Celtic Tree of Life - Intarsia Woodworking

I have not given Celtic knotwork much thought in the past when it comes to creating Intarsia pieces until I was asked to do the Celtic Love knotwork piece a while back. The Celtic Love knotwork symbolized everlasting love. Since doing this piece, I have stumbled across a few Celtic symbols that I have really liked and decided to create a pattern for and make. The meanings behind the symbols are beautiful and powerful.
The first of these new designs is this Celtic Tree of Life design. Knotwork is very challenging because there are just so many pieces and each piece has to line up perfectly to keep the lines continuously moving without a stop. I began this piece by creating the backer which is made from pine. I them began cutting out each small piece from walnut and began shaping them.
Then I reassembled the tree. I originally was not going to do any leaves on the tree but I decided to add them afterwards. I did the leaves in cedar to give it a pop of color.
This piece is constructed out of 156 individual pieces.
I think my favorite part of this project is the twisting and turning of the branches and the roots.
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http://www.cmobleydesigns.com

-- Chris Mobley - www.cmobleydesigns.com