only helpful criticism I can give, judging from the straight-on pic, I think I would have contoured the edges a lot more. Other than that, you have no reason at all to consider giving up. Even that bit of criticism is all in the eye of the beholder. Thanks for sharing and God Bless! Spirithorse Greg Slagle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Slagle Posted February 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 44 minutes ago, spirithorse said: The only helpful criticism I can give, judging from the straight-on pic, I think I would have contoured the edges a lot more. Absolutely... I wish I would have contoured the outer edges a lot more too especially on the head... I'll need to pick me up a better belt sander so that I can do an easier job of it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meflick Posted February 18, 2019 Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 If you really want to try to do Intarsia more, I would suggest looking at different sanders then a belt sander. You will be able to do much more fine sanding with some others than you will with a belt sander. Most people who regularly do Intarsia work have a variety of different Sanders but find that a flexible drum sander, or inflatable sanders are some of the best tools for the sanding work needed with Intarsia. JGR uses both the flex drum sanders and the foredom inflatable sanders in her class. (you can find both on her site.) Seyco also sells the flexible drum sanders on their site here: http://seyco.com/sanding-accessories/ Judy also has a large pneumatic drum sander from Sand-Rite she uses. I would like to get one one day. For now, I do most of mine with the flex drum sanders and the Foredom. One key note with both, you want to make sure they are variable speed so you can alter the speed as needed. I originally got a King Arthur Guinevere (similar to a Foredom) when I was first getting started BUT hadn’t done enough homework, and hadn’t taken my first class to learn better. The problem with it is it is extremely fast (too fast in my opinion) and does not have a variable speed to adjust it. It was an expensive lesson to discover. I much prefer to adjustable speeds with the Foredom. If getting the flex drum sanders, you want a variable speed setup for those as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Slagle Posted February 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 (edited) I have an inflatable drum/flap sander and a 4" belt/disc sander... Neither, however, is variable speed... Excuse the extreme mess... I am a VERY disorganized person... Edited February 18, 2019 by Greg Slagle meflick 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meflick Posted February 18, 2019 Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 Looks like you have a good setup with the sanders then. While the variable speed is not an absolute, I think it is helpful to be able to adjust the speed depending on the size of the piece, and how much sanding you are trying to do at once. Don't give up on intarsia, you are doing fine. Just keep at it. I have several pieces i need to finish up. Suppose to rain here almost all week so maybe I can get to it this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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