Marquetry class with Paul Schurch

[Mark Tsujihara]

I just got back from a two day basic marquetry class with Paul Schurch at his shop in Santa Barbara. The class was sponsored by my woodworking club.

It was an amazing experience, and it will take me several weeks to absorb all the information that was packed into my brain. He's got a very fast and accurate technique and does stunning work. He was very generous with his time (staying well after hours to help us all finish our projects), and is extremely patient (especially with my newbie mistakes).

My wife had chosen a peony flower as the project she wanted me to do during the class. It was an extremely challenging project for me, seeing as I had never worked with a scroll saw or veneer before, and am just starting my woodworking hobby. Nevertheless, she is thrilled with the results, and I may get a scroll saw and vacuum press in the future . She's already planning all the projects that will need veneering and/or marquetry.

If you have a chance to see him present a topic, or take a class with Paul, go for it. It will be worth it.

If I can, I'll post some pictures from the class.

[Richard Wolf]

Very nice work.

Richard

[Russ Boyd]

VERY nice Mark. To someone that's been procrastinating learning veneering and marquetry, your story is inspiring. Thanks.

[Mike Henderson]

That's just beautiful. If you like marquetry I recommend the book "A Marquetry Odyssey" by Silas Kopf. He shows his work, as well as historical pieces. It will absolutely humble you to see what people do in marquetry. And when you think that some of that work was done in the 1700's with hand made tools, it's even more amazing.

Mike

[Mitchell Andrus]

What are the veins in the leaves and petals filled with? Wood or tinted filler?
.

[Mark Tsujihara]

:::What are the veins in the leaves and petals filled with? Wood or tinted filler?

That's actually the urea formaldehyde glue coming up through the saw kerf during the pressing process. We used a brown drying glue for this piece, and it turned out pretty well I think.

[Don Morris]

Darn,

Too bad a Thousand Oaks, CA is so far from Potomac, MD. A little hard to get to the class on time. But I'd love it from the looks of your work.

[george wilson]

I like it when the marquetry,or inlay actually FITS,like yours does! Lots of parts in that 1 flower,too.

[Mark Tsujihara]

I like it when the marquetry,or inlay actually FITS,like yours does! Lots of parts in that 1 flower,too.

Hehe, I know. Everyone else had more woodworking experience than I did, and their projects had about 15 to 20 pieces. I had 30... took on more than I should have, to be honest.

That's the great thing about packet cutting marquetry (I think it's also called Boulle marquetry). Everything gets cut out at the same time, including the background, so it all fits like a glove as long as nothing shifts in the packet. It's also very fast, so you can bang out an impressive project in very short order.

[Mike Henderson]

Mark - how did you come up with the design for the flower? Did you just draw it or did you take the design from some place?

Mike

[george wilson]

If you search in the Neanderthal section in the FAQ part at the top,you will see a thread "A 17th.C.Italian Marquetry guitar I made.

[Mark Tsujihara]

Mark - how did you come up with the design for the flower? Did you just draw it or did you take the design from some place?

Mike

The design for the flower came from a piece of quilt fabric.

[george wilson]

I just remembered,my marquetry guitar is in the neanderthal FAQ section at the top of that section.

[Thomas Knapp]

I have a couple of Paul's DVD's and find them very helpful. It would be awesome to attend one of his classes. I live in Ohio though, and it would be an expensive proposition for me to go to California for a class. I'm glad that you enjoyed it!
Tom

[Larry Fox]

Mark - that is amazing, very nicely done. I do some work with veneers and marquetry (done well) is something that I have always been in awe of and just assumed was outside my range. Rethinking that based on your experience here.