subject: Methods Of Transforming Marquetry From Furniture Trade To True Artwork [print this page] Marquetry has the potential to be a craft or an art. Which of these a piece fits into is dependent on its creator, how ambitious he is and how willing he is to think outside the box. Any artistic journey needs to feature a mastering of the basics but thereafter, it's important to move out to other levels.
The discipline is always developing new methods and styles. This happens only because there are people prepared to try new things that have never before been done. It's useful to use new styles, methods and veneers as inspiration but they should be seen as such and not simply as something to copy perfectly.
There are popular techniques and it's true that these are what wins contests. Mat finishes have never won a competition so everyone tends to use high gloss. Still, when doing creative work it's important not to close one's mind to anything and true excellence will feature a willingness to try what's unpopular if it seems appropriate.
All artistic endeavors tend to feature a seeking out of outside inspiration. The level of excellence of the pieces one takes inspiration from will impact on how much one develops. Look to the very best, to those who are talented, skilled, creative and unique. Mediocre inspiration almost always fails to take one towards true excellence.
The basic skills must be mastered before one will be able to use one's creativity to its optimum. Marquetry requires immense patience, because the results are almost impossible to see until the final moment. Exercise the patience necessary to clean and sand the piece or even the most beautiful work will be ruined by an impatient moment.
The current development of marquetry taking inspiration from renaissance painters. Still lives from this era are being created with wood. Methods like silverization, spear cutting and fragmentation are achieving the kind of blending and color merges that could previously only be achieved with paint.
The skill is quickly becoming a part of the world of visual arts. It's creating its own territory in the mainstream and more and more people view it as a true creative discipline. Previously, it was the simple pastime of furniture designers. The fact that it's now on the cusp of an enormous break through makes it especially exciting for those participating.
One's palette is created with veneers. Painters take much care to establish a set of colors for a painting, buying and mixing all the perfect hues for every artwork. Similarly, one should take the time and care necessary to build a veneer palette. Hue and texture balance should be considered from the beginning.
Some grains of veneers are extremely detailed and others are not. It's important to balance the detail of a piece so that the final result isn't too busy. Focal points should be created using texture, color, light and form. Some veneers will be perfect for some textures. Avodire is an excellent veneer to use for water while bird's eye maple is the ideal one to use for a skin tone. When starting a piece of marquetry, spend time going through the hundreds available so that the perfect veneers can be used. This will have a huge impact on the final piece.
