Intarsia Woodworking for Beginners : Skill-Building Lessons for Creating Beautiful Wood Mosaics

Learning the art of intarsia has never been easier thanks to celebrated artist and instructor Kathy Wise!

• Over 40 skill-building lessons, exercises, and projects break down important techniques into manageable, easy-to-understand steps
• Step-by-step instructions, patterns, reference photos, and material lists guide you through each lesson
• Tips & hints from author Kathy Wise help you turn multiple pieces of wood into stunning art
• Progressive teaching style teaches not only the basics, but the nuances of working with multiple shades of wood

Learning intarsia is easier than you think! You don't have to be a master woodworker to create dramatic works of intarsia—the assembly of various woods into a unified mosaic piece—thanks to celebrated artist and instructor Kathy Wise.

With more than 40 skill building lessons, exercises, and projects, Intarsia Woodworking for Beginners does what no other intarsia book has done before: It breaks down the important techniques of intarsia into manageable and easy-to-understand steps, offering crafters an easy entry point into this rewarding art form.

Following a progression, this resource takes you on a journey from the concepts and basics of working with an intarsia pattern to the fundamentals of cutting, sanding, gluing, creating a backer board, and finishing your first project. From there, you'll move on to techniques that will take your work to the next level, such as staining, shims, overlays, laminations, woodburning (pyrography), and carving texture, to add shading and grain to your mosaic masterpiece.

With the projects divided into beginner, intermediate beginner, and advanced beginner levels, this easy to follow book includes step-by-step instructions, over 20 patterns, reference photos, material lists, and tips to help you turn inlaid wood into a stunning work of art! Each step is organized into 17 total mini-lessons, including practice exercises and a final step-by-step guided project. Five additional patterns for each skill level round out the chapters.

Kathy's progressive teaching style offers something for anyone working with inlaid wood. The lessons not only cover the basics, but also describe details to look out for like the nuances of working with multiple shades of wood or the best way to create color breaks. This book offers valuable lessons that will be referenced again and again as you discover a love of intarsia!

Kathy Wise has been sculpting dogs and animals professionally for more than 25 years. Much of her time is now spent in the woodshop and art studio working on new and exciting designs for intarsia artists to cut and enjoy. Kathy is a frequent contributor to Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts. For more information visit her website at kathywise.com.