Intarsia Automatic translate

When visiting museums, exhibitions, or art salons, you obviously paid attention to the decorative compositions made of multi-colored wood. This is a kind of mosaic or applique made of single-layer colored plywood - intarsia.

For intarsia, not only the color is of great importance, but also the texture of the wood, which is found differently in tree species. Typically, intarsia uses no more than three or four colors inherent in wood. If some color is missing, then you can tint the plywood with aniline, or even better, natural dyes (oak bark, buckthorn, bulbous plants).

To work in the intarsia technique, you need to have a set of tools and equipment. The most necessary tool is a knife. You can use a surgical scalpel or straight razor.

If you need to cut through two plywood at once, then use a knife with a long handle, which you rest on your shoulder. A lapping hammer is used to grind and smooth the applied composition to the base. To clamp the typed pattern you need: a press, or timber frames and wooden wedges of different thicknesses. The glue is brewed in a glue boiler or a regular tin can, which is placed in another dish (saucepan), but so that it does not touch the bottom. To cover the base with wood glue, you need to have a hard, wide brush. The base of multi-layer plywood or boards is treated with zinubel (a carpentry tool similar to a plane). If you plan to glue the set onto a wood slab, then surface treatment with zinubel is not necessary.

To practice intarsia, you also need glued paper tape. You can make it yourself. To do this, a sheet of printer paper is greased on one side with a not very thick solution of wood glue. Then, when the tape has dried, it is cut into strips 15-20 mm wide. During operation, the tape is moistened with warm water and individual pieces of fitted plywood are glued together.

Having conceived a specific composition, you must definitely select its color and tonal range, remembering that an excess of colors and tones can only impoverish the artistic expressiveness of the wood. Therefore, they are usually limited to three to four colors and two to three tones of color. When making a drawing for intarsia, you need to avoid small details, trying to achieve the most generalized form possible.

The sketch is made in a mirror image relative to the intended composition and the intarsia set is produced based on the mirror image.

The procedure for assembling intarsia is as follows: pieces of plywood of the desired tone are cut out along the contour of the design and glued together with glued tape, after which the finished set is placed on the base. First, a drawing is applied to the background using carbon paper; Large planes are cut out and plywood inserts of the desired color are fitted in their place. You can qualitatively adjust the part by placing the required piece of plywood under the base with the cutout. And so that it does not move, it is glued from the back side with adhesive paper to the base, then carefully cut along the contour with a knife. If you have to adjust several parts at the same time, this should be done especially carefully at the joints, and the order of fitting the parts should be thought out so that there are no more than two butting sides. Having cut out the desired part, it is placed in the prepared place and glued on the back with adhesive paper, wiping the adhesive side with a damp piece of fabric, cotton wool or foam rubber. Install the larger planes first, then the smaller ones.

It is very difficult to cut a part along the contour so that it does not ripple or crumble. This can be avoided: stick paper on one side so as to cover the entire plane intended for insertion.

Beginners should be cautioned against giving the same piece of plywood different turns. After polishing, plywood may change tone, appearing lighter or darker, so it is better to lay out the layers of wood in one direction. This, by the way, will make it easier to process and clean up the finished work glued to the base.

It is better to bypass small parts first and paste the work without them. Then, when the work dries (3-4 hours), carefully trim the part, cover it with paper and lightly rub it with a hot iron, and the glue will warm up and become soft. Then it is easy to select the cut out part with an awl or knife, and insert the desired piece into the recess.

Having completed the set of intarsia, prepare the base. The basis for intarsia can be plywood, wood board or regular board. The best results are obtained on wood boards and multi-layer plywood. The assembled intarsia is glued mainly with wood glue. It allows for corrections that are not possible with other adhesives. You can also use PVA glue, but in this case, corrections should be made no later than 1-1.5 hours after clamping in a press or block frames.

The set is glued to the base as follows: apply the base with a wide bristle brush, and then the set with warm wood glue; By taking water out of the glue, the set will swell and curl. Therefore, they take it by the transverse sides, place it in the middle of the base and roll it out to the edges. Then press and smooth quickly and vigorously with a damp but not wet cloth to prevent curling. Next, they rub it in with a special hammer until the set sticks over the entire plane, put cardboard or newspaper on top and clamp it in a press or block frame. The intarsia is left in the press for at least 4-6 hours when gluing with wood glue, or 1-1.5 hours when gluing with PVA.

Gluing intarsia with a lapping hammer and polishing movements

Having taken out the work and freed it from the paper, check how the intarsia is stuck to the base. Defects such as air bubbles or overlap of joints with plywood are possible. They can be detected by ear by tapping a finger on the surface (a dull sound indicates the presence of bubbles and unadhered areas).

Defects can be corrected: a hot iron is passed over those places that have flaws; the glue is heated, and these places are rubbed with a lapping hammer until the plywood sticks. It happens that you need to add a little glue under the plywood. To do this, make a slot, heat the area with an iron and lift the plywood with the tip of a knife. A strip of strong paper coated with glue on one side is inserted into the gap; rub in different directions to lubricate the inner surface as much as possible; if necessary, this procedure is repeated several times.

The overlap of one plywood with another is corrected as follows: cut off the excess strip of plywood with the tip of a knife, heat this place with an iron, lift the joints with the tip of the knife and cut off a piece. To prevent the heated glue from sticking to the iron, cover the areas that need to be heated with a sheet of paper. The surface of the product, cleared of paper, is leveled and sanded with a scraper, glass and sandpaper with medium and fine grain. It is better to level the surface with a handle or a board covered with sandpaper.

Varnishing intarsia

For varnishing, they mainly use transparent and nitrocellulose varnishes, which dry quickly (2-2.5 hours).

Before varnishing the work, you need to take a piece of cloth and clean it of dust. The varnish is applied to the surface of the intarsia with a swab, brush or spray. After drying (4-6 hours), the swollen and raised fibers are removed with fine sandpaper, rubbing it over the entire surface of the product. After cleaning the lint with sandpaper, the surface is wiped again with a soft cloth and a new layer of varnish is applied. This procedure is repeated 3-4 times, applying each new layer only after the previous one has completely dried (4-6 hours). When applying a new layer of varnish, you should not cover the same places twice, so as not to remove the previously applied layer.

Some intarsia works benefit significantly from a regular matte surface without varnish or polishing. To reveal the beauty of wood texture, use a solution of beeswax in turpentine. Products coated with such a solution have a pleasant surface with a clear revelation of the texture of the natural material (2-3 g of finely chopped wax are added to 100 g of heated turpentine and dissolved). The turpentine evaporates, leaving wax in the wood. By rubbing the surface of the product with cloth, we obtain a uniform, juicy matte surface.

Polishing work using intarsia technique

Some works using the intarsia technique will look better if the processing is completed with polishing. Polished wood reveals its texture more clearly. It is best to use alcohol polish. Compared to nitrocellulose varnishes, the polish is afraid of moisture, therefore, it can only be used to polish dried products and after polishing it can be stored in a dry room.

The polishing process is much more complicated than varnishing. It consists of applying several thin layers of polish to the surface of the product plane using a swab or spray gun, and at the same time achieving a smooth mirror surface.

The tampon is made of wool or cotton fabric. It is wrapped in clean linen and impregnated with polish. After the first layer has dried (4-6 hours), the surface is sanded with fine-grained sandpaper, removing swollen and raised wood fibers. The second and subsequent times, 2-3 drops of linseed, hemp, olive or regular sunflower oil are dripped onto a moistened tampon, so that the tampon glides better over the surface. A thin, quickly disappearing smear of polish immediately forms on the surface of the product. If the smear does not dry for a long time and small bubbles appear, this indicates that there is more polish in the tampon than necessary. Then you need to squeeze out a few drops of polish, add two or three drops of oil and start polishing again. If there is no stroke at all, there is not enough polish.

It is better to polish by holding the work in a vice in a horizontal position. First, the product is primed with 16% polish. When priming, wood fibers rise on the surface, which after drying must be removed with sandpaper. The first polishing is carried out with 8% polish after the primer has dried and the fluff has been removed, and the second - with 5% polish.

It should be noted that between individual stages of polishing it is necessary to take a break for several days; the first time is polished one day after the primer, the second time three days after the first, and the third time 10-20 days after the second.

Finish the polishing work like this: with a swab moistened with alcohol, vigorously wipe the surface of the product in a circular motion, which becomes mirror-smooth and clean.