Ginkgo Leaves and Flowers Headboard

Listing #3715 Listed on: 01/23/2012 Company Name: CT Fine Furniture
Name: Craig Thibodeau Member

I completed this queen size marquetry headboard last year for a local client that saw another marquetry piece of mine at a show. This piece was designed primarily by the client to fit a particular space so it doesn't necessarily look like a traditional headboard. The overall idea was to create a floral display that featured flowers and birds from her garden. Additionally she wanted to have a bit of storage on the ends and a shelf like space behind the headboard for books or a lamp.

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Posted By:Cy
BEAUTIFUL!
Posted By:McKay
I really like the work. What type of saw do you use and what method? Are you overlaying the leaves,birds, etc on the background and then cutting on a bevel? I have always wondered how you even begin to evaluate how much to charge on a beautiful piece like this.
Posted By:Craig Thibodeau
Thanks for the comments. McKay, I use a DeWalt scroll saw, nothing fancy but it works well and the variable speed feature is useful.

The marquetry is cut using the Boulle or packet method. Essentially all the veneer is layered on top of the background and the image is cut piece by piece. As each piece is cut it is placed on the drawing. I don't do bevel cutting though it is a good method for creating imagery with no saw kerf; the Boulle method leaves a small kerf between the parts but I don't mind.

Pricing is a tough one. Often the drawing process can be quite time consuming (this piece is a good example of that) so it depends on the imagery. I think developing a good pricing scheme for marquetry work comes with practice, lots of it. The furniture portion is easier to price though.
Craig
Posted By:Brad Dawson
Beautiful work. Marquetry in those larger panels is indeed challenging. Excellent!
Posted By:Chris Walvoord
Beautiful work. I agree with your comments on the bleeding hearts. I have used them in place of bell flowers on a federal style table leg and they take a little fiddling to get them to look right. Fun though.

Posted By:Scott
Outstanding! Love the design and the "feel" you were after. I have just started fiddling around with marquetry in the past year and find the work so much fun. It's hard to stop! Thanks for sharing!
Posted By:Cliffie
WOW! Great work as usual.
I see you tape the entire packet before cutting. If you break it down by cutting along the branches, how did you manage handling the 68X36 piece with any accuracy?
All the sand shading are perfect! Did you leave the gum tape on the show face when sand shade? I found it hard to judge the shading through the tape.
Also, what kind of finish you use for the front marquetry? It looks very clean.
Again, great work.
Posted By:Craig Thibodeau
Cliffie, yes the larger packet was broken down with some initial cuts to reduce its size to one that would fit well on my scroll saw. I have actually minimized my use of gum tape on colored veneers so it's only used on fragile parts which makes shading easier. If you do gum tape the parts just flip them over and look at the shading on the non-taped side, it should be roughly the same as what's under the tape. The finish on this piece is Conversion Varnish.
Thanks for the comments.
Craig

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