1st attempt at Intarsia

[rljohn56]

 Is there such a thing as segmentarsia? if, not i just invented it! This piece is actually all 1/4 inch wood but built up to look like it is a true Intarsia. I couldn't afford to buy, and in some cases even find the thicker pieces of wood needed to make a true Intarsia piece, so i improvised. the walnut is the only wood not shimmed up to give the different levels look. now ome questions i have: even after cutting all the pieces out when i tried to put them all together i ran into many that simply wouldn't fit together. i spent many a hour sanding and shaping to get them to finally fit. so what exactly did i do wrong when cutting them all out? I know this isn't exactly the forum for questions, but i didn't want to post this twice. thanks, ray 

[Karl S]

Very Nice work , fit and finish looks to be right on.

You should be proud.

[FrankEV]

Looks nice, but the  Intarsia forum would be a better place to post.

[meflick]

1 hour ago, FrankEV said:

Looks nice, but the  Intarsia forum would be a better place to post.

Actually, I was told long ago by an admin that the Intarsia/Segmentation subforum was created for people to discuss questions and problems related to those areas of scrolling but that it was intended for finished projects to be put in the “Bragging Rights”. They wanted people to be able to see the finished pieces and not everyone goes to that subforum. I know that many of us, myself included, still tend to put our finished pieces over there, but they are more then worthy of being bragged on here as well.in this instance Ray is showing his piece and asking a question so either place works I think. 
 

it’s a beautiful piece Ray. Usually, in my experience, when pieces don’t fit well together it’s because I am pushing the pieces when cutting and thus they are going out of square. Another cause can be not being careful on the cutting of the line and being consistent in where you cut. Some people try to split the line, others try to stay to one side or another. The May key is to take your time and be consistent in what you do. As far as using “raising shims” to give you more depth to woods that you want to appear to be thicker, that is common practice by many an Intarsia artist, including Judy Gale Roberts. She teaches doing so in her classes. She just doesn’t do the outside pieces so you wouldn’t see from the edges.  Judy has lots of good help articles on her website if you have never checked it out. This one relates to Scroll Sawing for Intarsia for example https://intarsia.com/blogs/news/scroll-sawing-tips 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by meflick

[Rockytime]

That's beautiful! Thank you for posting. I don't generally go to the intarsia section.

[WolfmoonCT]

Beautiful work..  Intarsia is something I have not tried yet.  I am not sure I have the patience for it.

 

[Dan]

First... Beautiful piece! 

My attempt to answer your question. Ever cut you make you lose a small amount of wood due to the thickness of the blade. It sounds like your work was cut from one piece of wood as segmentation. When you piece them all together you can lose a lot from the kerf. In intarsia, the pieces are mostly cut individually to the exact size or very slightly larger, then sanded to fit perfectly. My experience with intarsia is to cut a few pieces the fit them together. Then cut an adjacent piece and sand to fit. Then keep repeating. In my little brain it makes sense, I hope it makes sense to you. 

[preprius]

It does look good. 

Also look up Kathy Wise website. I think it was her site that said there is no rules to intarsia. You do what makes it look good.  Your the artist so you make the rules.  If your budget and your desire says go buy yellow heart then great. Or get cheaper wood and die it yellow.  Your choice. 

Judy Gale Roberts is more toward use natural color wood.  I try to do as much as I can. 

The wood Purple Heart is beautful but will turn brown in a few years when exposed to sun. So a guy at Woodcrafters said he had a customer that added just a bit of purple die to satin finish to help reduce the browning.  I did this for my last piece. The last order of purple heart was browner than my first order.  

So lets see more of your creativity.

 

[Tomanydogs]

What a beautiful piece, I think you should be very proud of your work. @meflick is right. As long as you show us your work and we can marvel at it. 

[CSull]

Very nice, the colors go together well.  I have had the same problem learning to do intarsia.  I cut out all my pieces and then tried to make them fit.  I tried Dan's method and it works much better for me.

[wombatie]

I cannot comment on your question but  I love your work. 

Marg

[rljohn56]

thanks everyone who commented and gave advice, suggestions. coming from all of you on this site means a lot since there are so many on here that have inspired my whole endeavor into the scroll saw world several years ago. all of you are simply the best! ray 

[daveww1]

fantastic job

[JAC1961]

Holy cow, if that's your first attempt, your tenth one should be unbelievable.

Excellent job.

[Rolf]

You have every right to brag about this piece! It is really nice. 

Meflicks advice is spot on!  So I will repeat some of it.

 

Regarding Intarsia  tips and techniques the intarsia section may get you more specific guidance. 

That said, for fit Cutting precision is crucial, be consistent, as crazy as it may sound I try to split the line to the outside, trying to minimize what you lose with the blade Kerf.

I also try to use the smallest thinnest blade I can get away with.  An example the Pegas MGT 3 12.4 TPI cuts a kerf .014"   so on your wing where there are 11 pieces, depending on how you cut it. If segmentation 5 cuts remove .07" of material. So it is easy to see that cutting to minimize the kerf loss on a large piece becomes critical. I do use the MG 1R kerf .0114 so the same five cuts remove .057

Edited June 11, 2021 by Rolf

[heppnerguy]

For me.....as I cut my pieces for intarsia or segmentation, I place the pieces together in place, just to see how they look and how well the cuttings match. If I find the new piece is a little off in matching or I don't like the way that piece of wood matches, I cut another. After I have all my pieces cut and have  the fit that  I like, I start shaping and again returning the pieces in the finished position. When I have the finish on all my pieces, except the bottom part, (and my backer board it cut with all the pieces in place on it ), I start on the largest outside pieces and and glue them onto the backer board, resting tightly against the other unglued pieces, that are still in place on the backer board,  and let them dry well before I do any more gluing. Once the glue has dried well, I start to  glue the pieces that butt up against the glued ones, using the already glued pieces as a barrier. That way I can keep all the pieces matched up well and tightly together. That way I can help to stay away from ending up with a piece that has slid a little out of place from the slippery glue underneath it and making unneeded spaces later along the way.

  I love your project, by the way. You did an amazing job. I expect to see more of this kind of work in the future from you. Very exciting project.

Dick

heppnerguy

[alexfox]

Looks great! Nice choice of colors

[Charlie E]

Beautiful piece! Thanks so much for posting! You may have go about it differently than most (I wouldn't know as I haven't done intarsia) but the outcome is beautiful. 

[Fred Kile]

I really like what you have done and applaud your ingenuity. Congratulations on a job very well done. Be proud!