New to Intarsia

[royb]

Hi Everyone.
I've been scrolling for some years on and off and have always been fascinated with Intarsia but haven't had the time or confidence to have a try.  I'm retired now so at least I have the time to experiment.  Another problem we have in the UK is to find timber merchants who will supply the wood we need but I have located a someone who has a wide variety of timber. So I have solved some of the issues, all I need now is some advice and patterns to try.  I know there are some talented Intarsia atists out there so can someone please advice on where I go from here?
Many thanks
Roy

[Jim Finn]

Here is how I do intarsia to get good fit of all the pieces: I make my intarsia 1/2" or less thick and I triple stack the wood and cut all the pieces at one time.  Reassemble using alternate colors and have a perfect fit.  Some intarsia  patterns lend themselves to making two  different  finished pieces from this same cut.  I did that with this Viking.  I stacked three woods and made two Vikings with them.

[royb]

Thanks Jim.
Forgive me for being a little thick and new to Intarsia but if you are stacking 3 woods to have a good fit, why don't you have 3 finished pieces but with different colourways?  As I said I'm new to this so some of my questions will probably seem a little strange.   
Roy

[Jim Finn]

a good question..........  The third combination of pieces looked wrong so I tossed those last pieces.  Would have had a red (cedar) face and it did not look good to me.

[normcat]

Hi royb,

Like yourself I have had a scrollsaw for a few years but never used in earnest and interested in starting intarsia. I'm also from the UK and in your post you mentioned a supplier for hardwoods, can you tell me who. I live in Scotland and have the names of a few suppliers to try but you can't have too many choices for wood.

thanks

norrie

[Intarsia92]

Hi Roy, I would suggest going to "Intarsia.net" and trying the free pattern that is available. It has a complete set of step by step instructions that go with it.  Or there are a couple of good books that, along with instructions, has several patterns that will give you a variety of subjects you may like:

1. "Intarsia, Woodworking for Beginners" by Kathy Wise (Kathywise.com)

2. "Small Intarsia Woodworking Projects You Can Make" by Judy Gale Roberts (Intarsia.com)

Or you may want to start out with Segmentation projects first, most of them can be made from ordinary pine wood and painted to look very nice.  A good Segmentation book, with instructions, is:  "Scroll Saw Segmentation" by Patrick Spielman 

Good luck.

[royb]

Thanks Everyone.
I'm a bit of a maths freak Jim so was confused why there was only 2 finished pieces now I understand.
Al, I've been on the web site you recommended and will probably order the books to make a start, thanks for the advice.
Norrie the web site you want is www.ullapoolwoodturningcentre.co.uk
Roy

[normcat]

Thanks royb I'll give them a try.

Norrie