Gardenia Marquetry Sideboard
Listing #689 Listed on: 05/12/2007
Company Name: CT Fine Furniture
Contact Name: Craig Thibodeau
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| The primary goal of this project was to create a showpiece for the entry hall of the clients' home. It was commissioned by a local couple who requested marquetry imagery featuring white Gardenia flowers and branches that emanate from a central point in the top and flow down the front panels. The piece has two Mother of Pearl and Abalone butterflies, one colored for each of the clients’ two daughters. The style of the sideboard is loosely based on a Sheraton era demilune sideboard with Federal style inlay added to the legs. |
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| The interior areas are also veneered but in Quarter-sawn Maple to contrast with the Anigre exterior, which makes for a bright interior and a surprise for anyone opening the doors. Anigre veneer was also used in the inlay added to the Wenge legs which gives the piece a much more formal appearance. Vertical grain 1/8” thick Wenge was used to edge the top panel and provide more durable wear resistance than would standard thickness veneers.
The six drawers are all NK style to ease fitting to the curved overlay fronts and the three curved doors are mounted on brass knife hinges. The curved front is a composite of three curves blended together and was glued up as a bent lamination of 1/8” plywood and 1/8” mdf in a vacuum bag. The central curved panel was glued up as a single piece then cut into individual door and drawer fronts before veneering.
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| Book matched Block Figured Anigre veneer was used for the background and Wenge solids and veneer for the trim and foundation. In addition, the two inlayed butterflies were created with manufactured Abalone and Mother of Pearl shell cut into 0.010" thick veneer sheets. This process allows for coloring to be added to the back of the shell veneer to enhance the natural grain variations in shell materials. It also allows for colors to be created that would otherwise not be available in natural Abalone or Mother of Pearl.
The marquetry flowers are cut in Holly veneer, the leaves in dyed Poplar and the branches in Pau Ferro. All of the marquetry was cut using the packet method, which requires all the elements of the design be cut simultaneously with the background. The individual components are then sand shaded to create the illusion of depth and shadows. The marquetry was cut using a standard scroll saw and glued with urea formaldehyde glue.
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| The sideboard has been finished with a combination of polyester and medium rub conversion varnish on all outer surfaces and satin lacquer on the drawers and interior surfaces. This is my third marquetry piece of furniture since studying marquetry with both Paul Schurch and Patrick Edwards. It took approximately 300 hours to complete not including finishing and will be at the 2007 Design In Wood Show in San Diego, Ca. Please visit my website at www.ctfinefurniture.com to see other work. Any comments are welcome. |
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Viewer Comments:
Posted By:
Amer [05/16/2007]
Stunnig work. Congratulations.
Posted By:
Mark [05/17/2007]
Exceptional work. Clean, clear lines to the piece overall. Beautiful contrasts, marquetry is well done without being over done. Congratulations.
Posted By:
lavrans mathiesen [05/19/2007]
Wow, absolutely wonderful piece. It's heartening to see craftsmanship commisioned.
Posted By:
david [05/20/2007]
Outstanding. When you stack cut the veneers, how did you handle the kerf of the scroll saw blade as you reassembled the pieces? Did the subsequent sanding fill them in?
Posted By:
Craig Thibodeau [05/20/2007]
Thanks for the compliments, I am quite happy to have a client willing to have this kind of work done. As for the saw kerf I am using 2/0 blades which are about 0.010" thick. The saw kerf is minimal and does get reduced when the sand shaded parts are moistened after shading. The kerf is actually part of the design in many areas. The veins in all the leaves are created by the saw kerf which gets filled with glue during glueup. Sanding doesn't fill any of the kerf space. Any unfilled gaps can be filled with putty after sanding. This method is taught by Paul Schurch and works quite well for pictoral marquetry like this as the kerf can be used as a design element.
Posted By:
Joe [07/22/2007]
It's very nice work!! I've been starting to learn a bit about marquetry and it's rewarding. A question I've yet to see answered pertains to working on over sized pieces. Or pieces too large to be accomadated by the throat size of most scroll saws. What's the startegy when the background is so large? Is there a book or DVD that might illustrate this?
Posted By:
Craig Thibodeau [07/23/2007]
Joe, I built my own large throat scroll saw for the Gardenia Marquetry Mirror, I think it is piece 708 or so here on WoodWeb. Your best best is to start with Paul Schurch's two books/videos. They go into enough detail to get you started and explain what it takes. There is a bit of information on how to do large work as well. Taking a class from Paul is the next step and will help you progress faster than trying to figure things out on your own.
Craig
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