Man oh Man! Is this hard!

[Anneh]

I've been working on my first "real" intarsia project today - just the simple teddy bear from Bruce Worthington's site (thanks Bruce), nothing real hard looking. I mean after all, he gives step-by-step instructions and I figured I'd give it to my grandson. Well, whoa! It has so many gaps it looks like a toothless granny bear! I knew this would be hard or everyone would be doing it but wow! I'll just keep it to look back on when - hopefully- I get better.
I just wanted to put this on here to say thanks to all of you who kindly share their expertise and talent which is considerate. Gives the newbies like me the incentive to practice, practice, practice! And maybe one day we'll be a quarter as good!
Thanks
Anne

[Bruce]

you said it Anne, pratice is the key so keep at it.

[Woodworking Plus]

Hi Anne
Glad to hear that you are trying your hand at intarsia. Just to let you know that we all started out as newbies and it sometimes can take time to develop the techniques to do pieces that you feel are perfect. You will get better and like you said--practice is the key. Just keep having fun.
Mike

[MikeyD]

Ah... I remember my first one, as it was only a month or so ago. The one thing that I did that helped me was to improvise for the sanders that I didn't have. I have made my own sanding mop and like it alot. For small insde curves I glued two small dremal sanding sleeves to a dowel rod and put that in my drill press. I also learned to not sand very hard. On the cutting it didn't take me long to figure the cheap blades I had were not going to cut it (pun intended). As long as you enjoyed doing it you will figure it out as you practice.

Mike

[Janette]

Keep plugging away! We are our own worst critics. Remember, you're looking at it up close. those that admire it will be viewing from 3 to 5 feet away and wont' be looking for gaps - just the overall piece. Make sure you post a picture when you're done!

[scrollpup]

Anneh, thanks for this post as I have wanted to try this art,but I think I'm doing good to just cut holes.Its taken me three years from the time I first thought about doing fretwork to finally get into it.Maybe in another three years I'll attempt intarsia (by then you'll be a pro and I can ask for advice )

Just tell everyone that it IS a granny bear! I would... Jerry C

[dragyn]

Like everyone says, just practice, practice, practice, and also remember it is not a race. Take your time and go slow.

Definitely post it when you finish.

[jim_mex]

Keep at it Anne -
with patience, dedication and the will to product something you`ll quickly get there and you'll find plenty of help on the board along the way.

And by do means post, even if you are not fully satisfied with the result. That way folks will help you out and soon enable you to remove that newbie sticker.

Good luck!

[minowevie]

Ok Anne, you said it had so many gaps. I would assume you mean between the connecting lines. I was just wondering, if buy chance you made a piece, then did you draw your next piece of patten against the last piece cut. ??. this does make a deferens. so to get it close enough your saw will cut the line. and maybe just alittle off. and drawing the next piece will match. put your pattern up against the last piece cut. same pattern. just a different cut line. do you have a copy of the whole thing?. put your next piece on the pattern. then draw a line on the last cut. cut from there. I know I parabley didnt say it all right. but hope you got my idea. your friend Evie

[Anneh]

Thanks all!
Evie - I did as you said but realize now what I did wrong. When I laid one piece over the other, I had the pencil at a tilt (?) maybe. Anyway, the curved lines didn't come out right. I think I need to be more careful!
I'm going to try to finish it up today and will post it (maybe) when I finish. We'll see how it turns out.
Thanks for eveything.
Anne