Simple Geometrical Veneer Inlays

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Lightening up

Why Inlays?

In a piece with large flat surfaces, like a table or a medium size credenza, the large panels with uniform grain, or with symmetrical matched grain, often provide for a heavy appearance. Inlays were created for such purpose: to break the monotony and to help to light up the piece. This is true even if we know that inlay has developed well beyond such simple tasks, becoming an art of its own.

Geometrical
patterns are
of most
general use		 The scope of this page is limited to present some simple ideas on how to create and dimension simple geometrical inlays. These are the easiest to make, since they are normally made of marquetry with straight edges, hence easier to cut and match. They are of more general use, since they can be applied to pieces of either classical or modern styles. The technique proposed here is not to be limited to the patterns proposed, and I invite you to find new ones. Although I have to remind you that, because this type of inlay is around since so much time, it will be difficult to come up with something new.

The Chromatic
use of spices		 A lot of care must be used when planning the chromatic use of the spices and varieties of veneer. This needs to be done at the same time as the selection, or design, of the pattern. To make this operation easier, it is a good idea to create a color palette over time, keeping the cutoffs of the veneer you used, properly labeled for future reference. For some spices you want yo keep cut offs of sapwood and hardwood, since it is possible to obtain two color tones from the same spice. Obviously, when we talk about colors, in reality we mostly talk about different tones and variations of the same color: brown (going from almost black to yellow and white). If the spice if highly figured, we can also talk about different wood patterns. Basically, we are talking about monochromatic designs. And, from a style point of view, this is what I prefer, and that I suggest to limit yourself to, keeping it in mind when choosing the design. It is true that nature has not been so stingy: pure black, purple, red and highly saturated yellow can also be found in natural woods (ebony for black, and other tropical spices commonly known as purple, red and yellow wood). But these are somehow rare woods (ebony in particular) and, depending on where are you located in the world, not easy to be found in the trade as veneers. Sometimes they are available as special orders. So, I wouldn't care too much about these woods and start with a nice palette of browns. Finally, if you really feel the urge to go the full spectrum of the rainbow, consider to dye light wood veneers. But this is something I really find cheese in taste.
Diamonds
and tapes		 Diamonds pattern. Click here for a better image

3-Dimensional Cubes

Let's take the well known pattern of 3-Dimensional cubes and let's develop it. It's a pattern in use, with varying popularity, since centuries. It can be easily obtained with marquetry with angles of 60°/120°. These can be cut from strips of veneer with parallel cuts having a slope of 60°. The pattern that you obtain is as in figure, completed with the details of the geometrical construction. The various marquetry than are matched to obtain the simple, repetitive, pattern as many times as needed to cover your intended surface. They are kept in place with paper tape. The best tape for this use is the special one with holes, that limits the degree of adhesion of the glue. This is an important detail. After gluing the veneer and the glue is cured, the removal of the tape has to be done with care. Some glues used for the tapes, although they may feel to hardly provide a strong bond when you touch the tape, are often more than enough to drag with them some fibers of the veneer. This happens in particular when the gluing is done applying pressure to the piece (like with ordinary vinylic glues). The tapes with holes reduce this side effect. Or your patience, with the help of a craft knife to check splitting fibers, will do the same.

Color tones
to chose		 For what regards the spices to choose, you have to use your good taste. Anyway, for the 3-Dimensional Cubes you need 3 colors. Taking advantage of the color difference between sapwood and hardwood of, let's say, cherry, you may just need 2 spices of veneer, adding beech. Since veneers with very evident color differences are normally less valuable, it will not be difficult to find a supplier very happy to give you a cherry veneer for one half sapwood, and you might deal on the price.

The sun burst
may also be
simply used
as matching
pattern


Automatic calculation
with JavaScript!

Sun burstThe Sun Burst

Another example of a simple geometric design is the so called sun burst, i.e. a circle of identical sections. This pattern can be used not only as an inlay, but also as a common way to cover circular surfaces with veneer. But it is obviously possible to alternate sections of two different spices in order to obtain an ornamental effect. The only necessary care is that, normally, an even number of sections is used, for aesthetic reasons as well as for simplicity of assembly (using an even number of sections first you assemble to identical halves, and than you assemble the two together). In the picture proposed, 10 sections of 36° are used. The calculation of the width of the section is carried out with a little of trigonometry. The trigonometry becomes slightly more complex if you want to compute the number of sections needed of a given maximum width. This last one is the most common actual case, since normally you'll try to use the available sheets of veneer at their best, either for quantity than for grain.

Circular Corona


Automatic Calculation
with JavaScript!		 Circular Corona. Click here for a better image A simple modification to the sun burst is its corona. This pattern is ideal to inlay a circular surface with concentric designs (it's a common one on round tables), or to provide an adequate frame to other designs. Obviously this is also the case to determine the number of sections to be used as for the sun burst. Here the computation becomes a little more complex. I provide the formulas to compute the section size for a circular corona of a given number of sections, and the number of sections of a circular corona having available veneer sheets of given dimensions.
  Finally, some complete examples. The first one on the left is the 3-Dimensional cubes pattern framed in a circular corona. Nice and simple. The other two, that use the 3-Dimesional cubes pattern also as a background for ornate inlays, are taken by the French site Au Filet d'Amarante in Péznas, Languedoc.
A few examples of inlay
Complete inlay. Click here for a better image Lamps. Click here for the original image Box. Click here for the original image

 

 

A good source for further reading on the topic of inlays is the site of the Marquetry Society Of Canada, with a vast collection of articles from their News Letter.

Version 1.0 - August 16, 1998