LathArt not for Woodworkers!

Let's face it. Woodworkers don't like painted wood. You like to get into your well equipped shop and work on something where the wood grain will show through in all it's beauty. And in LathArt, the precise fitting that is a part of good woodworking, can sometimes actually hurt the look of the finished piece of LathArt.

Woodworkers also like the detailed scroll saw fretwork that is all the rage in most of the scrolling magazine. LathArt is anything but detailed and fretworky (I know that's not a word, but you know what I mean).


But good and creative LathArt sells for upwards of $400 and many LathArtists have waiting lists for their work.

So if you can find an easy source of Lath Wood, and can get an inexpensive scroll saw, don't let lack of woodworking skills keep you away. It can actually be an advantage

Here are 2 more examples of Degroot LathArt. Notice the gaps between pieces and the rustic nature.

What Is It?

I've been on vacation in the Caribbean, so I haven't posted for a while. It was a nice break, but I did miss my hobby. Vacations are great, but it sure does give a person a refreshed appreciation for the blessings of the day by days of life. Especially when we visit remote areas of our world, where people truly struggle in their day by days.

I started a new picture, and in doing so I was thinking back to the first one I had attempted back in 97. It was Tom's Canadian Goose in the August 1997 issue of Creative Woodworks & Crafts. At the time I had been trying my hand at Intarsia, which is a configuration of different species of wood that colaborates to create a desired picture. Anyways, the joints between the pieces should be reasonably tight, and it takes some time to perfect the ability to do so. However, in lathart the gaps beween the pieces can make a nice highlighted line, so when I tried my hand at it for the first time (using my newly developed intarsia skills) It didn't work. When I tried to layout the pieces to the picture everything seemed to be off, and I could'nt adjust it at all because the joints were too tight, and in my frustration, I just threw the whole thing away. Another thing that displeased me, was that when I looked at it I could'nt see anything pleasing about it; It just looked like a pile of cut up wood. As a matter of fact, my wife doesn't even like to look at my pictures until I've painted them. You see, painting is the final defining point, along with the appropriate gaps between the pieces, and some surprizingly unintentional things. The reason I say "What Is It", is because it is hard to see at first. The more I do lathart, the more I see in lathart, and I am growing to see the pictures in my mind now, so the process is becoming more enjoyable to me. So don't give up if you get frustrated along the way, because the final result is well worth it. By the way, I sold one of my horse pictures for nice profit, and that is some nice incentive also.

Chris