I designed this set for a home with a lakeside view. Standing in the open kitchen, you look through the dining area and out a wall of windows to the lake. I tried to bring that view to the table with intarsia designs of water iris, cattails and geese. These designs were also carried into several of the chair backs. I spent over 3 months on the intarsia work. This was the first time I have done intarsia with multiple wood species. I enjoyed the work and learned a lot. I actually felt more like a painter than a woodworker. It was fun to watch the pictures come together as the days went by.

The table and chairs were designed to be spacious and comfortable. The trestle design of the table gives lots of leg room. The arched trestles were shaped from 6" thick stock. They support a rail system that, in turn, supports the table top. The seats and backs of the chairs are heavily sculpted – creating a very comfortable and sensual seating experience.

Narra is an Asian wood, very iridescent and 3 dimensional. I love the beautiful amber color. The tables top in particular shows off how beautiful it can be when it forms this cool "beeswing" figure.

The table seats six very comfortably – three down each side. There is room for an additional chair to be pulled up to either end for larger gatherings.

The two trestles were shaped from 6" thick solid Narra. They support an assembly of two main rails and five cross rails. The rails in turn, support the top.

Sculpted seats float above the bases. I weighed the blanks the seats were sculpted from before and after sculpting – they lost over 40%. All that material was removed with hand tools. The sculpted backs are supported by Bubinga dowels with Holly grommets.

Windows in my studio look out on a small pond. I studied the water iris and cattails growing there – then used a little artistic license in designing the intarsia (water iris for instance normally have three petals – not four).

The petals are Ceylon Satinwood the stems and foliage are Verawood. The shadows are created by working the parts with hot sand.

Detail shot of the water iris intarsia.

Would you believe there are more than 1,000 images of Canada geese on the internet? With no live models visiting the pond – I cheated. Their bodies are Birdseye Maple, wings are Maple Burl (cut 90 degrees to the normal "eyed" surface), cheeks are Holly. The rest is done with sand shading.

Intarsia designs from the tables top were also incorporated into the backs of four of the chairs. I used Verawood for the cattail foliage also – though I cut it from quartersawn stock to give more veining than the flatsawn iris leaves. The tails are Madrone Burl, the stamens European Pear.