Embedded Files
My inlaying process for more detailed works.
Took about a year to land at this. I'm happy I didn't learn it from the outset but am happy to know it now.
Some monk in 16th century France probably has his name to it, but just in case it's an original.... どうぞ.
Addition: How I hold the knife, for various levels of detail. One finger on the blade is usually king. You want to be able to feel _everything_.
Pick your backing wood. Decide where your piece will sit, then hold the template in place with tape while you tape both sides of the backing piece. You will not see this again until the end, making peeling something to look forward to.
Clear tape over the figure, which has been cut as close to the body as possible.
Pick the nose
Daddy! No! (seriously this feels weird at first)
Cut the outlines you plan to inlay. Start small. You can't un-cut.
I like to initially score through the paper and remove it, leaving the piece for removal bright yellow and hard to miss.
The pic on the left has the blade flipped and sliding along the top of the masking tape to cut through the paper; since it's only attached at the edge, you can selectively remove for accuracy.
For very intricate work I use plunge cuts. Tape the inlay piece on both sides; structure is more important than grain at this scale.
Plunge cuts all around the edge guillotine the wood fibres clean and prevent your blade getting caught and going 'on rails'.
Done well, you end up with a serrated piece which slips out then pops in nicely.
Be sure
For larger pieces where you use the wood grain as part of the picture, only tape the back so you can see how it'll shape up. Tape the inlay piece to the back of the backing piece beefore cutting, if possible.
Lifting like this can make the inlay cutting easier.
Do not rely on the backing piece to be a stencil that guides your bladewhich made it.
I have widened my knife handle for better steering.
So obvious I almost overlooked it: tape every piece *on the back* when fitted, making sure to cover all corners. This tape stays on for the first lick of epoxy.
Pop. Let's see how it looks when peeled.
Isopropyl alcohol will melt almost all tape glue. This is a godsend. Eye drop bottle and sponge, don't scrimp on the poison, peel carefully and re-wet as the alcohol evaporates.
Voila. Ready for epoxy press. Eyes will be finished after that. I scored the irises; the epoxy will bring out those lines making them easy to see.
Don't sweat small breakage or losing bits and bobs; most things can be fixed in the couple of days before your epoxy fully cures.
That said, this turned out pretty well. Used the straight lines in the mahogany to emphasise the flow of the white and will add something in the foreground to finish it off.
Next day: detail work on eyes; hold the blade.
Flip and peel the back. Once epoxied you can really go to town on it. A dremel can be the best option for intricate tape removal.
There was something stuck on the MDF I used for the epoxy compress, meaning it's not 100% flush, but you wouldn't know with the finished version because the resin flattens things.
Personally I like to flip it and remove *all* tape from the other side. If on a backing piece, removing the reinforcing tape is optional * but you'll want to remove the 'master' tape.
* so long as you use resin to cover it all; if you use glue then you'll just end up with tape glued to the back sheet.
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