Over the years I have concentrated on designing and making intarsia pieces.  About six months ago I decided to try some new things with wooden art.  I have made a few fretwork pieces, and have also made many, many 3-D ornaments.

Fretwork is much simpler than intarsia, and takes much less time. This allows for a far lower price point, and therefore I now have a much larger range in my pricing. Fretwork is done by cutting out the picture from a thin wood and laminating it onto another piece of wood with a contrasting colour. I have been using Baltic Birch plywood and laminating it onto a piece of dark brown hardboard. This is then laminated onto another piece of Baltic Birch plywood to give it more substance.

As I did with Intarsia, I will probably get bolder and more creative as I gain experience with fretwork, and will graduate to other materials.

The 3-D ornaments are made from blocks of wood, and a pattern of the ornament is glued to two sides of the block. The cutting then begins. I will add some pictures of the process, because it will be far more simple than trying to put it into words.

Below are a few pictures of some of the fretwork pieces.  I’m next in the gallery on the 17th June.  See you there!