Tetsuaiga":3c3h88k6 said:
Looks good, I'm not sure how the hair detail and fading colour areas can be done in wood though.
To the best of my limited marquetry knowledge:
The fading colours will be a combination of two things. If you check the sixth picture on the auction you can see examples of both.
- In the case of the more subtle variations, for ex. on the neck of the chap on the right with the grey beard (I'm sure he has a name), then it's a case of carefully selecting your veneers, so figure in the veneer is used to create an effect in the image.
- In the case of the darker, shaded areas, such as the cheek of the guy in the centre (let's call him Steve), you can dip the veneer quickly in heated fine sand to selectively scorch parts of it. Obviously any source of high heat will scorch, but the sand makes it easier to hit particular parts of the veneer. (I think he's gone a bit over the top on the cheek there, though!)
The hair detail - and other areas there's lines - can be done a couple of ways. One option is pyrography, but what it looks like here to me is that they've cut a line - perhaps with a scrollsaw - and they're using a glue that cures dark, perhaps with dye in it to darken it specifically. Maybe some kind of dark packing mixed in with the glue to avoid a sunken meniscus? I definitely reckon it's the glue, though - you can see the same fine, dark lines around the outside of most of the different colour areas as well, e.g. on the folds of the cloak of the chap on the left (... Frank?).
(Curiously the plaque in the last photo suggests the work is by a chap in Tehran, which I'm pretty sure isn't the same place as Manchester - so it might not be a case of the original craftsman valuing his work so highly after all...)
