My First Intarsia

[ChrisMathes]

I wanted to try something different, so I decided to make this dolphin intarsia for my Mom's upcoming birthday. While I don't expect to become an expert intarsia-ist (?) I thought that a project or two in this would make me a better woodworker. There are some unique skills that are necessary and I also hope that it will help in future inlay projects (whatever they may be).

So..here it is...cherry, maple and walnut(eyes). My favorite parts of this project were:
(1) picking the wood and trying to find the 'right' grain. I was very excited to find the speckled maple as I thought it was true to the dolphin.
(2) shaping the wood to add curve/depth. That actually took a lot longer than I thought, but was a lot of fun to see it come to life.

Oh..yah...I also turned the eyes just to say I used the lathe to complete it..ha..and to give them cross grain instead of end grain...fwiw.

Oh...forgot to add...pattern is from Judy Gale Roberts (http://www.intarsia.com)

Cheers,
Chris

 

[TracyP]

:notworthy::notworthy::notworthy: Awesome!!!!!

 

[ptt49er]

Chris that turned out great!

And to think you thought you shouldn't post it. That turned out 100x's better than mine would've.

 

[CMaddox]

Nicely done! I really like the way you used the grain to define space and give a 'light-through-water' texture especially on the fins and along the back and tail of the dolphin in the forefront. Wonderful work, Chris.

 

[PChristy]

Allright Chris:eusa_clap:eusa_clap that looks great - if this is your first I can't wait to see the next one that comes off of you wrok bench

 

[wdkits1]

Nice job Chris
Glad to see you caught the intarsia bug.
Hope to see more of your work.

Mike

 

[ChrisMathes]

Chris that turned out great!

And to think you thought you shouldn't post it. That turned out 100x's better than mine would've.

Well...it's no Monticello and I'm no Mike (wdkits1) :rotflm:

Thanks all for the kind remarks ;-)

Chris

 

[woodArtz]

Very nice! You've been busy dude. Keep those projects coming they all look great :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

 

[SteveHall]

Chris, those are really well done, you picked the grain perfectly. Very inspiring, makes me want to try some myself.