Tools & Techniques
Parquetry: Composing with Wood
by Heather Trosdahl
With all the richness and variety of woods that drive our passion for woodworking, we hope our designs only compliment each board’s unique beauty and character. One way to maximize the yield of such special woods is to resaw boards into veneers to savor every inch of it. When resawing your own veneers, you get workpieces that are much thicker and more durable than is commerciallyavailable, and they can be worked more like solid wood. Once you have these wonderful veneers, you now have an opportunity to let the grain be free to speak with line, color, texture, shape, and chatoyance (the way light refracts through the wood fibers). You are also able to free yourself from a solid-wood mindset. By putting aside such concerns as wood movement, your possibilities are endless, and you have the freedom to explore something new. Another advantage is the ability to create interesting designs, even when using a single species. It is ideal to work with veneers from flitches of wood from the same tree for consistency of that wood’s unique characteristics. Sometimes a beautifully symmetric book match is best, but other times the wood has something else in mind. With veneers, we can now free our minds to compose, making patterns and portraits only possible with the characteristics of this one special board. These compositions can influence and shape the whole design of a cabinet or table and take you places you never thought you would go. One veneering technique of decorative assembly is called Parquetry. For those not familiar with this term, you might think of the parquet floors in your parent’s house, or if you are a sports fan, you are probably familiar with the parquet floor on which the Boston Celtics play. It is a technique in which veneered pieces are assembled to create panels of repeating The famous parquet floor of the Boston Celtics geometric, mosaic, kaleidoscope, herringbone, or chevron patterns. Some examples, applied to furniture, are provided to the far right in work by students from College of the Redwoods. In
May-June, 2013
Heather Trosdahl resawing Walnut veneers on the bandsaw. Heather Trosdahl of Oakland, CA is a custom furnituremaker and producing a line of production furniture for Studio Proxima. She received her first training in furniture making at the Chicago Bauhaus Studios and Academy, where she where studied under Berthold Schwaiger. After a stint as a supervisor of custom mill works installations, she attended classes in the Fine Furniture Program at College of the Redwoods (2008-2010). She is interested in contrasting materials, clean lines, and traditional joinery, in a way that achieves an aesthetic balance between contemporary design and traditional craft. Heather believes that gorgeous handmade design should be within the reach of the urban apartment dweller and is interested in making objects that are functional, practical, and sculptural. Her work has been displayed in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Boston. Her Ripple credenza has been featured in Fine Woodworking magazine and the Furniture Society’s Mind and Hand. Her Pinwheel café table won an Award of Excellence at the Sonoma County Wood Fair (2009). Heather’s article on the process of a pinwheel parquetry design was published in the December, 2012 issue of Popular Woodworking magazine. She also demonstrates at many of the West Coast Lie-Nielsen Tool Events, with Glen Drake Tools. She is teaching an Introduction to Parquetry class at College of the Redwoods (June 3-7). Topics, to be covered through lecture and demonstration, include substrate preparation, stock selection, pattern design, re-sawing, working with veneer stock, and veneer pressing. Several prepared patterns will be provided, allowing students to have the time to complete a panel during the course. For info about Heather, visit the website: www.heathertrosdahl.com; for info about her Introduction to Parquetry class, visit the website: www.crfinefurniture.com/1pages/sitelinks/ summer.html. Page 38
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