intarsia. [in-tahr-see-uh] noun. an art or technique of decorating a surface with inlaid patterns, especially of wood mosaic, developed during the Renaissance.
I was really intrigued by this method of art when I first saw it when I was browsing Pinterest. I really wanted to try it on something... Hmm... Perfect timing, because I was coming up empty when thinking of my Dad's final Christmas present. I decided on a Colombian Chiva design for my Dad. He was born in Colombia and he loves visiting whenever he gets that chance. The bright colors and designs seemed like a fun challenge!
To begin, I sketched out the design on paper. I used some picture references to get an idea of what I wanted to do. Once I had the perfect design, I set it aside and prepped the wood. The wood I used for the design was 3/4" common board. I found a piece that was big enough to fit the design. I covered it with blue painter's tape to protect the wood. I sprayed some spray adhesive onto the tape and laid out the design over the adhesive. I pressed down firmly and let it dry. To the scroll saw!
This was a long-winded and tedious task for my scroll saw! All the little curves and tight turns really made this difficult, so I took my time! Blood, sweat, time, and a couple scroll saw blades, and the cutting was finally done! Thank goodness.
Now on to the sanding. This is the part that really creates the intarsia look. The edges are smoothed out on each piece, giving it a rounded look. Some pieces (such as the headlights and seats) are cut down in thickness to give it depth and dimension. There were some pieces, like the back cab and the front windows, that were so fragile that they couldn't handle a thorough sanding or cutting, so I did the best I could and sanded them smooth.
This is what was left:
After rinsing off each piece to remove the sawdust, I let the pieces dry out and prepped for paint. I used acrylic paints on each piece and allowed them to dry thoroughly. After some touch up, I needed to find something to mount the Chiva on. I could have used the board shown above, or some other plain piece of wood. But...
I recently found a tree surgeon around Gainesville who sells live edge wood and cross section pieces from the trees he chops. He sold me a few cypress wood rounds for $5 each, and I thought this would really set it off!
I used wood glue to glue the Chiva onto the cypress round piece by piece. I let the glue dry for 24 hours before applying a THICK coat of gloss spray poly to the entire piece to give it that vibrant shine!
For my first intarsia project, I'm really happy with how it came out! My dad was shocked, he had a lot of questions. To be honest, I'm not even quite sure how I was able to do this without any big mess ups to jeopardize the project! I played it off though like a pro!
FYI: If you're in the Central Florida area and looking for some amazing wood at unbeatable prices, check out my friend Jesse Adams. His Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/jessetreeman.inc/
-Kevin
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