# Marquetry Designs / Best place to get?



## rustynails (Jun 23, 2011)

For those that do marquetry were is the best place to find free designs or where is every one getting there transferable images from? Are you using down loaded pictures or are there some computer programs out there that you can take standard pictures and make them into line drawings? Or just some sites that have free images. I did do some searching but so far not a lot of luck.


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## sandhill (Aug 28, 2007)

http://lumberjocks.com/Patricelejeune/blog/35866
I asked the same question and Patrice gave the answer here. I have found a few by looking at stained glass sites http://www.spectrumglass.com/stained-glass/patterns/patterns.asp but you will have to see both the pattern and the picture or fill it in yourself to see what it will look like. Intarsia sites have some as well. Let me know what you find?


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## rustynails (Jun 23, 2011)

Sandhill, I will let you know what I find…


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## shipwright (Sep 27, 2010)

I use inkscape a lot to trace photographs. Not the auto trace but the manual tracing elements. 
You still have to decide on your color separations and decide how much detail to include but with a little practice you can do a pretty good job. There are some good beginner tutorials for inkscape here.
I regularly cruise google images for photos.


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## MNedman (Dec 1, 2007)

Richard, check out the publications put out by Dover. They have some amazing designs that would be very challenging to execute in Marquetry.

Some of the scrollsaw patterns can be adopted to marquetry as well.

Have you checked out http://www.craftsmanspace.com/free-patterns/rectangle-ornament-patterns.html? The patterns from here can be downloaded and cut directly or they can easily be re-sized and modified in inkscape.

Try googling images using "Arabesque", "paper cutting", "scherenschnitte" and "kirigami" for some amazing patterns that can be adapted well for marquetry. I use inkscape to trace, resize, and create the red line drawings i cut. The link Paul gives is a great resource for using this very powerful tool.

If you really want to do masterpiece work, the patterns traced by Ramond in his three volume set: Masterpieces of Marquetry are the pinnacle of what I have found published.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

I prefer to use a light table to hand trace from photos/designs downloaded to my computer. I bought a very useful and simple program called 'Rapid Resizer' which can make a printable image in any size you wish. The program shows how many pages will be printed and overlap margins are automatically provided to enable easy glue up.

I like this program a lot because it also can render outlines in red color if you wish (great for visibility while sawing) You can also color the different segments of an outline pattern to try different color combinations to see what looks best and also to match whatever wood colors you have available or want to order.

Learning time to use the program is practically zero, and I am not a sophisticated computer user (understatement). Beware though that the program is only for Windows as far as I know. I have a MAC and I have to use my wife's computer which is Windows based to run it.

This program is very handy when you find a wonderful picture, but it is either too small or too big to do a trace on it and get a proper sized printout.


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## rustynails (Jun 23, 2011)

Looks like there is no quick place to find designs.  I will review some of the computer programs and topics you guys are talking about. I have seen the craftsman space and have reviewed it some.

Thanks for the tips as it looks like it may take just a long to get started in finding a pattern as it would to cut some of the smaller ones.


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## benboc (May 15, 2013)

Un logiciel gratuit qui fonctionne très bien pour convertir des photos en dessin avec plein d'options de réglages :

photoSketcher

Amusez vous bien


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