OUR HON. GEN. SECRETARY

At the Marquetry Society AGM last July a new Hon General Secretary was appointed to this prestigous post.

Janet Edwards was the person who took on the mantle of Hon Gen Sec, and a wonderful officer Janet has turned out to be for the Marquetry Society. Chock full of ideas and enthusiasm, Janet has certainly made her mark on the Society and has already introduced a world famous authority on marquetry and antique furniture to our fold as a Patron of the Marquetry Society - Mr John Bly.

So, click the link on the right and meet Janet, the charming lady who will expertly deal with your general enquiries >>

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MARQUETRY IN AUSTRIA

Austrian marquetry artist Willibald Schmid is producing some amazing marquetry in his homeland of Austria.

Willibald excels in marquetry portraiture, the quality of his work just has to be seen to be believed.

Check it out by clicking the link on the right >>>

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MARQUETRY IN GERMANY

German marquetry artist Jūrgen Armbruster is producing some really superb marquetry in his homeland of Germany.

Historically Germany, especially the Black Forest region, has produced marquetry decorated furniture for hundreds of years. You only have to look at the work of Buchschmid and Gretaux elsewhere on this website to prove that!

Jūrgen Armbruster shows us that the tradition of marquetry is most certainly alive and well in this present day and fully living up to expectation. Check it out by clicking the link on the right >>>

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MARQUETRY IN HUNGARY

Hungarian marquetry artist Zsolt Sesztak has developed an interesting method of introducing depth, shadow and shading to his marquetry work.

These new methods certainly appear to work astonishingly well and produce some startlingly realistic pieces made entirely from veneers.

But don't just take our word for all of this, click the link and see for yourself >>>

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MARQUETRY IN RUSSIA

Russia has long been associated with impressive standards of art - marquetry of course, being among them.

Recently we have seen a great many wonderful examples Russian marquetry. Just to show you what we mean by 'impressive standards - click the link on the right and check out two examples and see what we mean for yourself >>>

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MARQUETRY IN COSTA RICA

There is some wonderfully delicate and, shall we say, "organic" style of marquetry work coming out of Costa Rica these days.

This is principally originating from the artistically manipulated craft knife and saw blade of Francisco Guillen, who is already making quite a name for himself in the central Americas.

Francisco's work endeavors to create a harmony with the very materials of his art; that being the wood itself. The pictures selected for this World of Marquetry page illustrate Francisco's sentiments perfectly. Click the link on the right for a shortcut to see for yourself. We think you will enjoy the experience >>

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NATIONAL EXHIBITION AWARD WINNERS FROM 1953

Long serving member of the Marquetry Society Peter Metcalfe has spent months compiling a superb spreadsheet containing all our National Marquetry Exhibition award winners - and the awards - since the beginning of the Marquetry Society in the early nineteen fifties.

This is a large four page document and contains a lot of information, so be prepared for a good read.

Don't forget to return here once you've finished consulting this excellent document. Just use the yellow links contained in the PDF pages, or alternatively use your "Back" or "Return" browser button to return here.

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REVIEWS

Our November 2008 update added another new section to our web site.

As and when new marquetry related products appear on the market, we will be assessing selected items and bringing you reviews of them.

We start this new section with a review of famed marquetarian Silas Kopf's new book entitled "A Marquetry Odyssey".

Just click the link for the review >>>

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'Fine Woodworking' Slide Show USA Member Silas Kopf

For the next few months the Fine Woodworking magazine is hosting an online slide show of the fabulous marquetry and applied work produced by Marquetry Society USA member Silas Kopf.

Do check this slide show out, the quality of the work will really astonish you. Just click the link on the right, grab a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy a very pleasant time immersed in some of the best marquetry to be seen adorning superb bespoke furniture >>

If you find you have enjoyed the slide show (which we know you most certainly will) did you know that Silas also has a book available describing in great detail how this amazing marquetry was made and of Silas's quest in achieving his marquetry goal? The book is available right now (Amazon stock it) and, how about this for a good idea - why not get a copy for your own marquetry enthusiast as a Christmas present - we know they will thoroughly appreciate it! The book in question is titled "A Marquetry Odyssey". Check out Peter White's review of this excellent book.

Just click the "Book Review" link for Peter's review >>>

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MARQUETARIAN ISSUE NUMBER 4

The Marquetry Society's very own publication "The Marquetarian" has been running for nearly sixty years now - and as our "The Marquetarian from the Start" series has moved on to issue number 5 in the present day publication, we are bringing you the complete facsimile of issue 4 for you to enjoy.

Unfortunately with those early issues of the publication, photos were very rarely used - if at all for the first few years! so for these first few issues it's mostly text.

However, it's still an excellent read - so click the link and read all about marquetry in the early 'fifties! >>>

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MARQUETRY IN NORWAY & MORE BRAZILIAN MARQUETRY

Norway not only has an abundance of wonderful trees (the source of our basic marquetry material) it also has an abundance of marquetry talent.

Ole Jakob Schjetlein is a marquetry artist of considerable talent. Not only does Ole make marquetry pictures and applied pieces, he also does all the design work himself. Click the Norway link on the right and check it out >>>

Marcelo Sena from Brazil demonstrates the wealth of marquetry talent to be found in that friendly corner of the globe.

Marcelo's marquetry wood inlay titled Pietá is a wonderful example of just what can be done with simple veneers. Click the Brazil link and see for yourself >>>

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CUTTER INTERVIEW

Our latest Cutter Interview features that most legendary of marquetarians, indeed the very chap who introduced the Portaiture Cup. It is no other than Horrie Pedder himself.

Click the link and read Horrie's own story of his fascinating marquetry career >>

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A RESTORED PERIOD TABLE

Well known marquetarian Del Porter recently wrote an article on the restoration of a period table from a delapidated worm eaten sorry looking old table, to a piece of furniture almost fit to be seen in the Palace of Versailles!

This article appeared in The Marquetarian magazine and attracted a great deal of interest. We promised to post a full colour reproduction of the before and after examples here, so - as good as our word - here they are >>

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DORIS DAY

George Chisholm, a marquetarian of the highest calibre, made a marquetry portrait of the actress Doris Day last year.

As he is a fan of Doris Day, George offered Doris the portrait as an appreciation of the joy her films have given him over the years. George was more than pleased when Doris accepted his offer and now has the portrait on display in her USA home. Click the link to see the portrait for yourself >>

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MEMORY LANE PAGE 11

A wonderful find of a marquetry kit picture from 1954 recently turned up. This is even complete down to the original receipt from the same year.

We thank Dennis Surgenor for his generosity in sharing the enjoyment of this wonderful find with us.

Click the link and see what was used before the the all encompassing window method came on to the marquetry scene >>>

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HOSIE MAIN TRIBUTE

Early April this year saw the loss of much respected U.S.A. and our own Marquetry Society member Hosie Main.

There is a tribute to Hosie in our U.S.A. section of this website, but for a shortcut link, just click the link on the right and read about a wonderful marquetarian who will be sadly missed by all of us.

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OUR NEW WEB SECRETARY

At the Marquetry Society AGM last July a new post was created to take on responsibilities for dealing with the correspondence generated via our website. Over the last few years this task had started to take on, shall we say, rather large proportions, and in consequence it became somewhat obvious that we were going to need a dedicated officer to oversee this level of traffic.

David Walker was therefore our ideal candidate for the job as he had most generously been helping us out on a voluntary basis and was already becoming the chap who responded to a good 99% of our email traffic. Those who have already had David deal with their inquiries will already know him to be a knowledgeable and friendly gentleman who will truly go out of his way in finding an answer applicable to any enquiry. A most wonderful asset indeed to have in any organisation!

So, click the link on the right and meet David, the chap who will personally reply to your email enquiries >>

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RICHARD SHELLARD

Richard Shellard was a first class multiple Rosebowl winning marquetarian of the very highest order.

Although disabled and wheelchair bound, Richard always produced marquetry that could justifiably be called magnificent.

To see photos of a sample of Richard's work, just click the link on the right - you will certainly not be dissapointed>>

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ST. ALBANS GROUP "MINI" WEB SITE

February 2010 adds a new feature to this web site, it is the introduction of a "site within a site" as an independent entity with its own editorial control.

Each group that chooses to host their own mini site has full control over their content and layout, their only restriction being that we will block any religious or controversial material. Other than that, whatever they have to say is (or are) their own views, opinions and content as they see fit to wish to impart.

To kick off this wonderful new feature, please welcome the St. Albans group to their own web site. Just click the link on the right and - enjoy your visit >>>

2010 ROSEBOWL WINNING PICTURE

The 2010 National Marquetry Exhibition has now concluded and we have a superb Rosebowl winning exhibit for you to marvel at and enjoy.

The Rosebowl winner is always deemed to be the very best marquetry piece for its respective year - and this 2010 Rosebowl exhibit fully lives up to the criteria. The judges had a very difficult job this year as there were so many wonderful pieces on display - but eventually this picture shone out, and we are now bringing it to you in advance of next month's full 2010 Award Winner's Gallery.

So, for this month of July - do please enjoy the 2010 Rosebowl Winner >>>

CLIFF PENNY MARQUETRY GALLERY

We are so pleased to be able to tell you that a wonderful 'mini' gallery of Cliff Penny's marquetry work from the 1950's has been discovered.

There are eight sepia photos of Cliff's groundbreaking marquetry work on display in this gallery. As most of you probably know by now, Cliff Penny was (along with Len Page as mentioned above) one of the original six people who got together in 1952 to form the fledgling Marquetry Society.

Legend has it that Cliff ' invented' the, now universal, window method for producing marquetry. The high quality marquetry work we are so used to today, had its origins in those long gone days of the 'fifties'.

Do yourself a good favour and click the link for the Cliff Penny Gallery >>>

MEMORY LANE PAGE 7

A couple of months ago we brought you an example of a glass "marquetry themed" paper weight which were quite popular in the 'sixties.

We were amazed to find a small cache of the last five examples turn up after one of our readers got in touch with us to say they had the last five from the original stock.

We couldn't resist the offer of a photo of that group of glass marquetry paper weights, so here they are for you to enjoy along with us >>>

THE 'ZANI' GREMLIN LES PAUL GUITAR

This is something different to our more usual fare. Zani (Suzanne Marquess) was commissioned to produce a 'one off' headstock cover design in marquetry for a custom made 'Gremlin' Les Paul guitar.

The headstock 'bell shaped' cover design of the more standard Les Paul guitar is replaced here by a round cornered natural wood rectangle depicting a musical motif rendered in most carefully cut marquetry.

If you are a guitarist, or just interested in guitars, you will enjoy this one >>>

A SPROUGHTON GROUP CHRISTMAS

The Sproughton Marquetry Group has recently been very busy decorating their lovely old Church with a special marquetry themed beautiful Christmas Tree.

They have made a positive host of colourful marquetry Santas that truly bring a wonderful bit of Christmas cheer to the tree's decorations. They are certainly a talented bunch are that lot in Sproughton!

Click the link to enjoy Sproughton's wonderful Christmas display >>>

ST. ALBANS INTER-GROUP COMPETITION

A few weeks ago the St. Albans, Harrow and Chelmsford Groups held an inter-group competition at the St. Albans group's own airy and spacious rooms in Chiswell Green.

The competition was a huge success and raised a most significant amount of monetary funds for, much missed, Frank Taylor's favourite charity.

The competition was based around the decoration each competitor applied to a standard square shaped wooden tissue box that had been supplied to each competitor. The resulting ingenious designs are something to be marvelled at, such amazing invention!

Click the link to check it all out >>>

MARQUETRY IN MOROCCO

There is a very high level of superb marquetry work coming from the amazingly talented Marquetarians living in Morocco.

The ancient buildings and the traditions of life that have hardly changed in hundreds of years seem to have added a wonderful aura that infuses the marquetry work with a sense of timelessness that is truly beautiful to behold.

But, don't take our word for this, check it out for yourself by visiting the Morocco page in our "World of" series. Click the link on the right for a shortcut >>>

MARQUETRY IN TURKEY

Turkey produces some really surprisingly large marquetry decorated vases and urns that truly have to be seen to be believed!

Their applied marquetry decoration follows traditional themes relating back over many centuries of Turkish culture and historical traditions. The wonderfully exotic essence of this beautiful country simply exudes from every square centimeter of the marquetry. These designs are superbly geometric in the most pleasingly delicate and intricate of 'marquetarial' fashions.

But, don't simply take our word for this, check it out yourself by visiting the Turkey page in our "World of" series. Click the link on the right for a shortcut >>>

SOME NEW "FAVOURITES"

We have had some wonderful 'previously unseen' marquetry works sent into us since the beginning of this year.

We have taken this opportunity to add two of the ones that have "really grabbed our attention" to the Favourites Gallery for you to share and enjoy with us.

The uppermost of the two pictures was actually made over 30 years ago, but the construction and usage of the veneers is well up to present day standards. The marquetarian involved was, indeed, well ahead of his time.

The lower picture is one of today's works. It is made by an established artist who is using veneers to "paint" their pictures in place of the customary oils, acrylics, etc, etc. It is wonderful to see, and should act as a shining beacon to all marquetarians that conventional art is now coming to see marquetry as being a true art form in its own right.

Just click the link to enjoy these superb works >>>

LEN PAGE MARQUETRY PICTURE

Although Len was one of those original six people that started the Marquetry Society way back in 1952, examples of Len's work have rarely been seen.

A colour slide of Len's 1979 National Exhibition entry has recently been unearthed by our historian and a digital copy of the picture has been passed to your editorial team. We are now more than happy to be able to bring you this rare picture for your enjoyment.

Just click the link to go directly to the picture on Len's own "Page" >>>
(Apologies for that terrible quip on Len's name - not really the most witty of puns was it?)

JUDES FERRY INFORMATION

Page 2 of our Memory Lane section depicts the London Group celebrating their 25th anniversary in 1976 at a wonderful pub/restaurant known as Judes Ferry.

Unfortunately no one could remember the location of this delightful hostelry (perhaps they celebrated, shall we say, appropriately!) and all they could say was that it was somewhere in Suffolk!

Luckily for us, Mark has kindly written in with all of that information we had been missing. So, just click the link for Judes Ferry >>>

MARQUETARIAN ISSUE NUMBER 3

As the 'Marquetarian from the Start' series has now reached issue four in the current run of today's Marquetarian, we are pleased to bring you the entire contents of issue three with our April update.

This issue was first published in August 1953 - more than half a century ago!

It is amazing how much information is still relevant today. Just click the link on the right and enjoy a good 1953 read! >>>

CUTTER INTERVIEW NUMBER 6

The reintroduction, after a two year absence, of the well respected Cutter Interview series sees our intrepid interviewer chatting to the Marquetry Society's longest serving member Tom Brewer.

Tom has been a member of the Marquetry Society since its early days and has a vast store of memories of those founding members and the society's' progress ever since.

Click the link to read Tom's wonderfully interesting interview >>

CHANGES TO OUR HOME PAGE

Those who study our "Home Page" may have noticed one or two subtle changes with this month's update. Under our "Marquetry News" graphic we have now added a small list of the most important selected updates that are appearing for each month, together with a clickable link to the right of each update. We hope you find them helpful in locating the latest in marquetry info.

All the other links and information pages stay the same as you've always been used to; we have added those changes to highlight the most important of the updates for you. We hope you find them helpful.

February
2010

MEMORY LANE - MORE NEW ADDITIONS

February sees the discovery of a rare glass paperweight designed and produced by the Marquetry Society nearly four decades ago.

This glass paperweight was not only a highly decorative and useful item to have on one's writing desk, it was also useful as a trinket or paper clip receptacle into the bargain.

Click the link on the right to see a most fine example of this very desirable (but unfortunately no longer available) glass paperweight in page 6 of our popular Memory Lane series >>>

THE 2009 NATIONAL MARQUETRY EXHIBITION

Our annual National Marquetry Exhibition for 2009 starts on Saturday the 23rd of May at 10.00am. We look forward to welcoming you to the exhibition.

You will see some of the very best marquetry available on display with the Rosebowl winner being judged the best example of marquetry for 2009.

Your host group for this year is the highly regarded Meopham Marquetry Group.

Do come up and say 'Hello' if you spot anyone from the web site team there, we love to meet our web site visitors and readers. Why not try and get your photo in the web master's Box Brownie gallery if you see him snapping away? So, come on now; let's have a big smile for the camera!

Just click the links for all the info needed concerning this important event >>>

OUR NEW HON SEC'S INTRODUCTORY MESSAGE

Our new Hon. Secretary Neil Micklewright introduces himself to you with a message of welcome and inspiration that will certainly enoble you with the enthusiasm to go on and produce many new splendid marquetry works of art.

Neil is most certainly a marquetarian of extraordinary and outstanding talent, you only need to look at the work he has submitted to the National Exhibition this year to verify that statement.

With Neil at the helm, we look forward to steering the good ship "Marquetry Society" into the most benevolent of calm waters accompanied by a warm and balmy breeze to help us along!

Click the link to read Neil's welcoming message >>>

THE MARQUETARIAN NUMBER 2

Now that issue 224 of today's Marquetarian has moved on to issue number 3 in the "Marquetarian from the start" series, we are publishing the whole of issue number 2 here for you to read. You can also print a copy for your own archives if you wish.

Issue number 2 included a crossword in its contents. Strangely the answers to the crossword were never included in any subsequent issue of the Marquetarian! But, never fear though, because your (ahem!) highly educated editorial team put its collective heads together and compiled the correct set of answers to the crossword.

OCTOBER UPDATE: the answers to the crossword mentioned above are now included at the bottom of the Marquetarian Number 2 page. We hope you did well with your own attempt at the crossword, it was a little tricky wasn't it?.

Copyright information regarding the early and all subsequent issues of the Marquetarian magazine: Although we are making the entire contents of the Marquetarian magazine from issue one onwards available to you on this web site, the copyright of such material remains the property (intellectual and otherwise) of the Marquetry Society, and as such, any reproduction for whatever purpose is not permitted without the prior approval of the Marquetry Society.

Permission is not required if you wish to print a copy of each magazine solely for your own archives and personal study.

MOTHER OF PEARL DEMONSTRATION

That most knowledgeable of seasoned marquetarian's Alf Murtell, recently gave a demonstration on the usage of Mother of Pearl to a large group of very enthusiastic marquetarians who were more than eager to learn every bit about the techniques required.

Your editorial team attended the demonstration and photographed all the stages of the tutorial and recorded every single word into the bargain!

We have transcripted the lot into a text document (phew!) and we are now pleased to be able to bring you the complete demonstration in its entirety.

Just click the link on the right and enjoy a very educational demonstration >>>

LAYING A MARQUETRY PICTURE

London based group Redbridge was recently given a demonstration on how to correctly afix a veneer assembly (ie, your marquetry picture) to its baseboard.

Once you've got the hang of it, the procedure is quite easy, but as is always the way with these things, preparation is the key to success.

Follow the procedure as described in this demonstration and you will get excellent results when you're laying your picture. Click the link on the right >>>

NATIONAL EXHIBITION 2008 BOX BROWNIE VIEWS

As is now customary with this web site we are pleased to be able to bring you several general views of the National Exhibition.

Our official Winner's Gallery is currently being compiled and will be ready to add to our web site with our August update.

So, for the time being - and to give you a flavour of this very successful exhibition - we hope you will enjoy an informal visit to the 2008 exhibition through the eyes and camera lenses of Quentin Smith and David Walker.

Just click the link on the right to enjoy a trip around the exhibition >>>

June 2008

CRAIG THIBODEAU: PROFILE

USA member Craig Thibodeau is a bespoke furniture maker of unique quality.

The magazine "Woodworker West" has just published an article featuring Craig. They have allowed us permission to reproduce the article on this web site.

So, just click the link on the right to read Craig's article >>>

LONDON GROUP'S 25th ANNIVERSARY

Back in 1976 the London Group held its 25th anniversary at, (the then owner of Art Veneer's) Bill Lincoln's restuarant "Judes Ferry".

The celebration was a great success, and we are pleased to say that a photo and a descrition of the event has come to light and has been passed onto us to feature in our Memory Lane pages.

We are more than happy to comply with the request, so just click the link and enjoy the celebration along with us >>>

EARLY NATIONAL EXHIBITION GALLERIES

A wonderful cache of coloured slides taken at National Exhibitions from the 1960's up to a few years ago has come to light.

Ivan Beer, Ernie Ives and Enrico have to be thanked for providing this excellent collection of early marquetry exhibits for us to enjoy.

Ivan and Enrico are to be especially thanked for all of their hard work in converting every one of those slides into digital files - a mammoth task indeed!

Our June update brings you some more of those early pictures. Unfortunately not all of those pictures included a title, so, if you recognise an untitled work and can "educate" your editorial team with the information, please do contact us and let us know the correct title for the work - especially if it is your own!

New additions to these galleries will be added with each month's update.
Just click the link on the right to visit the first & second of the galleries: >>>

MARQUETARIAN MAGAZINE INDEX

Readers of the Marquetry Society's own publication, The Marquetarian, will find this new section of the web site extremely useful.

With the help of The Marquetarian's editor, Ernie Ives, a complete index for virtually all of the publication's fifty year plus run has been compiled, and is now available on this web site.

It is of necessity, a long document, but we have made it easier for you to use by placing an ABC, etc, selection at the top of the page so that you can reach the section you are interested in with just one click.

Each entry is listed as follows: Title of article - Marquetarian issue number - page number

For example: Circular tabletop 120/29, 130/32, 131/31

NATIONAL EXHIBITION "ALL OTHER ENTRIES" GALLERY

With the April 2008 update we added the last "room" to the above gallery where you could see the final 6 remaining non award winning entries from the previous year's (2007) National Exhibition.

This addition was a "first" for our web site. For, as well as the inclusion of our fully established National Exhibition 'Winner's Gallery' we also introduced an extra Gallery where we will be displaying all of the rest of the entries from each year's National Exhibition, thus ensuring that every entry to a National exhibition gets a chance to be seen by everyone.

There are always well over one hundred entries from each National Exhibition that never get seen outside of the exhibition. This doesn't mean that they are not worth looking at just because they didn't win an award, far from it, indeed many of those entries would be up there with the best on a different day - it's just that there can only be a finite amount of winners at any one exhibition.

To judge and enjoy these "other entries" for yourself, just click the link on the right.

The way this gallery works is that we will add ten randomly selected entries to the gallery with each monthly update until we have included every entry from the preceding National Exhibition.
Each ten new additions will replace the respective ten from the previous year on a pro-rata basis, so that, each entry will receive a full year's display before it is replaced by the next year's entries - easy to understand, isn't it?!!!

THE MARQUETRY SOCIETY INSIGNIA

Ten years after it was first formed, the hierarchy of the Marquetry Society decided that it was about time that the society had a unique insignia or logo that would present its message to the world in a simple design.

A competition was thus held and a suitable design was chosen from the many entries that were submitted.

Click the link to read this fascinating story and check out the variations the insignia design went through to become today's familiar design >>>

A CLIFF PENNY PICTURE

Cliff Penny was one of the founding six members of the Marquetry Society, he was also the first "first place" winner of the Society's very first National Exhibition.

This would theoretically have made Cliff our first "Rosebowl Winner" - at least, that would've been the case if the Rosebowl had been in existence at the time!

Any marquetry pictures from those "first six" members of the Marquetry Society are as rare as the proverbial hen's teeth. So, it is with great pride that, with the valuable help of contributor and picture owner, Adrian, we are able to bring you a perfect example of a genuine Cliff Penny marquetry picture.

Another "Lost" Cliff Penny picture has recently surfaced, we thank Gerry Everett for sending in this excellent quality example of Cliff's work. The picture, titled: "The Elizabethan Era" is available by visiting the link on the right.

Just click the link on the right to see the work of one of our own history's great marquetarians >>

JOE'S MARQUETRY THEMED WAISTCOAT

Any of our USA members who attended exhibitions hosted by Joe Monks may well remember Joe's superb Marquetry Waistcoat.

Joe very kindly "dug it out of its moth balled storage" and sent us a photo for our Memory Lane pages.

To see Joe's very unique marquetry themed waistcoat click the link >>>

VIKAR - MARQUETRY ARTIST

The work of Russian Marquetry Artist VIKAR was recently brought to the attention of your editorial team - and, we have to say, it suitably impressed us!.
As a marquetry artist VIKAR "paints" his marquetry portraits with the dedication and care that an artist in oils would apply to their more conventional materials. As you can see in the small photo here, VIKAR works on a large scale! His finished works, when assembled into their collective themes, are gigantic!	VIKAR with just a few of his works!
On a comparative scale we would say they are veneer equivalents of the epic literary works of VIKAR's fellow countryman Leo Tolstoy. To give you some idea of the scale we are talking about, the portrait to the left of VIKAR himself in the above photo, forms part of a complete work that actually measures 6. 8 mtrs x 2. 1 mtrs and weighs an incredible 260 Kgs! Click the link on the right to see more of this amazing work for yourself on VIKAR's own web site gallery. Don't forget to return here after completing your visit to VIKAR'S astonishing gallery >>>

INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKING EXHIBITION 2008
REPORT by Roy Murton

The Marquetry Society hosted its usual stand at Alexandra Palace for the International Woodworkers Exhibition held during the month of February 2008.

The exhibition was, as is always the case, very successful, and we're pleased to say, our stand attracted rather a lot of interest.

Roy Murton of the Redbridge Group, who hosted the stand on the Saturday, took photos of the event and wrote a first hand report for the Redbridge Group web site.

We have linked in to the Redbridge web site so that you can read the report, but don't forget to return here when you have finished reading it!!

LEN PAGE - A MEMBER OF THE FOUNDING SIX

Along with Cliff Penny, who we featured in January's update, we are introducing you to another of those six people who started the Marquetry Society back in 1952.

Len was much admired and respected by every member of the Marquetry Society who knew him, and, although he never won the highest of the awards at the National Exhibitions, his work was esteemed and valued nonetheless.

A tireless worker on behalf of the society, Len remained true to his marquetry principles all his life. To see a rare photo of Len, and to read a, then, contemporary report of Len's marquetry interests, click the link on the right >>

ROSEBOWL WINNER'S GALLERY SINCE THE BEGINNING

How many of you have had the chance to see virtually every one of those Rosebowl winning exhibits that have been awarded nearly every year since the trophy itself was introduced in 1955?

Well, with this seasonal update we are pleased to be bringing you a photographic representation of every one of those Rosebowl winners that are still currently available in our archives.

The Rosebowl itself was introduced 52 years ago as the "Silver Rosebowl Executive Committee Challenge Trophy" and is the annual acknowledgement of the finest piece of marquetry displayed at each year's National Marquetry Exhibition.

We have nearly 50 of those Rosebowl winners for you to enjoy and contemplate. You will find it especially interesting to see the progress and development of the technical standards from those seen in our earliest days, up to today's highly detailed and superbly finished masterpieces.

To see all of this superb work for yourself, just click the link on the right>>

WHO REMEMBERS THOSE LAPEL BADGES?

A few decades ago the Marquetry Society commissioned the production of gold or guilt lapel badges depicting a deep, almost indigo blue representation of the, then current version of the Society logo.

Those lapel badges have sadly been unavailable now for some many years, but in their heyday they did indeed prove to have been very popular with Marquetry Society members. Almost definitely it was something to be cherished, worn and displayed on the jacket lapel for the agreeable purpose of proclaiming your exultation at being a member of such a unique and prestigious organisation.

Click the link at the right to check out that very same lapel badge for yourself >>

LASER MARQUETRY

A very new member of the Marquetry Society is the professional and much respected Laser Marquetarian Susana Bartolomé.

We met Susana when she visited the National Exhibition in June and we craftily took the opportunity to persuade her to write an article on laser marquetry for our web site.

Susana kindly agreed - and to prove that she was as good as her word - we have Susana's article up and ready for you to read right now!

Just click the link on the right to read about laser marquetry >>

AUGUST UPDATE

We are now back up to speed with our updates - we are happy to say.

The earlier update delays were due to the vagaries of hosting the 2007 National Exhibition and the compilation of the 2007 National Exhibition Gallery for the web site.

Happily, with this August update we are bringing you this year's Gallery in all its Glory!

Click the link on the right to enter page 1 of this massive Gallery, we hope you thoroughly enjoy your visit.

UPDATES TO FAVOURITES GALLERY, MEMORY LANE & CAN YOU HELP PAGES

We are pleased to say that during the month of June we received an interesting answer to one of the queries residing on our "Can you help" page. This answer and its accompanying photos were so interesting that we thought we would include them in this update. Just click the link on the right to read this fascinating reply >>

We have had some wonderful additions sent in for our Memory Lane page recently. Your editorial team is trully amazed at the "marquetry relics" that many of you have in your collections. It is wonderful that you are willing to share these historic marquetry pieces with us, do keep them coming in. To see the latest additions just click the link on the right >>

In addition to the above we also received some wonderful marquetry pictures from Arie Coetzee of the Meopham Marquetry Group to add to our Favourites Gallery. Arie is one of the rising stars in the marquetry movement and makes some really beautiful pictures - as you will see when you visit the Favourites Gallery. Click the link to enjoy Arie's pictures >>

Why not do as Arie has done and send some photos of your own work in and have it displayed in the Favourites Gallery. Just add it as an jpeg attachment to an e-mail and send it in to us. Our e-mail address can be found at the bottom of this page.

NATIONAL MARQUETRY EXHIBITION 2007
as seen with your web master's
trusty old Box Brownie camera

Your web master visited the 2007 National Exhibition at Redbridge in the last week of May and during a quiet moment while most of the visitors had adjourned for lunch, he "snapped away" with his ancient Box Brownie camera to bring you a few general views of the exhibition.

The exhibition proved to be very successful. Saturday morning was extremely busy with visitors almost shoulder to shoulder in that large hall. Marquetry certainly appeals to ever more people these days - it is a form of art that displays its honesty amid an increasingly confused and weird art world.

Just click the link on the right to view our web master's (ahem!) photography:

The authorised 2007 National Exhibition Gallery will be added to this web site with our August update, so until then, we hope you will be able to gain a little of the flavour of the exhibition with these photos.

June
2007

FAVOURITES GALLERY

Another new gallery has been been added to this web site. This gallery is a rather special one that we think you will very much appreciate.

The new gallery displays marquetry works that haven't necessarily won any awards or placings in any competitions or exhibitions - in fact they need not have even been entered into anything competitively at all.

The only requirements are that the maker of the work is pleased with the finished results and would like to share that pleasure they gained from the work with the rest of the marquetry world at large.
Click the link on the right for a short cut to the opening page of this new gallery:

Current
from 2006
&
Ongoing

SCRAPER TOOL TUTORIAL

Earlier in the autumn of 2006 the Redbridge Marquetry Group's Alf Murtell gave the group a demonstration and tutorial on the subject of scrapers and their uses.

This demonstration shows you how to renew the cutting edges on blade scrapers and how to use them correctly for flattening your picture prior to your final sanding stages. It also explains how to use hook scrapers successfully.

This is a very good demonstration & tutorial which we thoroughly recommend.
Click the link on the right to check out the demonstration:

REQUESTING HELP IN IDENTIFYING MARQUETRY PICTURES

We introduced a new section/page to this web site with our September update whereby Marquetry Society members can place photos and descriptions of marquetry pieces (pictures or furniture, etc) they have owned on the aforementioned page in the prospect of acquiring some knowledge or information about the piece from one of our knowledgeable readers.

This page is generating a surprising amount of interest. We have added a couple of new items that we think you will find interesting, these should give you a good idea of the versatility of this page and will demonstrate how the page functions.

The way this page is intended to work is that a member will place a photo of their marquetry piece on the "can you help" page - and then any visitor to this site who can shed some light on the marquetry item can then send their information on to us by clicking the link to the right of the photo.

All information and replies that the owners find helpful will be published alongside the photos on subsequent updates.

WEB SITE UPDATES

As from our September 2006 update we have been trying (as far as it's possible) to update this web site on the first day of each calendar month.

Our January 2007 update has kept to this arrangement and we will attempt to keep to this schedule throughout the year - or as close as we can to it.

We are looking forward to repeating the success of 2006 with yet another successful year in 2007.

The editorial team would like to thank all of you, our web site visitors, for making the Marquetry Society web site the top web site in the ever popular marquetry category. Well done everyone, thanks.

AUGUST'S WEB SITE UPDATE

August's update was only a relatively small one due to the work our team has been putting into giving a substantial face lift to the Redbridge Group web site.

That "face lift" (rebuild actually!) has now been completed and the site has been updated.
The theme of the site remains the same, but the presentation and layout has been fully revamped and it is now "on a par" with this one - our main site.

If you would like to check it out, just click the short cut link on the right:

2006 NATIONAL EXHIBITION ARTICLES

The 2006 National Marquetry Exhibition at Thurrock Group's Tilbury venue in May was an undoubted success - and to celebrate that event, your web master made use of his ancient box Brownie camera to record a little "taster" of the exhibition. To see these photos click this link

A more comprehensive view of the exhibition is available within the pages of our main gallery.
For a short cut to these photos, just click these links on the right:

Our companion and family group web site "Staffs Marq" has published a Gallery of their entries from the 2006 National Exhibition. Staffs Group's Gallery is absolutely stacked with plenty of superb "Staffs" exhibits that you are guaranteed to enjoy.
For a direct link to their Gallery, just click the following link on the right:

"2006 National Exhibition"

"The competition Judges at work"

"Staffs Group's 2006 Gallery"

ALAN TOWNSEND

THE CUTTER INTERVIEWS

The Cutter Interviews

With this re-launch of the Marquetry Society web site we are introducing many new elements to these pages as the months and updates go by. The first of these new items are adaptations of the "Cutter" interviews that first appeared in the Marquetarian magazine in their original monochrome format.

The articles have been re-vamped for the web site and the illustrations are now in colour whenever possible.
The Cutter interviews are fascinating articles chronicling the rise to fame of several of the most well known and highly regarded Marquetarians of the past few decades.

The first five articles are available for you to read now, so just click your choice from the following links to read them:

VACUUM PRESS OFFER

Vacuum Bag Press - yes indeed, a vacuum bag press is a piece of equipment that many marquetarians would give their "eye teeth" for.

Usually such pieces of marquetry equipment are prohibitively expensive and are out of the reach of many of us, but only a short while ago we were approached by 'bagpress' who are kindly offering a special deal for Marquetry Society members of their MINIPRESS at the discounted price of £195. 00 + VAT.

To take advantage of this excellent offer click the link on the right (it will open our links page) and scroll down to the bagpress logo you will find on that page - then enter the site from the displayed link.

"Click here for vacuum bag
press info"

"Joe's bola ties"

2006 WOODWORKER EXHIBITION

Our stand at this year's Woodworker's Exhibition was incredibly successful. We held it in the month of February and attracted multitudes of visitors to our stand.
Many new members joined the Society at the exhibition - and we would like to offer them our congratulations on becoming new members of our ever growing Society.
If you would like to read about the exhibition, click this link on the right:

"2006 Woodworker
Exhibition"

HOW TO GIVE TALKS & SPEECHES

How many of us feel daunted at the prospect of standing up in front of a large enthusiastic audience and, unfortunately, end up completely "tongue tied" when we eventually get to say our piece? a fair few of us I would imagine.

But, worry no longer, because Brian Charlton has written a superb article on the subject for us complete with really superb guidelines for presenting the best of talks and speeches.

Just click the following link to read this excellent article:

"Public Speaking"

UPGRADING OF OUR WEB HOSTING

Well, we are extremely pleased to be able to tell you that, as from 8. 30pm (GMT) on Saturday 10th June 2006 this web site has been operating on it's industrial capacity server system and those "bandwidth limit exceeded" messages that plagued us on our previous server systems have now come to a timely end. (is that three cheers we can hear?)
As our capacity has increased more than fifty fold we have included a much larger gallery for the 2006 National Exhibition. You will find many more "detailed views" and extra exhibits in this gallery - including, even, a "photo gallery" of the judges at work!!
We would like to thank our companion sites for their help when those "bandwidth limit exceeded" messages replaced our web site - they provided an invaluable service.

For your reference, our companion sites (if you would like to place them in your "favourites" list) are available from the links on the right:

Thanks ever so much to all of you, our web site visitors, for making our web site so popular, it's wonderful - Cheers to you all - well done!

http://www.marquetry-society.org

http://www.staffsmarq.freeserve.co.uk

http://www.redbridgemarquetrygroup.org

BLEACHING TUTORIAL

In the last week of January this year Alf Murtell of the Redbridge Group gave the Group a demonstration on bleaching veneers.
The demonstration was apparently extremely well received and provided much thought and many productive ideas from the ranks of the Redbridge Group membership.
The demonstration was recorded and a transcription of it has been added to the Redbridge Group's web site. If you would like to view this demonstration we are adding a direct link here for you - just click this following link:-

JOE TRIPPI

Just to demonstrate the levels of expertise available from within the environs of the Marquetry Society, let us introduce you to Marquetry Society member: Joe Trippi
(the following is an extract from Joe's own web site):

"Click here
for a connection
to Joe's web site
on our links page"

INDEPENDENTS MEMBERS OF THE MARQUETRY SOCIETY

This art of marquetary that you have joined us in, is an ancient and respected craft that has been around since the times of the Egyptian Pharos. It has nonetheless, since those ancient times, refined and bettered itself into the highly respected art form that it has become today.
It is absolutely wonderful that you are now a respected member of the Marquetry Society, but have you yet considered joining one of our groups? - because, if you'd like a simple reason for doing it, you'll find there is a tremendous amount of marquetry knowledge and expertise available from within every group for you to take advantage of.
Or, perhaps, are you too geographically distant from a regular group to be able to attend their meetings?
If the latter is the case, then why not become an Independent group member?
This will give you many of the advantages of belonging to a group - it will also, additionally, give you the further advantage of amalgamating with many hundreds of other Independent Marquetarians.
The Marquetry Society's much respected Ben Bedford is your Secretary of the Independents Group and a more informed fellow on marquetry it would be virtually impossible to find. Ben has not only been a past President of the Society, he has also been a Chairman as well!, therefore his knowledge of the art/craft of marquetry is impeccable.
So, if becoming an Independent group member suits you, visit Ben's Independent's page and join Ben's growing band of Independent Marquetarians. You can, if you like, use this link on the right as a short cut:

"Independents Page"

TED HIGGS - A WEB MASTER EXTRAORDINAIRE

Thanks are due to this site's previous web master Ted Higgs for the tireless work he has done on behalf of the present team to ensure that the site continues to be able to seamlessly bring you all the very latest marquetry news as it occurs without any interruptions.

Although Ted is an extremely busy fellow he still managed to find the time to resolve a seemingly intractable problem to everyone's satisfaction and in a most harmonious way.

So once again it's a well deserved 'thanks' and 'cheers' to Ted for somehow managing to find the time in his very busy schedule in order to give us a helping hand with the web site.

"Links page
for veneer suppliers"

EDITORIAL TEAM & IDEAS

Now that the 'new' site has had a little time to start bedding in, our editorial team will at last be able to begin on the task of reviewing the interesting ideas that have been piling up in our "in tray" for possible inclusion on the web site. Thanks to all of you who have been sending ideas in, do keep up the good work and if you have any marquetry ideas you would like to have considered for inclusion on the site please feel free to contact us and let us know of them, just use the e-mail link at the bottom of this page.

Please enjoy your visit to the Marquetry Society web site.

COMPETITION RULES

We often get asked about the guidelines the Marquetry Society uses for categorising the pictures and other exhibits displayed in the National Exhibitions and Competitions.
The Marquetry Society has a set of rules drawn up that define the various classes for the competitive side of the "National" including a specific set of rules governing the many 'Special Awards' that we Marquetarians strive to attain each year, the highest award being of course, the Rosebowl.
To read this rule structure click this link on the right:

or click the award 'wording' placed above each award winning picture in our Gallery section.

"Rules for National Exhibition
and Competition"

OPTIMUM DISPLAY RECOMMENDATIONS

Please Note: To view this web site at it's best we recommend a browser setting of 1024 x 768 for optimum results. If you are using a lower setting you may, on rare occasions, experience some slight scrolling or fold over effects on one or two of the pages.
It is also recommended that you leave the text size of your browser set to it's default (normal) setting - otherwise some of the pages may display incorrectly.