Woodgrain Ornaments

I failed my way to success making this ornament.

I knew I had to use wood somehow, but I don’t have the cool power tools – just the boring ones, so I turned to the art of marquetry. It’s something I’ve never done but long admired, so I bought a bunch of different kinds of wood veneers and started cutting things into animal shapes, but every time I tried to turn a sharp corner, I’d split it right along the grain. I think I have a bunch to learn about marquetry.

I pulled out the circle cutters I use in scrapbooking and just decided to keep things easy on myself.

For each ornament, cut 2 large ovals out of wood, and 1 large oval out of cardboard. Glue these pieces together with the cardboard in the middle, and let dry with something heavy on top. The wood will warp just like paper when it gets wet, so you need to make sure it dries really flat.

Cut a whole bunch of ovals in a whole bunch of sizes, out of a whole bunch of different woods. Contrast is really important here, so make sure that your woods aren’t too similar in tone.

Then just combine different sized ovals in different wood tones until you get an image you like. I liked letting some ovals go off the edge, and then I’d trim those when the glue was dry. Put something heavy on top and let it dry flat. Do the same thing for the other side.

Use a small drill bit to make a hole for hanging, then thread a piece of ribbon or fishing line through.

It took me a lot of failed attempts and scraps of wood, but I think I got it at the end. It brings in that great wood look to my woodland tree, but I don’t think it’s SO modern that it looks out of place with everything else.