Saturday, September 26, 2020

Simple Intarsia Christmas Bells Ornament Scroll Saw Pattern.


Download the Pattern Below


Intarsia patterns do not get much simpler than this one. There are a total of four pieces to cut. The contact area of the pieces is pretty small so fitting the pieces is not too difficult. 

For the best fit, practice curring on the line and just outside the line. Remember that the blade removes some of the wood so you need to make up for that gap buy over and under, cutting. The pieces don't need to be a perfect fit but you want to avoid as much gap as possible. I find that a small blade helps. I used a #1 scroll reverse blade.

For those of you who may not be familiar with intarsia here is a short explanation. Different species/colors of wood are used to make up a design/picture. 

The pieces are cut so they fit together accurately. Different thicknesses of wood are used to give a sense of depth. Sometimes spacers are used under a piece to give it more depth. This pattern does not use spacers.

The color and grain patterns are used to enhance the form of the image. The parts are sanded to give a contour that matches the shape of the actual item. This pattern uses very little contouring but advanced patterns will look almost 3D. 


You can see in the photo above that I used the grain and color of the wood to my advantage. In a more advanced pattern, the ribbon would be broken up into more pieces and better use of grain direction would give even detail. I kept this pattern very simple. You could add more sanding or carving to the ribbon to give more definition to the parts of the ribbon if desired.