Re: The Flag onlay

Posted by Gober on Sep 28, 2005

This was only my second attemt at an onlay. The first attemt was a simple Texas flag. I searched google images until I found just the right image. It was a painting. Then I beamed it on the wall and rough traced it on paper. Then it was a matter of carefully cutting each piece out. Now your going to think this is crazy but the secret is clear packing tape. On small items such as stars if you dont cover it with tape first it will break as you cut. So first I cut the paper stars out then taped each one over the birds eye, then I fliped the venner over a clear taped where the star was going to be cut from. Then I cut through the paper and birds eye. Then I taped the cut out wood star over the walnut and cut the walnut out. Then after each piece is cut I taped it in its proper place. When the last piece was cut the entire onlay is a single piece all taped up and looking like crap. The onlay is glued down all at once. Then I spent about 30 minutes removing all the tape pieces.

I am not joking when I say it only took a few hours to do it. The other trick was I have an exacto knife that has a flat blade, this made cutting the stars very easy, I just had to push down on them.

Here is the site that inspired me. http://www.stoneartworks.com/old-glory.jpg

I dont think I took any pictures during the process, but I can fake a few if you would like.

In Response to: Re: The Flag onlay by Tom M. (Maryland) on Sep 28, 2005

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