Pictures In Wood

When I came across Pictures In Wood, I had a tough time choosing what to write about. They had this really cool farm toy with some progression pictures of the construction process. I was really drawn to that because of my recent interest in toy making. But on the flip side, their intarsia is amazing as well! You see my dilemma? Do I talk about their super cool toy, or do I talk about their amazing intarsia? Well, it looks like I just talked a little about both! Check out their website. It'll certainly inspire you to get out into the shop and make something super-cool too!

Intarsia Workshop

You can definitely tell Brent Rogillio of Intarsia Workshop was bitten by the intarsia bug. His love for the artform is very apparent in his work. Brent has put together a great gallery of over 60 pieces he has created, mostly for his friends and family. He creates each piece for a specific person who has influenced his life. While he works, he often reflects on what that person means to him. What a wonderful way to work.

His website also includes a brief history of intarsia as well as an overview of the process. He even has a few pictures of his workshop! Check it out! Perhaps the intarsia bug will bite you too!

Kat Cat Intarsia

Here's a fun site for you intarsia artists out there. Kathy from Kat Cat Intarsia offers a number of great things on her website which really makes it interesting. First, and formost, she has several original patterns for sale that might interest you. But my favorite area is her Catalog. Here she is able so show off her work and skill. There's nothing more inspirational than looking at another artist's work. Perhaps it will even spark an idea or two for yourself! While you're there, check out her quick history of intarsia and be sure to check out her workshop! She has provided a couple of great photos and a description about her work area. Fun website!

Native American Intarsia Portrait

I love progression pictures/tutorials. I love learning new things and new techniques. Allison from Willowshimmers Woodworks created a nice progression/tutorial on an intarsia Native American portrait. The end results really turned out stunning. She has included several pictures of the portrait coming together, along with some really great insights about intarsia. She even shares a few tips. My favorite being her heat gun tape removal method, which I hope to try out soon.

She has the Native American portrait spread over 3 posts. I've listed them below in chronological order for easier reading. While you're there, be sure to check out some of her other work!

• Indian Intarsia- A Tutorial
• The Mountain in the Indian Intarsia Pattern
• Indian Intarsia

Kathy Wise's Intarsia Kits

Kathy Wise is another master of intarsia. She has several award winning designs to her credit. In fact, she recently published her first book, Intarsia Woodworking Projects. Her work is very inspiring and really motivates you to want to try your hand at intarsia.

One of the problems with getting started in intarsia, is that it requires several different species of wood to create your projects. When you're starting out, this can be quite expensive. But Kathy makes it easy by offering intarsia kits. Each kit includes the pattern, step by step instructions, hangers and the wood required to finish the project. Check it out. This may be the solution for you! Be sure to check out her other patterns too. They range from beginner to expert and cover a wide variety of subjects.

Intarsia MSN Group

One of the great things about the internet, is the number of specialized communities that are there to help. If you get stuck, post a question and before long you'll have all kinds of advice from the resident experts.

Intarsia is an MSN group of fellow intarsia artists. They are a very friendly group that offers support, tips, and advice to help develop your skills. Along with the normal message boards, they have galleries of member's work broken down by subject and artist. I really enjoyed browsing through this section. It is such a great source of inspiration! Each month, they post the Pattern Of The Month. This pattern is a free, member created, pattern that is available to all members of the Intarsia group. Application is easy, just tell them a little about yourself and you'll receive confirmation in no time. So jump on in, make a few new friends, and share your sawdust stories!

Judy Gale Roberts Intarsia

You can't really mention intarsia without thinking of Judy Gale Roberts. She has been on the forefront of intarsia since the 70's and has written numerous books and articles about the subject. Her website has a lot of great stuff, that it's hard to pick just one to talk about in this article. So I'm gunna jump right in and highlight a few.

First, she has a couple of free intarsia patterns. We all like free stuff, right? She offers a whale pattern which is quite nice. But I really like her Santa Teddy bear. Christmas seems so far off, but this Teddy bear is such a great pattern, it's hard to pass up. So definitely take a look.

Second, check out her newsletter/catalog Intarsia Times. She has several great articles in each issue, along with the patterns available she has available for sale. Intarsia Times is distributed in PDF format with a hefty download weighing in at 15.8 Megs! But don't worry, you can request the catalog be sent to your home if you can't handle the bandwidth. You can also find back issues of Intarsia Times here.

If you are looking to learn intarsia from the masters, check out their classes. 3 full days of intarsia goodness, complete with Jerry's famous BBQ. You'll walk away with a full belly and some mad intarsia skills. But sign up soon, because their classes are filling up quickly.

So, take a look around Judy's website. There's plenty of stuff to look at. Check out their patterns too. They do some amazing work! If nothing else, it'll provide the inspiration for your next project.

Intarsia Down Under

G'day Mate. Looking for some Aussie art for the wall? This free intarsia pattern from Fantastic WoodWorking is a sure fit. To get a hold of this great pattern, plus 2 other free patterns, just fill in your email and the link to the pattern will be sent your way in no time. The pattern is provided in PDF format for easy printing. It includes detailed instructions and photos showing you every step of the process. When you sign up, you'll also get an informative newsletter, full of tips, articles and updates. While you're there, check out their other patterns they have available. They're nicely organized by skill level, so you don't get in over your head. Check it out!

Rock The Wood

Ready to rock the intarsia world? Here's a fun little project that will do just that. This free intarsia rocker is designed by Shawn Lloyd of Intarsia Plans. It is presented in PDF format for easy printing. The design is also 'exploded' for easy placement on your wood. No more spending valuable time breaking the pattern apart! Give this fun and easy pattern a go. While you're there, check out his other patterns. He has a nice selection of easy and whimsical intarsia patterns to choose from.

SawBird Intarsia Patterns

Need a jump start to get you started with intarsia? Garnet Hall of SawBird Intarsia has a few patterns to get you on your way. He is offering 3 free patterns that progress in difficulty. Each pattern is presented in JPG format for easy scaling. He also includes wood recommendations for each project, most of which can be found at home improvement centers.

So if you're new to the world of intarsia, or a veteran looking for a quick project, check these patterns out. While you're there, take a look at his other offerings. He has a lot of great patterns to choose from, intarsia kits to get you going, and accessories you'll be wanting to add to your shop!

Stained Glass/Intarsia Pattern Tutorial

The last post, I wrote about Chantal's Stained Glass patterns, which make really great intarsia projects. She has put together a great tutorial on how she creates her fantastic stained glass patterns. A lot of these techniques can be easily adapted for creating intarsia patterns too! Check out her tutorial. Perhaps it will inspire you to create some intarsia patterns of your own.

Chantal's Stained Glass

I have a treat for you intarsia and segmentation artists! Stained glass patterns often make really great intarsia projects. I've come across several websites that offer free stain glass patterns, but I found one that is by far my favorite. Chantal's Stained Glass has so many great patterns, you won't know where to begin. She has each pattern color coded so you know exactly if the pattern is free or offered for sale. But fret not, most of them are free! The Panel's section is probably the most useful for intarsian/segmentors. Check it out when you get a chance. You'll be giddy with delight!

Selling Your Intarsia

By Jerry Mifflin

Our challenge as Crafter's and intarsia artists is to discover our markets. You need to know your market, who is your customer? Are you selling a product to local or global customers.

If you're selling to local customers say out of a storefront, you must know if you are in the right market and selling at the right price for this local customer. If you're not showing the right product to the right customer base, chances are they're won't be any sales are at least very few.

It only makes sense that If your selling a product that is not of use to the customer and its not something that they see they want or need, you had better find either different markets or a different product to sell from your store.

I use to have a shop that sold simple crafts like little animal yard and driveway signs. I sold lots of country style decorative items for the interiors of their homes. These items sold well because I was living in a rural area where my customers had big yards and long driveways.

These people loved the country style of decorating. They loved the crafts I was making for them. I even had other crafters producing items for me to sell for them. I was producing and selling to my market base.

If I was trying to sell the country style signs or plaques where I'm living now, in the city, I would not do so well. For my customer base is not the same. Their yards are different, their driveway is short and their interior decorating may not be the same kind of "country style." So for this new customer base you have to change your product line.

Does your product fit into the decorating scheme of most of your customers, if not very few are going to buy. You must be certain that your craft fits with your prospects or your business will fail. You must take the time to study this. Find the proper market place.

Crafts people are used in having friends and loved ones telling them how cool and how beautiful there craft is, this is encouraging. The problem is that it's not realistic. You need to get input and about your product from a source that will give you a helpful honest response about your product.

When your customers come into your shop and say how much they like what you're doing but walk out without buying anything you have to ask yourself, what's wrong?

Are you in the right market for the craft you sell?

If your craft fits your customer, how is your price? The price you sell your product for may need to be adjusted up or down.

For the price setting you need to look at your competition. At what price are they selling a comparable product. Ask yourself can I make a profit selling my product at that price. Can I sell my product and get a higher price? What can I do to make my product worth more money?

I now sell art, "intarsia woodworking art" that is higher priced, which means for the customer to let go of the money, she will have to really love your product.

Crafts, can be a tough market. I am a cabinetmaker, caught up in the world of art. I love to add artistic designs to cabinet doors to make them stand out from what other people build. The cabinets add atmosphere to a room by giving the room character and there by adding value.

I have managed to sell a lot of my work over the years. My prices are usually from about $200 to $15,000 depending on the work involved. As I said before, some time ago I had a craft shop in a small town. I built every wood craft I could think of to build and it was fun, but not really much money.

The money only comes after you learn the business end of the craft market. As a cabinetmaker I have learned the hard way that you must get paid for the hours that you work, even when you love the work.

How much should I charge for my work?

It's basically the same for most businesses, how much do you want to pay yourself per hour. Just add to that a percentage for overhead plus a percentage for profit and add material cost. That gives you a charging rate for all of your products. You must add the profit, that gives you the money to grow, like buying more tools. My charging rate depends on if it's commercial or residential, $45-$85 per hour depending on how custom the work is. In my old "craft shop" my charging rate, at that time, was $35 hour, the price fit the product and the overhead.

If you can sell your craft as "ART" it will increase the amount you can charge for your product. Perceived value! Do you have awards! Do you have newspaper and magazine articles about you! Do you have references? Have you developed a recognizable name for your market? If not, you need to work towards these things. All of this adds to the perceived value of your craft.

Intarsia woodworking is my craft, my art. It's the work I look forward to doing. Find the craft you love to make, find the correct customer base, set a reasonable price for your work and your on your way to a successful satisfying life.

(c) Copyright Jerry Mifflin, All rights reserved

Jerry Mifflin creates many works of Intarsia Art and gives away patterns of his work for other crafters to use. Articles and information on how to build intarsia are on his website, www.intarsia.us , specializing in that woodworking art and business. For patterns and a how to do intarsia art e-book go to www.freeintarsiapatterns.com to get yours.

Intarsia Teddy Bear

Now that you made your first teddy bear intarsia, your neighbor's cousin now wants one. What to do? Well, Wood Magazine can help you out on your next intarsia project. They have provided a great article by Judy Gale Roberts, about getting started in intarsia. The article is free to download and presented in a 12 page PDF format for easy printing. The article takes you step by step through the entire process. And true to Wood Magazine's style, the article is richly illustrated with photos and drawings that explains every detail. Naturally, they also include the free teddy bear pattern.

So if you still need a little more help in your journey down intarsia road, or if you just need a great pattern, check out this great article.

Intarsia 101

Are you looking to take that leap into intarsia? It can seem a bit intimidating, but Bruce over at Intarsia.net will help you on your way. He has put together a great tutorial and provided a free pattern for your first project. He shows you step by step how to put together a simple intarsia teddy bear project that will impress your friends and family. Each step has clear instructions with accompanying photos to take all of the guesswork out. He covers pattern layout, sawing, inlay, shaping, assembly and finishing. If you are looking to try your hand at intarsia, this is the perfect place to start.

Dave Danchuk

Its really nice to see an artist take a medium in a direction you normally don't see. Dave Danchuk of Amazed Creations creates truly unique 'paintings.' Dave is a segmentation artist from Coquitlam, BC. He first lays out his drawings on MDF. Then he uses his Dewalt scroll saw to cut out each individual piece, paints them, then glues them all together again to form a pretty crazy picture. Each 'painting' is full of color and energy. It's not hard to see why his work is sought after.

His website showcases his work and talks a little about himself as an artist. He also sells merchandise based on his 'paintings.' One really neat thing he does with his website is offers progression pictures where he shows you each step as he creates a unique piece of art. Take a look through his gallery and his progression pictures. Perhaps it will inspire you to get a little crazy, too.