Intarsia or Segmentation

[Hawaiilad]

After nearly 30 years of scrolling, I am going to try my hand at Intarsia or Segmentation. I found a book and a VCR tape on Intarsia my wife bought me years ago. I do not have allot of different colors of wood (since I have been working with Koa so long on the band saw boxes) so I was thinking perhaps Segmentation using stains and paint might be best. I can not work with Cedar (I break out) and wondered what wood would be best to use for this.

After doing so much sanding on the bandsaw boxes, I feel I have that down pretty good...now to find a good pattern to start with. Any help I will gladly accept.....

[woodsman]

I am going to recommend that you do JGR intarsia dolphins. Since you are a hawaiian dude the dolphins would be perfect. You could even use koa for the darker parts and any lighter wood for the bottom. Since you are very experienced with cutting all you need to do is stay in the lines and it will turn out fine. They are one of the easiest to shape as well.

[Hawaiilad]

Thank you for the advise....that is one of the patterns I have looked at and like.

[jim_mex]

Hey Larry - you might well try segmentation first using any lightish wood and stains since cutting the project out of one piece of board is usually a piece of cake and leaves you to concentrate on shaping and staining.

Once you've got a hang on the shaping side then go for intarsia projects and have take on choosing the woods and cutting pieces the component parts to fit each other.

Going the segmentation route eases you into intarsia without initially having all issues hitting you at the same time and although it sometimes gets flack as being the poor relation to intarsia you can certainly produce some really nice work using the technique.

[Wood Dog]

Larry take a swing by the Intarsia/Segmentation sticky's if you haven't already.
Reading through the post should be of some help to ya.
Intarsia, Inlay, and Segmentation - Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts Message Board
We certainly had some fun with those challenges.......

[Hawaiilad]

Digging around in my bookcase this morning I found a book I had purchased some time ago on Segmentation by Patrick Spielman...I am going to read up on both of them before I start anything, but Jim I think you are right, I may start with Segmentation first...even if I don't like painting...perhaps this will be different.

[oily]

HL, I'm dieing to give it a shot too. This is the pattern I plan on starting with. You're welcome to give it a shot. It's from a pic of one of my babies, Peanut.

[Gill]

You can't go wrong with segmentation whereas I always seem to go wrong with intarsia . Some folks seem to think that segmentation is the poor man's intarsia whereas I believe intarsia is the poor man's marquetry. So here I am, happily balancing both ends of the see-saw and contemptuous of the pivot point.

As Jim says, have a bash at segmentation and see how you get on. That book of Patrick Spielman's is very good and you could well get hooked on it. If not, then have a dabble at intarsia. If you like it, I shall mourn the loss of another soul to The Dark Side for at least as long as it takes to mutter 'Weirdo'.

[jim_mex]

B]Hi Gill[/B] - love your comments! So how long before you get dragged over?

I may start with Segmentation first...even if I don't like painting...perhaps this will be different.

@Larry - don't think that just because a project is segmentation it has to be expertly flat painted. Subtle use of wipe on/wipe back paints to give a washed colour look can also give a great effect and is very easy to achieve. Staining is another option which is a lot, lot easier than painting!

Use the Spielman book for ideas and then play with them. For example, if you look at the holy family project in the book it looks fine stained as he does it but in my opinion I thought it would look nicer using brighter colours. My interpretation, cut from a nice piece of ash board, was finished using acrylic artist paints sponged on to the pieces and then immediately wiped back to reveal some of the grain. This was one of my very early pieces of segmentation work and despite being very simple work with very little shaping I think it stands on its own merit and it remains one of my favourite pieces. No, its not intarsia, but then it doesn't purport to be and why should it? It is however a very nice confidence builder and an easy step towards intarsia should you wish to go that route.

[Keith Fenton]

One great trick to working with acrylic craft paints is to mix it with this stuff:

DecoArt - Product Information

It turns acrylic paint into a semi transparent stain. I've only used it with DecoArt paint but I imagine it should work with most craft paints. I still wipe off the paint right after applying but you can control the coverage much better if you use the staining medium. The instructions say to mix it in a 1:1 ratio with paint, but I vary the mixture depending on how much coverage I want.You just mix a drop or 2 at a time with your paint in a palette or something and it lasts quite a while.

[SteveK]

B]Hi Gill[/B]
Use the Spielman book for ideas and then play with them. For example, if you look at the holy family project in the book it looks fine stained as he does it but in my opinion I thought it would look nicer using brighter colours. My interpretation, cut from a nice piece of ash board, was finished using acrylic artist paints sponged on to the pieces and then immediately wiped back to reveal some of the grain.

What a beautiful project. Once I can more or less follow a line (newbie here) this will be on my list much like you did it.

So here is a newbie question. What is the difference of segmentation from intarsia?

[Gill]

Hi Gill - love your comments! So how long before you get dragged over?

Ten minutes after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran announces that he is prepared to host the finals of Miss World in Tehran and that Salman Rushdie will be the head judge sitting alongside Shimon Peres.

[Jim Finn]

The first Intarsia I did was this Viking. I stack cut it using three different woods and this way I had all cuts done perfectly with one cutting. It gave me two plaques and some scrap. Kinda like segmentation without the staining. Just another way to approach this.

[jim_mex]

So here is a newbie question. What is the difference of segmentation from intarsia?

Hi Steve - check out this thread

http://www.scrollsawer.com/forum/int...tion/25463.htm

One great trick to working with acrylic craft paints is to mix it with this stuff:

Hi Keith - that looks like it could be interesting. It's certainly true that when applying the acrylic paints on their own they dry quickly and you have to work fast if you want to wipe them back therefore an extender is a good idea. I experimented on one project using a trick from my ceramic decoration background which involves adding a couple of drops of glycerine to the paint water mix to slow the drying down. This worked well but had the disadvantage that the glycerine then takes a long time to dry out of the wood. If you are applying water based finishes this is not such a big deal but with solvent based finishes its a no no. I wonder what the active component is in the DecoArt product - does it mention anything on the can?

Thanks for the tip

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran

Hey Gill - I admire anybody who can spell this guys name right!

[SteveK]

[QUOTE=jim_mex;400195]Hi Steve - check out this thread

http://www.scrollsawer.com/forum/int...tion/25463.htm



Thanks, Jim. That animation sure helped! Segmentation looks like a good start, though the kerf might be a problem.