Artistry in Wood

Most Recent News Items as at June 2013

Online Membership Applications

Early National Exhibition Gallery Room 57

Our new Web Secretary

Judges Rules & Guidelines

Other Entries 2012 Gallery Room 9

Can We Help? Page 47

2012 International Marquetry Exhibition Gallery

2012 International Marquetry Exhibition Award Winner's Slide Show

2013 International Marquetry Exhibition Box Brownie Views

Artistic Considerations & Veneer Choice in Marquetry DVD Review

Independent's Corner Page 8 brings you a very interesting article

2013 International Marquetry Exhibition

Our International Marquetry Exhibition will be taking place at the Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent in late May through to June.

It will feature the best there is in marquetry and will once again be a particularly superb exhibition held in beautiful surroundings.

For intial information regarding this exhibition plus a road map and some local views around the museum, click the link >>>

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Join Us As A New Member Online

You can now enrol as a new member of the Marquetry Society online and also pay your subscription (2 years subscription for the price of 1 for new memberships) online via our secure PayPal buttons.

This is a very convenient way to become a member of the Marquetry Society. No more tedious filling in paper forms and writing cheques and posting them off, it can all be done from the comfort of your computer keyboard and screen in just a few minutes.

We look forward to welcoming you as a new member of the Marquetry Society. Just click the link and select your geographical location >>>

Note: Established members can also renew their subscriptions by selecting the "Renew Subs" option and completing the online form and clicking the appropriate PayPal button for renewals.

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2013 INTERNATIONAL MARQUETRY EXHIBITION
WEB OFFICER'S BOX BROWNIE VIEWS

Our 2013 International Marquetry Exhibition was a great success and attracted a great many visitors.

Our 2013 Gallery will be launched with our August update, but in the meantime we bring you a little taster of the exhibition with our Web Officer's Box Brownie views of the 61st exhibition itself. We hope you enjoy them.

To see these 'Box Brownie View' photos of our 61st Exhibition and its wonderful location, just click the link on the right >>>

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OUR INDEPENDENT'S SECRETARY

The Independent member's section of the Marquetry Society has recently gained a new officer to represent them. This new officer comes in the shape and form of long standing Marquetry Society member Clive Jones.

Clive has been very active on behalf of the Independents over the years, and we (your Executive Committee) thought it would be therefore be most appropriate to invite Clive to represent you, our Independents, on an official basis.

Clive has added 24 more designs to your section of our website with the November update. You can use any of these designs for your next marquetry project if you wish to. Click the name or title in your selected 'thumbnail' and you will be presented with an A4 sized PDF picture of your chosen subject which you can then print as normal, or if you choose, you can save the file and resize or print out from that saved file whenever you wish.

Clive has also added a condensed version of Shao Nan Huang's excellent marquetry article from the Winter 2012 edition of the Marquetarian to you Indie's pages for you to enjoy. It is a really excellent read.

Just click the 'Page 6' or 'Page 7' link on the right to check out Clive's most recent batch of pictures or Shao Nan Huang's article or 'Page 8' for Clive's latest addition - do enjoy >>

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OUR NEW WEB SECRETARY

At the Marquetry Society AGM last July a new post was created to take on responsibilities for dealing with the correspondence generated via our website. Over the last few years this task had started to take on, shall we say, rather large proportions, and in consequence it became somewhat obvious that we were going to need a dedicated officer to oversee this level of traffic.

David Walker was therefore our ideal candidate for the job as he had most generously been helping us out on a voluntary basis and was already becoming the chap who responded to a good 99% of our email traffic. Those who have already had David deal with their inquiries will already know him to be a knowledgeable and friendly gentleman who will truly go out of his way in finding an answer applicable to any enquiry. A most wonderful asset indeed to have in any organisation!

So, click the link on the right and meet David, the chap who will personally reply to your email enquiries >>

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2012 INTERNATIONAL MARQUETRY EXHIBITION GALLERY

Our International Marquetry Exhibition 2012 Gallery is currently available on this web site. Select your link to enjoy either a slide show of the award winning exhibits, or a leisurely wander through our gallery pages where you can examine each exhibit at your leisure in finer detail. >>

Don't forget, we have also launched a very high quality DVD of the 2012 International Marquetry Exhibition where you can check out every exhibit in the finest of detail. See the box below for details.

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Email for more info at:

peter@marquetry.org

or

if you are using Windows Mail
or Outlook Express, just
click the link below to
open a preaddressed
Email form:
"DVD offer"

"Artistic Considerations"

"A Beginners Guide"

"Geometric Marquetry DVD Preview"

"Alan Townsend Presents"

"Techniques & Tips"

OTHER ENTRIES GALLERY 2011/12

Our June 2013 update brings you 'Room 9' of our 2012 "Other Entries" gallery where exhibits, that unfortunately missed out on achieving an award at this year's National Exhibition, nonetheless still attain the chance of displaying their artistry and craftsmanship in their own special gallery.

This "Other Entries Gallery" follows on from the same highly successful gallery of the same name that we introduced a couple of years ago.

The 2012 exhibits replaces the 2011 exhibits on a month by month basis until all the rooms of the gallery have been changed. This method ensures that each exhibit gets to be displayed for at least a full year.

If any other rooms are required they will be updated to the 2012 entries on a pro rata basis as each update goes by. Therefore the July 2011 update saw Rooms 8-9-10 being added with the remaining 2011 entries on display. That particular July update in 2011 finally used up the last of the remaining 2011 National Exhibition entries.

As mentioned above, we now have rooms 9 and 10 added to this gallery. These rooms contain 12 entries each and they display the last 24 of the 2011 exhibits.

Our 2012 Other Entries Gallery adds room 6 of the 2012 non-award winners with this May update.

Click the links to visit 'Rooms 1 to 10' of the Other Entries Gallery >>>

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JUDGES RULES & GUIDELINES

We get asked quite often "what are the rules for making marquetry?" and "what do the judges look for when judging at our annual exhibitions?"

Well, to put your mind at rest and to show you exactly what the rules and guidelines are, we are publishing those rules here for you to read, print and digest to your complete satisfaction.

Just click the link on the right and you can read the very latest guidelines which are used by our judges at our International Exhibitions - even including this year's one! >>

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MARQUETRY IN IRAN

Iran is one of those countries so often in the news these days for mostly political issues; but politics is not one of those things we do here, ourselves we live in the more ethereal sphere of the wonderful world of marquetry.

Marquetry, no matter where it originates from, is a universal joy for all who are involved in the art, whether they are the makers or, just purely anyone at all who marvels at the beauty of a wonderfully produced picture created from nothing more than simple wood veneers as the prime artistic medium.

The art and craft of marquetry has been around since biblical times, and any country with a rich history of decorative art dating from those distant times is obviously going to have artistic traditions reflecting those very centuries of just such wonderful artistry.

Iran itself comes into that noble category of ancient art forms which have matured into a superbly crafted representation of the country's artistic lineage.

But don't just take our word for all of this, click the links and see for yourself >>>

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Current
&
Ongoing

NATIONAL EXHIBITION'S from 1976

Our June update brings you another selection from National Exhibitions gone by.

This latest selection comes from the 1995 National Marquetry Exhibition.

The earliest colour pictures we feature in this Early National Marquetry Exhibition pages (or rooms) come from our 1976 Exhibition. Earlier exhibition photos are in monochrome and will appear elsewhere on our web site.

Some of the work will be familiar to many of you - and much of it will be distant memories, or even "new" in relative terms.

Anyway, we hope you will enjoy this month's selections and wonder again at the superb work of yesteryear.

Unfortunately, with the massive slide collection that these photos derive from, we are afraid to say that reference notes were not always included as to the work's titles or names of the Marquetarians who made the pieces.

Thanks are due to those kind people who recognised the pictures and sent in the correct information about the titles and makers of most of those 'temporarily titled' pictures.

If anyone recognises one of those 'temporarily titled' works, especially if it is their own, could they contact us and supply us with those details so that we can attribute each work appropriately.

Just a quick e-mail would be most helpful.

Do note that as from the December 2012 update, the selection menu at the bottom of each page from 51 onwards will have a single link back to the first 50 pages. We have done this because the page selection menu would have filled half of each page in time! We hope you find this helpful.

The June 2013 addition is labelled "1996-A" >>

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Includes
all information
on these
subjects
since
September
2007

"WE'VE HAD THIS PICTURE FOR YEARS, CAN YOU TELL US ANYTHING ABOUT IT?"

(Plus further "BUCHSCHMID & GRETAUX INFORMATION")

This question is often put to our editorial team - and I'm pleased to say that most of the time we are able to come up with an appropriate answer to the query.

Even though we have extensive archives and abundant knowledge on all matters marquetry, sometimes we can get "caught out" when trying to identify the maker of an early and very individual piece.

For this reason we introduced our "Can You (We) Help?" page in 2007. This section of the web site has proved popular with our visitors, so for that reason we have expanded the facility.

Thanks to your collective input, we have quite a considerable amount of BUCHSCHMID & GRETAUX information available on pages 2 to 44 of "Can You (We) Help?" that will help to answer many of your questions on this mysterious company.

Do note though, that the information we display on our pages are "as supplied" to us and do not constitute the Marquetry Society's own opinions on the subject. Such observations as we make are purely that, just observations and not guaranteed opinions from which to formulate a judgement by.

If you are able to find better informed information on the B & G subject, please refer to that in preference where any confirmed accuracy is required.

Nonetheless, it's another "well done" to everyone of you who are contributing to this now, rather unique resource. It is your input which is helping to make this section of the web site so very popular and useful to collectors of these beautiful Buchschmid & Gretaux pieces.

MEMORY LANE PAGE 13

In the 1950's and 60's marquetry kits were a very popular form of entry into the fascinating world of marquetry proper.

Generally those kits provided everything you needed in one box. The example we feature in our Memory Lane series is actually of a marquetry decorated fire-screen kit. Naturally this was quite a large kit, but it was not unwieldy - and it was very decorative of course!

Click the link on the right to see what the Parcel Post would have brought you in the heady days of the 1960's >>>

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MEMORY LANE PAGE 11

A wonderful find of a marquetry kit picture from 1954 recently turned up. This is even complete down to the original receipt from the same year.

We thank Dennis Surgenor for his generosity in sharing the enjoyment of this wonderful find with us.

Click the link and see what was used before the the all encompassing window method came on to the marquetry scene >>>

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HARROW GROUP WEB SITE

Harrow Marquetry Group launched their own web site with our June update.

You'll find loads of information about this very successful group in their web site. So, don't hold back, click the link and enjoy an online visit to the Harrow Marquetry Group.

For more information about the Harrow Group please click the link >>

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MARQUETRY IN GERMANY

German marquetry artist Jūrgen Armbruster is producing some really superb marquetry in his homeland of Germany.

Historically Germany, especially the Black Forest region, has produced marquetry decorated furniture for hundreds of years. You only have to look at the work of Buchschmid and Gretaux elsewhere on this website to prove that!

Jūrgen Armbruster shows us that the tradition of marquetry is most certainly alive and well in this present day and fully living up to expectation. Check it out by clicking the link on the right >>>

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MARQUETRY IN HUNGARY

Hungarian marquetry artist Zsolt Sesztak has developed an interesting method of introducing depth, shadow and shading to his marquetry work.

These new methods certainly appear to work astonishingly well and produce some startlingly realistic pieces made entirely from veneers.

But don't just take our word for all of this, click the link and see for yourself >>>

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RECOMMENDED SUPPLIERS

We have rather neglected upgrading our Recommended Supplier's list this past year. With our December update, that oversight has been put to right.

The supplier's list now includes recommendations from our members in the USA. All the recommendations are made from personal dealings with the suppliers - and every one of them comes with the highest of praises!

Click the link and check out those suppliers for yourself >>>

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MARQUETRY COURSES

We are often quizzed about where to find Marquetry Courses which will teach you the techniques in a structured format.

Our usual reply is for the inquirer to consider joining a group, as can be found in our Clubs and Groups directory; but this does not suit everyone, and is often inconvienient for many people.

Therefore we have added a new Marquetry Courses directory to this web site. For a list of 2011 marquetry courses. Click the link to view the directory >>>

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DORIS DAY

George Chisholm, a marquetarian of the highest calibre, made a marquetry portrait of the actress Doris Day last year.

As he is a fan of Doris Day, George offered Doris the portrait as an appreciation of the joy her films have given him over the years. George was more than pleased when Doris accepted his offer and now has the portrait on display in her USA home. Click the link to see the portrait for yourself >>

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A RESTORED PERIOD TABLE

Well known marquetarian Del Porter recently wrote an article on the restoration of a period table from a delapidated worm eaten sorry looking old table, to a piece of furniture almost fit to be seen in the Palace of Versailles!

This article appeared in The Marquetarian magazine and attracted a great deal of interest. We promised to post a full colour reproduction of the before and after examples here, so - as good as our word - here they are >>

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CUTTER INTERVIEW

Our latest Cutter Interview features that most legendary of marquetarians, indeed the very chap who introduced the Portaiture Cup. It is no other than Horrie Pedder himself.

Click the link and read Horrie's own story of his fascinating marquetry career >>

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MARQUETRY IN NORWAY & MORE BRAZILIAN MARQUETRY

Norway not only has an abundance of wonderful trees (the source of our basic marquetry material) it also has an abundance of marquetry talent.

Ole Jakob Schjetlein is a marquetry artist of considerable talent. Not only does Ole make marquetry pictures and applied pieces, he also does all the design work himself. Click the Norway link on the right and check it out >>>

Marcelo Sena from Brazil demonstrates the wealth of marquetry talent to be found in that friendly corner of the globe.

Marcelo's marquetry wood inlay titled Pietá is a wonderful example of just what can be done with simple veneers. Click the Brazil link and see for yourself >>>

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MARQUETRY KIT 'SELF' ASSEMBLY

We recently acquired a couple of marquetry kits from the early 1960's which were complete - even including the original tubes of unused glue!

We have assembled one of those marquetry kit pictures and photographed it at each stage. This has been made up into a slide show and is now available here by just clicking the link on the right.

Do take a look and enjoy a marquetry picture "assembling" itself!

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MARQUETRY IN RUSSIA

Russia has long been associated with impressive standards of art - marquetry of course, being among them.

Recently we have seen a great many wonderful examples Russian marquetry. Just to show you what we mean by 'impressive standards - click the link on the right and check out two examples and see what we mean for yourself >>>

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SUTTON COLDFIELD GROUP WEB SITE

The Sutton Coldfield Marquetry Group has started their own web site with our August update.

Visit their site and spend a wonderful time marvelling at their superb work in both pictures and applied marquetry.

Just click the link on the right to enter their web site >>>

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ST. ALBANS GROUP WEB SITE UPDATE

June 2010 brings lots of new additions to the St. Albans Group web site which we know you are going to enjoy.

An Inter-Group competition was held recently at the St. Albans Group rooms - and a right good event it was too! Of course the main theme of the evening was the competition itself (and not just the huge feast they laid on for us!)

So, click the link on the right and check out the winners by visiting the 2010 Inter-Group Competition at the St. Albans Group web site >>>

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MARQUETARIAN ISSUE NUMBER 4

The Marquetry Society's very own publication "The Marquetarian" has been running for nearly sixty years now - and as our "The Marquetarian from the Start" series has moved on to issue number 5 in the present day publication, we are bringing you the complete facsimile of issue 4 for you to enjoy.

Unfortunately with those early issues of the publication, photos were very rarely used - if at all for the first few years! so for these first few issues it's mostly text.

However, it's still an excellent read - so click the link and read all about marquetry in the early 'fifties! >>>

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PLACES TO SEE MARQUETRY WHILE ON HOLIDAY

People often ask us if we know of any good places to visit and see some top quality marquetry while they are on holiday.

After a suggestion by Einar Solgaard in the latest Marquetarian, we have adopted Einar's idea and we are now including a directory of interesting places to see marquetry while on holiday. Click the link to view the directory >>>

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THE MARQUETARIAN CARTOONS

From the early 1960's up to the present date, the Marquetarian has always included a cartoon or two in its publication "The Marquetarian".

These cartoons are always marquetry based (somewhat loosely at times!) and always provide a chuckle for the readers.

It is now nearly fifty years since they first made an appearance in the Marquetarian - so, as a rather 'loose' celebration of that fact, we are bringing you an occasional series of Marquetarian cartoons.

Click the link and start chuckling >>>

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MEMBERSHIP OFFER NOW CARRIED ON INTO ITS 7th YEAR!

A Continuing Offer for 2012: Due to the success of our "2 for 1" new membership only offer introduced in 2006, we have decided to extend this offer through 2012. To take advantage of this offer become a NEW MEMBER of the Marquetry Society in 2012 and get your membership subscription for 2013 totally free!!

Yes, that's right, on becoming a new member of the Marquetry Society you will be entitled to receive the second year of your membership at a 100% discount for the whole of that second year!

It is a marvellous offer and is one we are sure that you will not want to miss.
To take advantage of this exceptional offer please make use of the "special" subscription form you will find on this web site.
For a short cut to the form click the link in the box on the right:

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"subscription form"

MARQUETRY IN COSTA RICA

There is some wonderfully delicate and, shall we say, "organic" style of marquetry work coming out of Costa Rica these days.

This is principally originating from the artistically manipulated craft knife and saw blade of Francisco Guillen, who is already making quite a name for himself in the central Americas.

Francisco's work endeavors to create a harmony with the very materials of his art; that being the wood itself. The pictures selected for this World of Marquetry page illustrate Francisco's sentiments perfectly. Click the link on the right for a shortcut to see for yourself. We think you will enjoy the experience >>

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NATIONAL EXHIBITION AWARD WINNERS FROM 1953

Long serving member of the Marquetry Society Peter Metcalfe has spent months compiling a superb spreadsheet containing all our National Marquetry Exhibition award winners - and the awards - since the beginning of the Marquetry Society in the early nineteen fifties.

This is a large four page document and contains a lot of information, so be prepared for a good read.

Don't forget to return here once you've finished consulting this excellent document. Just use the yellow links contained in the PDF pages, or alternatively use your "Back" or "Return" browser button to return here.

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GLUE TUTORIAL

Now, to most of you the subject of glue may not seem very interesting, but, this tutorial is definitely something to be recommended.

Due to a nosey bit of "ear wigging" by your web master at an Executive Committee Meeting last year, an absorbing conversation between two marquetry luminaries on the subject of glue became compulsive listening.

The conversation was truly educational, so, not wishing to miss the opportunity, your web master admitted his 'crime' and asked one of the 'overheard' if they would repeat that conversation for the web site. Being the true gentleman that he is, he graciously agreed and made the whole conversation available to us.

Click the link on the right for a really interesting read >>>

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REBRIDGE GROUP MARQUETRY TUTORIALS

Our good friends at the Redbridge Marquetry Group have recently introduced a new series of marquetry tutorials to their web site.

These tutorials are wonderfully easy to follow and very instructive.

They tell us that they already have several more tutorials in the pipe line for adding to the 'tutorial's library' later on this year. For an initial sampler, check out the Windows Method tutorial by clicking the link on the right, we know you will enjoy it. >>>

Note: Don't forget to return back here once you've finished visiting the Redbridge Group web site!

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'Fine Woodworking' Slide Show USA Member Silas Kopf

For the next few months the Fine Woodworking magazine is hosting an online slide show of the fabulous marquetry and applied work produced by Marquetry Society USA member Silas Kopf.

Do check this slide show out, the quality of the work will really astonish you. Just click the link on the right, grab a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy a very pleasant time immersed in some of the best marquetry to be seen adorning superb bespoke furniture >>

If you find you have enjoyed the slide show (which we know you most certainly will) did you know that Silas also has a book available describing in great detail how this amazing marquetry was made and of Silas's quest in achieving his marquetry goal? The book is available right now (Amazon stock it) and, how about this for a good idea - why not get a copy for your own marquetry enthusiast as a Christmas present - we know they will thoroughly appreciate it! The book in question is titled "A Marquetry Odyssey". Check out Peter White's review of this excellent book.

Just click the "Book Review" link for Peter's review >>>

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REVIEWS

Our November update adds another new section to our web site.

As and when new marquetry related products appear on the market, we will be assessing selected items and bringing you reviews of them.

We start this new section with a review of famed marquetarian Silas Kopf's new book entitled "A Marquetry Odyssey".

Just click the link for the review >>>

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E-MAIL CONTACT DETAILS

If you have any questions you would like to ask us, or queries about anything contained in this web site, please feel free to e-mail us by using the pre addressed form that will appear when you click the link on the right. Thank you.

To contact the Marquetry Society Web Site please click the e-mail link on the right if you are using the standard Microsoft Outlook Express:

If however you are using a different E-mail system then just copy and paste the following address in to your "send to" box:

mqstymail@redbridgemarquetrygroup.org

or, if that is not possible, then just type it in as seen above, thanks.

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