Project Aries

[Back2Jake]

WITH EASE???????????? Oh PLEASE. What she doesn't hear is my swearing because I have the music on so loud and the Grand Dame wears ear protection in the shop! giggle.

This piece is a challenge, for me too. I recently finished one of our designs, a celtic moon, which Sue cut a once and it went in the garbage... and I cut it and swore the entire time. I came out of the shop and insisted THAT pattern has .... "not for beginners" on it. Even though when we do that, some beginner (usually one that is younger than us) will come along and say it wasn't THAT hard.

So keep an eye open for the celtic moon... Sue is gluing it up this weekend.... and when it is posted you can see what I mean.

Take care
Toni

[Back2Jake]

LOL, that's part of the challenge my friend. Giggling here, afterall didn't you tell us that "Mentora"Dragon Challenge wasn't difficult enough?

The challenge is definately open to beginners, we have some of the youth that are attempting the challenge as well. They don't see it as a "I can't do this" but as a "how will I do this". Suppose it comes with the arrogance of youth. LOL. I enjoy watching the process. Sure some don't turn out as perfect as they would like, but they LEARN. They learn what they can do better, the see what others have done (with these challenges) and they eventually incorporate it in their own work, and make ANY design work for them. It is usually these beginners that become some of our best designers and artists.

Beginners and beginners plus, then don't look at patterns and say ... I can't do this in my style. They ADAPT, and that then seems to take them into areas of finishes and accenting their scrolled work with other mediums and techniques.... it's like a snowball effect.

So, Jeff, it may not turn out as perfect as some of your other work, but here is hoping it is challenging for you, and you learn something from it...

Look forward to seeing your version. You seem to have a great start on it - love your enthusiasm!

Take care
Toni

[Sue Chrestensen]

Jeff..I look forward to seeing what you do with the aries challenge..I have no doubt that it will be creative and different!! I think that the project could be done with different woods you just have to pick and choose the pieces based on your skilll level and how you view a project..Toni can make the tight corners with ease..I'm not there yet but I keep practicing .. if intarsia projects only had the soft swirls and lines to make cutting easier they would limit themselves greatly.. these challenges are just that..a challenge..I've never done marquetry or inlay so am really looking forward to seeing yours..to me that would be a huge challenge!!

[workin for wood]

This is the beginning of the Aries challange. I love the design, but it is very graphic, and I'm not seeing the intarsia in it. Hopefully someone out there will show me how it's done. To me, it's a perfect inlay or marquetry design, which is something I've been thinking of trying. I have never done a scrolled inlay and I've never turned anything on a Lathe, so I figure I'll do them both at the same time. I shrunk the pattern down to 6 1/4 wide, and it's nice that the pattern is almost square, about 6 1/2 tall. I am going to take a stab at turning this project into a designer plate.
This is only a 21 piece design, but certainly not a design I'd recommend to a first timer. The pieces fit like a puzzle, with alot of complicated curves that run into deadend points on both sides of the curve. I had to stop and turn the pieces into a big gluey mess before completeing the picture portion of my project. There's only 6 pieces left to cut before inlaying the picture and then I'll begin cutting the segments for the outer rim of the plate.