Inlay/Marquetry Class

[Chris Padilla]

I recently attended an inlay/marquetry class taught by Paul Schurch at David Marks' workshop in Santa Rosa, CA.

For 4 days, we had a ball learning Paul's "packet-cutting" technique of creating interesting pictures from all kinds of wood veneers.
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This turtle was my project.

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A map of Whidbey Island in the Seattle area.

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Paul Schurch applying veneer to a turning.

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Yours truly and THE MAN, Mr. David J. Marks!

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Paul Schurch sizing up some pieces.

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Mr. Paul Schurch, THE OTHER THE MAN!

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The class displaying their projects.

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COOL!!!

[Chris Padilla]

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A frog!!

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A well-done tree!

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Very cool radial pattern!

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Major scroll saw action!

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Perhaps the most interesting technique was inlaying veneer on a bowl!

[Mike Henderson]

Very cool. That's some amazing veneer pieces. I'm sure you learned a lot and had a good time. Paul has an enormous amount of energy.

Mike

[How did the student do the veneer on the bowl? Looks like it's laid on a sloping part of the bowl. Did he fit the background to the bowl first, then cut it out for the marquetry?]

[Chris Padilla]

Very cool. That's some amazing veneer pieces. I'm sure you learned a lot and had a good time. Paul has an enormous amount of energy.

Mike

[How did the student do the veneer on the bowl? Looks like it's laid on a sloping part of the bowl. Did he fit the background to the bowl first, then cut it out for the marquetry?]

Yes, the background veneer was appropriately cut and fitted to the bowl and then the design was cut into it in the normal way and then vacuum-pressed onto the bowl. It was a pretty cool technique.

[paul schurch]

Hi Guys, a little more info to chew on.
This conical shaped bowl with marquetry, unusual and a little tricky. The veneer background had to fit between a decorative lip and a bead that was turned on the bowl, objective is no gaps.
Make a template of the area to be covered with veneer, assemble a slightly oversized radial background . Packet cut marquetry, assemble marquetry and gum tape. cut the shape out based on horseshoe shaped template. After veneer background is fit to the bowl recess, trim the last overlapping background joint to size, gum tape the seam into the conical shape marquetry skin, then glue it onto the bowl with a ziplock vac bag.

[Mike Henderson]

Hi Guys, a little more info to chew on.
This conical shaped bowl with marquetry, unusual and a little tricky. The veneer background had to fit between a decorative lip and a bead that was turned on the bowl, objective is no gaps.
Make a template of the area to be covered with veneer, assemble a slightly oversized radial background . Packet cut marquetry, assemble marquetry and gum tape. cut the shape out based on horseshoe shaped template. After veneer background is fit to the bowl recess, trim the last overlapping background joint to size, gum tape the seam into the conical shape marquetry skin, then glue it onto the bowl with a ziplock vac bag.


Hi, Paul. Thanks for the info on that bowl marquetry. What is a "ziplock vac bag"? Is that a regular ziplock bag that you've fitted a vacuum port to? Or is it some commercial bag you buy?

Mike

[P.S. Glad to see you're teaching again.]

[Chris Padilla]

Mike,

He used plumber's putty to seal a Ziplock bag so that it would hold a vacuum. Using plumber's putty, he can use just about any plastic bag as a clamp! One just needs to be conscious of any weak spots on the item being pressed to ensure nothing breaks and provide appropriate support and also so that the bag itself isn't stretched to the point of failure.

[Ed Boswell]

Glad to hear Paul is still going strong. I took a similar class with Paul about 8 years ago at Marc Adam's Woodworking School in Indianapolis.

Amazing what he can do with a chisel.

Thanks for sharing.

[Chris Padilla]

I've never seen anyone wield a large, "cumbersome" 1 1/2" chisel with such deftness as Paul!

[Gary Muto]

Looks like it was an awesome class. The only thing better than a class with Paul would be a class with Paul at David Marks' studio... and all within driving distance! I'm jealous. I like your turtle, nice job on the shading.

[Chris Padilla]

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the kind words on my 2nd ever (Paul made us do a simpler design for our first attempt) attempt at his process. Everyone thought the turtle really looked 3-D so I guess I did all right with the shading. It is a bit tricky doing that but it really makes a big difference in the final look. It was a great experience all around!!