Learn how to execute this decorative technique from the late 17th century in an excerpt from the Master Techniques of Marquetry DVD with
Silas Kopf
Produced By: Jorin Hood and Silas Kopf
Boulle is a traditional marquetry technique named after a cabinetmaker for King Louis XIV of France. For boulle work, you stack two contrasting materials together, cut a design in them on the scrollsaw, and then interchange the parts.
In this detailed video, Kopf demonstrates the technique, cutting a pattern out of ebony veneer and a thin sheet of brass to create two decorative panels.
He starts by creating a packet, protecting the delicate brass and ebony with newspaper and sacrificial sheets of poplar. Then he cuts out the individual pattern pieces using a scrollsaw. Next, in part two, Kopf shows how to glue up the small pieces and add it to a larger piece of furniture.
