Straw Marquetry
Marquetry isn't exclusive of wood, which I may have appeared to have overlooked so far. Shell, mother of pearl and straw are among other materials that are able to be inlaid in some form to be known as Marquetry.
Straw is of interest to me as being on a farm and handling it as part of my daily routine the material feels familiar. Straw Marquetry really does feel like a rural craft and somehow more feminine?? I think because it's gold and shiney. The guild of straw craftsmen has a section dedicated to this branch of working with straw alongside many other techniques and practices. The corn dolly is an iconic symbol of traditional rural folk art and it appears that straw as a material in general is steeped in tradition and at times great eccentricity.
Straw itself can be sub divided into types and doesn't exclusively apply to wheat, although generally it is wheat that is used (apparently oats are very good for Marquetry) Connecting to farming and the countryside craftsmen working with these crops have an important role to play in the history of farming and the land. Like thatching, the creativity that belongs to this material is enormous.
The technique of using straw for marquetry is pretty simple, carefully slit and flattened the straw can be opened out then arranged to form a picture or cover a surface. My initial foray into this area has been to expose the pure goldeness of the material. Talking about the familiarity of bales of straw it is quite different to be concentrating on individual stems. The variation of colour, texture and size is broad ranging; it feels strange to be using this particular agricultural material in this way when I'm more used to spreading it about as bedding for cows.
The lightness of both colour and weight can be played upon and it is the natural shine and range of golden tones which seems to be the main value of the material in marquetry. It's certainly a lot different from working with veneer but in a way just as intriguing.
Link to the guild of Straw craftsmen – recommend Elda Heidemanns dyed straw marquetry- wonderfully folky and lots of other interesting straw related things.
http://www.strawcraftsmen.co.uk/links.html
