Woodworking Ideas

Woodworking Ideas

Fun Woodworking Ideas For The Beginner

What's great about woodworking is that there are so many woodworking ideas you can try. It's fun, challenging and rewarding. Below are some ideas you can try yourself!

Carving Ideas

Woodcarving isn't just about carving out figurines. Elegant and intricate designs can be carved on many other objects. Once you learn how to carve basic motifs and other patterns, you may apply this to your other projects such as furniture and jewelry boxes for that extra touch.

For inspiration, look around you. Take photographs of leaves, animals and even the patterns on other furniture and interiors of buildings. Once you have your photographs, keep them as clip files. Arrange them by subject matter for future reference. Photographic references are perfect if you're planning on carving out realistic objects and animals. Wanna to find the other woodworking ideas? Just read woodworking ideas here.

You should also keep a sketchbook for all your woodworking ideas. This is so you can sketch out any idea that comes to mind. You can roughly sketch out random details and put them together in a more cohesive manner later on for your project.

If you want more technical information get a book on carving designs. Books provide you with a platform for practice on basic and traditional designs including Celtic, American Indian and Art Deco. You may also find free designs on the Internet.

Wood Finish Ideas

How about making your furniture look antique? You can make any piece of woodwork look exquisite with an antique finish. Try out this type of finish on any inexpensive, plain furniture and your guests will never know!

First, apply stain on the wood. Choose a color that looks more antique, like earthy colors. Secondly, use fine sandpaper over the stain to imitate the wear and tear of antique surfaces. You can refer to an antique piece to see where the tears are located.

You may also add a few scratches and dents with a file or chisel. But be careful and make sure they're evenly spread out. Making a scratch or dent that's huge isn't going to make a piece look antique, but damaged!

Inlay Ideas

Make pictures out of wood by using wood inlay. Let's try intarsia, a type of inlay. Intarsia basically involves putting together pieces of wood of varying shapes, color and grain to create a picture. Intarsia makes any flat surface look 3 dimensional.

To get started, get a picture for reference. There are hundreds of free intarsia templates online! Intarsia is like putting together puzzle pieces, so templates may be needed for more accuracy. Read woodworking tools today.

There are many free instructions online for both beginners and experts. Basically, you can stick your paper template on wood and cut out the lines. The surface should be depressed with about the same height of your pieces before inserting the pieces themselves.

Use color and grain on different parts of your subject matter to make your work stand out. Experiment with depth by using pieces with varying thickness. Use intarsia on cabinet doors, picture frames and boxes. There's lots of room for creativity.

Painting Ideas

You can add your personal touch to any furniture you make. Why not paint on some of your own patterns? You can paint on traditional floral or geometric designs. You don't have to be an expert at painting. You can always use stencils, which you can buy at any crafts shop.

There are many more woodworking ideas out there. Simply go online for a quick search. Improving your skills means trying out different kinds of techniques.