Carving and Bolection Inlay
with the Laser

 

 

 

Over the past several years Tom Duffy has occasionally lent his carving and inlay skills to my furniture.
The photo on the left shows Tom's (by hand) bolection inlay work on my version of the Thorsen Sideboard.

Tom lives in New York State, but used to visit Seattle several times a year where he and I shared shop space. This allowed us to work on several projects together.

In recent years Tom has added a laser to his arsenal. This has opened up many exciting avenues as seen below.

 

 

     
The fern features on this fireplace surround were developed on a computer and cut with a laser. The top of the fern was lifted out of the background and glued in that position. Carving was done for the leave, stem and root shape details. The finished feature is very subtle and lovely  
     
  This is a 3 step process. Again, we use the computer to develop a graphic that the laser cuts into the work. Then a metal called bismuth is melted and poured into the space left by the laser work. The final step is to trim the excess metal until the graphic is flush with the surface.
     
Example of relief carving with the laser.  
     
The laser, aided by a computer is capable of transforming a digital image, such as this one into either carving or inlay work.
 

 

 

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