Mountains in Wood

Jim has taken three marquetry Classes. His introduction to marquetry was at at the Augusta Heritage Center, Davis and Elkins College, in West Virginia during July 2003. His first class was taught by Julie Godfrey of Greenfield, MA. Julie Godfrey is a master furniture maker specializing in marquetry, a technique in which pictorial designs are pieced together of wood, metal, or shell and applied to a piece of furniture. Check the School of Fine Woodworking for more information on Julie.

English Village in Marquetry

Jim's second marquetry class was at the John C. Campbell Folk School located at Brasstown, North Carolina. The folk school conducts several marquetry classes each year taught by different instructors. Instructor for this class that Jim attended was Clyde Badger. The image of the English Village above was made during his class. The framed piece measures 9x12 inches. It was made from a pattern provided by the instructor. Badger uses contact cement to glue veneer to the core.

To cut out various shapes from veneer, and rather than using a powered scroll saw, Clyde fashioned his version of a hand-powered scroll saw that could be attached to a kitchen table. Veneer can be cut using a very sharp utility knife, but Jim prefers a good scroll saw. On the subject of saws, some scroll saws are definitely better than others at cutting the very thin material. Burl woods are especially challenging and require some form of backing.

Marquetry Box

His third marquetry class was also at John C. Campbell Folk School and taught by T. Breeze Verdant. Jim had wanted to take a class from Verdant since purchasing a piece of his marquetry in the Folk School Craft Shop. Verdant does beautiful miniature mountain scenes and embellishes their night sky with abalone moons and gold stars. You can see his elegant Inlaid Marquetry Boxes with Brazilian Bloodwood legs and boxes of domestic hardwoods on his Web Site. Verdant came to the Folk School from Brattleboro, Vermont.

The two boxes on this page--the box above and the box below--were made during class at the Folk School. The box above (with the dyed-red border) was presented to Jim's daughter. The boxes have removable lids.

Jim has amassed quite a stack of veneer woods. At each of the classes he attended, the instructors generally bring more material than is used during the class so they divide it among the students at the end of the class rather than carry it home. Jim has also purchased veneer at the Parkersburg Woodcraft store. He ordered rubber mat from the Ashevile Gasket Company to be used in a press he is designing. He has a nice DeWalt scroll saw so there is no excuse for not making more marquetry pictures and boxes.

Marquetry Box