ROSEBOWL WINNER'S GALLERY SINCE THE BEGINNING

How many of you have had the chance to see virtually every one of those Rosebowl winning exhibits that have been awarded nearly every year since the trophy itself was introduced in 1955?

Well, with this seasonal update we are pleased to be bringing you a photographic representation of every one of those Rosebowl winners that are still currently available in our archives.

The Rosebowl itself was introduced 52 years ago as the "Silver Rosebowl Executive Committee Challenge Trophy" and is the annual acknowledgement of the finest piece of marquetry displayed at each year's National Marquetry Exhibition.

We have nearly 50 of those Rosebowl winners for you to enjoy and contemplate. You will find it especially interesting to see the progress and development of the technical standards from those seen in our earliest days, up to today's highly detailed and superbly finished masterpieces.

To see all of this superb work for yourself, just click the link on the right>>

WHO REMEMBERS THOSE LAPEL BADGES?

A few decades ago the Marquetry Society commissioned the production of gold or guilt lapel badges depicting a deep, almost indigo blue representation of the, then current version of the Society logo.

Those lapel badges have sadly been unavailable now for some many years, but in their heyday they did indeed prove to have been very popular with Marquetry Society members. Almost definitely it was something to be cherished, worn and displayed on the jacket lapel for the agreeable purpose of proclaiming your exultation at being a member of such a unique and prestigious organisation.

Click the link at the right to check out that very same lapel badge for yourself >>

LASER MARQUETRY

A very new member of the Marquetry Society is the professional and much respected Laser Marquetarian Susana Bartolomé.

We met Susana when she visited the National Exhibition in June and we craftily took the opportunity to persuade her to write an article on laser marquetry for our web site.

Susana kindly agreed - and to prove that she was as good as her word - we have Susana's article up and ready for you to read right now!

Just click the link on the right to read about laser marquetry >>

AUGUST UPDATE

We are now back up to speed with our updates - we are happy to say.

The earlier update delays were due to the vagaries of hosting the 2007 National Exhibition and the compilation of the 2007 National Exhibition Gallery for the web site.

Happily, with this August update we are bringing you this year's Gallery in all its Glory!

Click the link on the right to enter page 1 of this massive Gallery, we hope you thoroughly enjoy your visit.

UPDATES TO FAVOURITES GALLERY, MEMORY LANE & CAN YOU HELP PAGES

We are pleased to say that during the month of June we received an interesting answer to one of the queries residing on our "Can you help" page. This answer and its accompanying photos were so interesting that we thought we would include them in this update. Just click the link on the right to read this fascinating reply >>

We have had some wonderful additions sent in for our Memory Lane page recently. Your editorial team is trully amazed at the "marquetry relics" that many of you have in your collections. It is wonderful that you are willing to share these historic marquetry pieces with us, do keep them coming in. To see the latest additions just click the link on the right >>

In addition to the above we also received some wonderful marquetry pictures from Arie Coetzee of the Meopham Marquetry Group to add to our Favourites Gallery. Arie is one of the rising stars in the marquetry movement and makes some really beautiful pictures - as you will see when you visit the Favourites Gallery. Click the link to enjoy Arie's pictures >>

Why not do as Arie has done and send some photos of your own work in and have it displayed in the Favourites Gallery. Just add it as an jpeg attachment to an e-mail and send it in to us. Our e-mail address can be found at the bottom of this page.

NATIONAL MARQUETRY EXHIBITION 2007
as seen with your web master's
trusty old Box Brownie camera

Your web master visited the 2007 National Exhibition at Redbridge in the last week of May and during a quiet moment while most of the visitors had adjourned for lunch, he "snapped away" with his ancient Box Brownie camera to bring you a few general views of the exhibition.

The exhibition proved to be very successful. Saturday morning was extremely busy with visitors almost shoulder to shoulder in that large hall. Marquetry certainly appeals to ever more people these days - it is a form of art that displays its honesty amid an increasingly confused and weird art world.

Just click the link on the right to view our web master's (ahem!) photography:

The authorised 2007 National Exhibition Gallery will be added to this web site with our August update, so until then, we hope you will be able to gain a little of the flavour of the exhibition with these photos.

June
2007

FAVOURITES GALLERY

Another new gallery has been been added to this web site. This gallery is a rather special one that we think you will very much appreciate.

The new gallery displays marquetry works that haven't necessarily won any awards or placings in any competitions or exhibitions - in fact they need not have even been entered into anything competitively at all.

The only requirements are that the maker of the work is pleased with the finished results and would like to share that pleasure they gained from the work with the rest of the marquetry world at large.
Click the link on the right for a short cut to the opening page of this new gallery:

Current
from 2006
&
Ongoing

SCRAPER TOOL TUTORIAL

Earlier in the autumn of 2006 the Redbridge Marquetry Group's Alf Murtell gave the group a demonstration and tutorial on the subject of scrapers and their uses.

This demonstration shows you how to renew the cutting edges on blade scrapers and how to use them correctly for flattening your picture prior to your final sanding stages. It also explains how to use hook scrapers successfully.

This is a very good demonstration & tutorial which we thoroughly recommend.
Click the link on the right to check out the demonstration:

REQUESTING HELP IN IDENTIFYING MARQUETRY PICTURES

We introduced a new section/page to this web site with our September update whereby Marquetry Society members can place photos and descriptions of marquetry pieces (pictures or furniture, etc) they have owned on the aforementioned page in the prospect of acquiring some knowledge or information about the piece from one of our knowledgeable readers.

This page is generating a surprising amount of interest. We have added a couple of new items that we think you will find interesting, these should give you a good idea of the versatility of this page and will demonstrate how the page functions.

The way this page is intended to work is that a member will place a photo of their marquetry piece on the "can you help" page - and then any visitor to this site who can shed some light on the marquetry item can then send their information on to us by clicking the link to the right of the photo.

All information and replies that the owners find helpful will be published alongside the photos on subsequent updates.

WEB SITE UPDATES

As from our September 2006 update we have been trying (as far as it's possible) to update this web site on the first day of each calendar month.

Our January 2007 update has kept to this arrangement and we will attempt to keep to this schedule throughout the year - or as close as we can to it.

We are looking forward to repeating the success of 2006 with yet another successful year in 2007.

The editorial team would like to thank all of you, our web site visitors, for making the Marquetry Society web site the top web site in the ever popular marquetry category. Well done everyone, thanks.

AUGUST'S WEB SITE UPDATE

August's update was only a relatively small one due to the work our team has been putting into giving a substantial face lift to the Redbridge Group web site.

That "face lift" (rebuild actually!) has now been completed and the site has been updated.
The theme of the site remains the same, but the presentation and layout has been fully revamped and it is now "on a par" with this one - our main site.

If you would like to check it out, just click the short cut link on the right:

2006 NATIONAL EXHIBITION ARTICLES

The 2006 National Marquetry Exhibition at Thurrock Group's Tilbury venue in May was an undoubted success - and to celebrate that event, your web master made use of his ancient box Brownie camera to record a little "taster" of the exhibition. To see these photos click this link

A more comprehensive view of the exhibition is available within the pages of our main gallery.
For a short cut to these photos, just click these links on the right:

Our companion and family group web site "Staffs Marq" has published a Gallery of their entries from the 2006 National Exhibition. Staffs Group's Gallery is absolutely stacked with plenty of superb "Staffs" exhibits that you are guaranteed to enjoy.
For a direct link to their Gallery, just click the following link on the right:

"2006 National Exhibition"

"The competition Judges at work"

"Staffs Group's 2006 Gallery"

ALAN TOWNSEND

THE CUTTER INTERVIEWS

The Cutter Interviews

With this re-launch of the Marquetry Society web site we are introducing many new elements to these pages as the months and updates go by. The first of these new items are adaptations of the "Cutter" interviews that first appeared in the Marquetarian magazine in their original monochrome format.

The articles have been re-vamped for the web site and the illustrations are now in colour whenever possible.
The Cutter interviews are fascinating articles chronicling the rise to fame of several of the most well known and highly regarded Marquetarians of the past few decades.

The first five articles are available for you to read now, so just click your choice from the following links to read them:

VACUUM PRESS OFFER

Vacuum Bag Press - yes indeed, a vacuum bag press is a piece of equipment that many marquetarians would give their "eye teeth" for.

Usually such pieces of marquetry equipment are prohibitively expensive and are out of the reach of many of us, but only a short while ago we were approached by 'bagpress' who are kindly offering a special deal for Marquetry Society members of their MINIPRESS at the discounted price of £195. 00 + VAT.

To take advantage of this excellent offer click the link on the right (it will open our links page) and scroll down to the bagpress logo you will find on that page - then enter the site from the displayed link.

"Click here for vacuum bag
press info"

"Joe's bola ties"

2006 WOODWORKER EXHIBITION

Our stand at this year's Woodworker's Exhibition was incredibly successful. We held it in the month of February and attracted multitudes of visitors to our stand.
Many new members joined the Society at the exhibition - and we would like to offer them our congratulations on becoming new members of our ever growing Society.
If you would like to read about the exhibition, click this link on the right:

"2006 Woodworker
Exhibition"

HOW TO GIVE TALKS & SPEECHES

How many of us feel daunted at the prospect of standing up in front of a large enthusiastic audience and, unfortunately, end up completely "tongue tied" when we eventually get to say our piece? a fair few of us I would imagine.

But, worry no longer, because Brian Charlton has written a superb article on the subject for us complete with really superb guidelines for presenting the best of talks and speeches.

Just click the following link to read this excellent article:

"Public Speaking"

UPGRADING OF OUR WEB HOSTING

Well, we are extremely pleased to be able to tell you that, as from 8. 30pm (GMT) on Saturday 10th June 2006 this web site has been operating on it's industrial capacity server system and those "bandwidth limit exceeded" messages that plagued us on our previous server systems have now come to a timely end. (is that three cheers we can hear?)
As our capacity has increased more than fifty fold we have included a much larger gallery for the 2006 National Exhibition. You will find many more "detailed views" and extra exhibits in this gallery - including, even, a "photo gallery" of the judges at work!!
We would like to thank our companion sites for their help when those "bandwidth limit exceeded" messages replaced our web site - they provided an invaluable service.

For your reference, our companion sites (if you would like to place them in your "favourites" list) are available from the links on the right:

Thanks ever so much to all of you, our web site visitors, for making our web site so popular, it's wonderful - Cheers to you all - well done!

http://www.marquetry-society.org

http://www.staffsmarq.freeserve.co.uk

http://www.redbridgemarquetrygroup.org

BLEACHING TUTORIAL

In the last week of January this year Alf Murtell of the Redbridge Group gave the Group a demonstration on bleaching veneers.
The demonstration was apparently extremely well received and provided much thought and many productive ideas from the ranks of the Redbridge Group membership.
The demonstration was recorded and a transcription of it has been added to the Redbridge Group's web site. If you would like to view this demonstration we are adding a direct link here for you - just click this following link:-

JOE TRIPPI

Just to demonstrate the levels of expertise available from within the environs of the Marquetry Society, let us introduce you to Marquetry Society member: Joe Trippi
(the following is an extract from Joe's own web site):

"Click here
for a connection
to Joe's web site
on our links page"

INDEPENDENTS MEMBERS OF THE MARQUETRY SOCIETY

This art of marquetary that you have joined us in, is an ancient and respected craft that has been around since the times of the Egyptian Pharos. It has nonetheless, since those ancient times, refined and bettered itself into the highly respected art form that it has become today.
It is absolutely wonderful that you are now a respected member of the Marquetry Society, but have you yet considered joining one of our groups? - because, if you'd like a simple reason for doing it, you'll find there is a tremendous amount of marquetry knowledge and expertise available from within every group for you to take advantage of.
Or, perhaps, are you too geographically distant from a regular group to be able to attend their meetings?
If the latter is the case, then why not become an Independent group member?
This will give you many of the advantages of belonging to a group - it will also, additionally, give you the further advantage of amalgamating with many hundreds of other Independent Marquetarians.
The Marquetry Society's much respected Ben Bedford is your Secretary of the Independents Group and a more informed fellow on marquetry it would be virtually impossible to find. Ben has not only been a past President of the Society, he has also been a Chairman as well!, therefore his knowledge of the art/craft of marquetry is impeccable.
So, if becoming an Independent group member suits you, visit Ben's Independent's page and join Ben's growing band of Independent Marquetarians. You can, if you like, use this link on the right as a short cut:

"Independents Page"

TED HIGGS - A WEB MASTER EXTRAORDINAIRE

Thanks are due to this site's previous web master Ted Higgs for the tireless work he has done on behalf of the present team to ensure that the site continues to be able to seamlessly bring you all the very latest marquetry news as it occurs without any interruptions.

Although Ted is an extremely busy fellow he still managed to find the time to resolve a seemingly intractable problem to everyone's satisfaction and in a most harmonious way.

So once again it's a well deserved 'thanks' and 'cheers' to Ted for somehow managing to find the time in his very busy schedule in order to give us a helping hand with the web site.

"Links page
for veneer suppliers"

EDITORIAL TEAM & IDEAS

Now that the 'new' site has had a little time to start bedding in, our editorial team will at last be able to begin on the task of reviewing the interesting ideas that have been piling up in our "in tray" for possible inclusion on the web site. Thanks to all of you who have been sending ideas in, do keep up the good work and if you have any marquetry ideas you would like to have considered for inclusion on the site please feel free to contact us and let us know of them, just use the e-mail link at the bottom of this page.

Please enjoy your visit to the Marquetry Society web site.

COMPETITION RULES

We often get asked about the guidelines the Marquetry Society uses for categorising the pictures and other exhibits displayed in the National Exhibitions and Competitions.
The Marquetry Society has a set of rules drawn up that define the various classes for the competitive side of the "National" including a specific set of rules governing the many 'Special Awards' that we Marquetarians strive to attain each year, the highest award being of course, the Rosebowl.
To read this rule structure click this link on the right:

or click the award 'wording' placed above each award winning picture in our Gallery section.

"Rules for National Exhibition
and Competition"

OPTIMUM DISPLAY RECOMMENDATIONS

Please Note: To view this web site at it's best we recommend a browser setting of 1024 x 768 for optimum results. If you are using a lower setting you may, on rare occasions, experience some slight scrolling or fold over effects on one or two of the pages.
It is also recommended that you leave the text size of your browser set to it's default (normal) setting - otherwise some of the pages may display incorrectly.