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Dave Fifield
09-22-2008, 4:21 PM
I hereby officially coin the term "Larquetry" to be henceforth used to describe works of marquetry cut with a laser (marquetry, parquetry, larquetry....it's a natural progression).

Here's a couple of shots of my latest larquetry creations that will be amongst my entries to the 2008 AMS National Marquetry Exhibition that we (the Norcal Marquetarians) are hosting at the San Jose Public Library for 3 weeks starting later this week.

http://www.daveswoodenwonders.com/AMS_092cs.jpg

http://www.daveswoodenwonders.com/AMS_093cs.jpg

Cheers,
Dave F.

George M. Perzel
09-22-2008, 4:33 PM
Hi Dave;
Great term-defines the process well! Awesome! Beautiful job on both pics-especially like the sky on the GG bridge- how long did it take you to find that particular veneer?
Best regards
George
Laserarts

Mike Null
09-22-2008, 4:45 PM
Dave

Just awesome. They look like certain prize winners.

Frame design is outstanding too.

Dee Gallo
09-22-2008, 5:35 PM
Dave,

Two beautiful examples of larquetry! You should definitely win a prize! Great use of grain and color, excellent composition with evocative subjects, clean execution, gorgeous framing, the whole package.

This forum is always inspirational!

Thanks for sharing, dee

Frank Corker
09-22-2008, 7:20 PM
Very striking work. Excellent!

Michael Kowalczyk
09-22-2008, 7:52 PM
Hey Dave,
"what Dee said" and WOW!!!!
Excellent attention to detail and it probably (I'm guessing) took you longer to select the wood than it took to laser. I have played with veneers but not at this level. Please do keep us informed. You have my vote.

Bob Keyes
09-23-2008, 1:46 PM
Those are simply stunning. If you don't get "1st Place" then I don't want to see what does. I doubt if I could stand it.

Good luck.

Joe Pelonio
09-23-2008, 2:14 PM
Beautiful work!

Larry Bratton
09-23-2008, 2:34 PM
Outstanding! I echo everything said above. Those are shining examples of our craft and what possibilities exist with these great machines combined with talented people.

Dave Fifield
09-23-2008, 3:31 PM
Thanks for the kind words everyone! Most appreciated. I don't think these will win any prizes though....I have all the exhibit entries at my house right now (staging them prior to hanging at the library tomorrow), and there are some EXCELLENT pieces in there - way more artistic than mine, which are merely vector drawn versions (using a graphics tablet and Corel Draw) of photographs.

I have the CRAFT part of this down pat, now I need to work on the ART side. Some day soon I'm going to take some art classes at a local college and see if there's anything original inside me..... :)

To answer George's question - I have a whole shed full of veneer that I have bought over the years (from online vendors mostly). I have almost every imaginable variation of tree type, grain variation, color, chatoyance, etc. at my disposal. I've invested quite a bit of money in this "collection"! It does take quite a while to dig through it all and find just the right piece of veneer every time, but it's worth spending the time. However, by far the most time is spent inputting the vector-drawn artwork. The actual cutting part is fairly quick but can get pretty tedious (because of limitations of Corel Draw's printing features and Epilog's driver) at times.

The beauty of the larquetry technique is that if I want/need to change a veneer at all (for artistic or breakage reasons, right up to the moment I glue the final picture up) I can easily do so, since all I have to do is cut a new piece from the Corel Draw file!! The "Top-Center" feature introduced by Epilog (a year or so ago?) was a boon to my craft - it makes cutting the pieces in just the right spot on the veneer very easy indeed!

Cheers for now,
Dave F.

Belinda Barfield
09-23-2008, 4:21 PM
Outstanding work Dave. I have a lot of veneer sitting around and have never worked with it. Maybe I'll work up the courage one day to give is a shot. One of my new year's resolutions was to learn three new things this year. I've got two down so maybe Larquetry will be my third. :) Thanks for the inspiration!

Kim Vellore
09-23-2008, 4:45 PM
Dave,
That is some awesome work, I'll check it out at the library, will it be on this weekend?. The GG bridge the lines is it laser scribed?. That is something the marquetry folks would consider unfair advantage....lol I always admired these artwork on how no lines can be seen between the joints and how one uses use the grains to make the picture alive. You should also laserscribe your signature at the bottom with a date.
Kim

Dave Fifield
09-24-2008, 5:29 AM
Thanks Brenda - give it a go! If you want some pointers, let me know and I'll shoot you a "how to" email :)

Kim - Yep, the cable lines are all laser engraved onto the picture before the epoxy filler and finish. It was a real chore to get it lined up before firing the laser, even though I thought I'd been very careful about top-left corner registration as I cut the veneers for the picture! The official exhibition opening day (with speakers etc.) is this Saturday starting around 9am until late afternoon, however it will be "open" from Thursday morning. The exhibition ends on Oct 16, so you will have plenty of time to go see it all - it's not to be missed IMO!! BTW, it's FREE, although you may have to pay for parking in San Jose...

Cheers,
Dave F.

Jim Watkins
09-24-2008, 10:42 AM
David,
I don't know but I would guess there are a few of us who are interested and would be very thankful if you could post your "how to" in this or a new thread on the subject. I have been working on a project and would like to see what your methods are in relation to what I have been doing to see if I can pick up some good new methods.

Otherwise if your going to Email Brenda, I would greatly appreciate beeing CC'd on the how to guide...:)

Great work. Very inspiring.

Belinda Barfield
09-24-2008, 11:04 AM
Thanks Brenda - give it a go! If you want some pointers, let me know and I'll shoot you a "how to" email :)
Cheers,
Dave F.

That would be greatly appreciated Dave. Thanks! :)

Mike DeRegnaucourt
10-19-2008, 3:56 PM
Hi Dave,

Awesome work on the "Larquetry"!

I have a question about how you go about dealing with the laser beam "kerf". Without accounting for the laser beam's actual cutting width, you can end up with slightly loose fitting pieces. How do you handle the "kerf" in CorelDraw? Do you take each piece that is going to be fitting into another area and use Corel to slightly scale up the size of the piece?

I remember reading an article somewhere in the past about doing inlay work with a laser but cannot recall where I read the article. I was thinking that maybe there was an A&E article on it but I'm not sure. I've been trying to find it again but with no luck.

If you don't mind, can send me your "How To" as requested by some of the other members?

Best regards.

Erik King
10-20-2008, 1:25 AM
I'd love to have your tips and tricks as well...

Thanks!

Mitchell Andrus
10-20-2008, 10:25 AM
Very nicely done, Dave.

Not to jab sticks in your cage, but there are some in the 'art' world who see us laserheads coming.

Imagine a CNC machined carved and turned bowl taking first prize over the artists with 20 years experience at a lathe with wood chips in their socks. Yikes! Better have running shoes on. Same goes for carving competitions. You don't get CNC stuff in the door if it's a juried show.

A furniture maker came by to pick up 30 inlaid panels I made for him for 10 Stickley chairs he was making. He looked at the 'craftsmanship' and said he'd never touch his scroll saw again. That's good for me and my son going to college, bad for the craft. Skills are being lost.