Zelda Marquetry

So I've been working on this project since February, but I've been a bit stuck with finishing it, so I'm hoping by talking about what I've done so far, it'll be easier to get the last steps done. Originally I was just going to make a simple lap table to stop my legs from getting burnt when I used my computer on the couch, which I did often not having a desk. I figured it was a good place to practice some of the techniques I learned in the marquetry class several years ago, and get to crack open my box of veneers! Since then I've gotten a desk and don't really need a lap table anymore, and so I think for now it's simply going to become wall art, as I am pretty happy with how the marketry turned out. I wanted something fun, but not to complicated for my rusty skills. One of the first things Jerome and I came up with was the Triforce, but that seemed a bit too simple, so after some image searches online, I decided to attempt the Hyrule crest from Zelda. 

After picking my veneers - walnut and flame birch (I think). I traced out a version of the crest that I had adapted in Illustrator from a picture I found on the web of the Hyrule Shield. It's traced onto freezer paper which is translucent enough to see through. I then centered it and taped the side so I could flip back and forth as I needed it. I had some graphite paper from Lee Valley that I used to transfer the image. It was really nice to work with since it didn't come off on my hands, but it didn't erase easily from the wood once I was done. 

I attempted to make a jig to saw out the pattern, but after several attempts, I gave up on that, and dug out my sharpest exacto knife and carefully hand cut the parts. Which is a legitimate technique, just not the one I was intending to practice - oh well! So this whole principle works by cutting both pieces of wood at once so that the hole and the insert are identical. This is nice as if you wobble a bit on a part, it isn't very obvious, since they'll wobble in perfect unison! I also had to pay attention to the grain and flame direction, so that all the pieces have the same flame direction and don't look wonky. 

Here it is part way done. I went through a lot of Magic tape! But it's important as you want to get the insert in the opening as perfectly as possible. I also ensured that the tape covered all seems so that once I glued it to the backer piece, no glue would seep through and mar the front. 

Here it is all cut out and taped to an inch of it's life. The veneer is really thin - 1mm or thereabouts. So it's pretty delicate when you're trying to move it around. You can see my alignment marks in case my pattern slipped which took a long time to get rid of. The background veneer is a bit wavy which worried me a bit and is oversized at this point to help make gluing it all up easier. 

Here it is glued to the board with the tape gone. This was the first time I got to really see how it looked. I forgot to take a picture of the glue set up. It involved a lot of wood glue, all the clamps I have here, and a giant pile of  everything heavy I could find in my shop on the middle of the board, all with the hope and intent of not getting any air bubbles, waves or ripples in the end. Which thankfully worked! The book-matched walnut worked really well, it adds to the symmetry of the design, and the center seam ended up invisible which was what I was going for! 

Once that was glued for a month or so, I managed to finally sand all the marks of and get it nice and smooth. After some debate about how to finish it a few weekends ago I gave it a few coats of tung oil, then let it sit until last weekend when I gave it two coats of beeswax. This finish combination gives it a nice golden shimmery tone which suits the design well. 

Now for the trickier part. I want to put a frame around it so I can put it on the wall. But I have no table or miter saw... so it's going to be interesting. I had some nice maple which I cut into strips last weekend and hand-planed as straight and true as I could. Then routered a rabbet to set the main part into. But i'm not really sure how I'm going to get nice crisp perfect corners with only a band saw. So feel free to give me any tips, tricks, thoughts, etc and wish me luck this weekend as I try and finally add this project to my completed list!