For $50 you'll receive the decorative inlay kit RoseBud, which consists of 5 templates. The first 4 templates build the Rose inlay, the 5th template allows you to cut the rose out as an ornament. It takes about three hours to create this fragrant inlay. :)
By following simple and repetitive router based inlay techniques you're guaranteed to build an inlay that looks so amazing you'll be proud to say, "Yeah, I made that for you!"
Best of all you don't need to be a master crafts-person to build this inlay. All you need is some wood and a few basic tools. Click here review the Router Based Inlay Tool List.
Never built an inlay before? Click here to Learn How To Build Any Wood Inlay.
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This quick video explains how to select the inlay materials when building the RoseBud decorative inlay.
When selecting the inlay materials for RoseBud you want to focus on contrast and grain patterns.
Because you're building a flower look for grain patterns that you would expect to see in a plant. In this case the grain patterns all follow the same basic flow from the bottom to the top. For the leaves the grain pattern should start at the stem and flow out to the edge of the leaf.
This is the first design I created. I was building a doll bed for my Mom who has a pristine porcelain doll that belonged to her Grand Mother. Because it's a special doll I wanted to build a special doll bed for it to be displayed on.
I tried doing marquetry and after 8 hours or so I had a decent looking rose... Until I sanded it and then 2 seconds with an RO sander ruined 8 hours of work. I'll never do marquetry again!!!
Because I couldn't find any templates on the web I decided to create my own and this was the first!
INLAY MATERIALS THIS BUILD
* Quilted Maple 7" x 8" x 5/8" - Base material (the lid)The main thing you want to pay attention when selecting the material for any type of decorative inlay is contrast. There are two type of contrast to keep in mind, color and grain pattern / direction.
It's possible to get decent contrast from two similarly colored woods as long as there is a sharp contrast in grain patterns and direction. Without this contrast your inlay will not look it's best!
The top picture shows what happens when you use one species of wood for the flower. It doesn't look very good because all of the flower pieces just blend together. You need to have some type of contrast between all the pieces used in the flower. While I still like this ornament it could have been a whole lot better looking if I had used two colors for the flower.
The wood used for the flower came from an old growth Sequoia that was harvested in the late 1800's. The stem is Walnut, th leaves Canary Wood, and the background a Birds Eye Maple.
The bottom picture shows what the design looks like when you have two similarly colored pieces of wood. In this build I used Red and Purple Heart for the flower portion of the design. While there is some contrast between the pieces I prefer to have a little more.
The stem was cut from Goncalo Alves, the leaves are Zebrawood, and the base material is Oak.
Be a little creative when selecting materials for this design. Personally I like to look for materials that have a strong grain pattern, especially for the leaves. Pay attention to the contrast too..
To fix any gaps in the inlay smear a small amount of glue into the gap, wipe off the excess glue, then sand over the area. The sanding action will cause sawdust to mix with the glue in the gap blurring it out.
After all the gaps have been filled sand the entire inlay until it's flat. This process is best done after the glue has completely dried!
Once sanded apply the finish of your choice. Personally I like to apply three coats of Tung Oil followed by three coats of a polyurethane finish that has a UV inhibitor in it. The UV protection will help keep the woods from changing color over time.
Click here for more information about Sanding and Finishing Tutorial.