I am now going to tell you about one of the most amazing gifts I’ve ever received.

I didn’t know what marquetry was until I came to the folk school, so I will let wikipedia enlighten you as to what it is in case you are in the same state I was.

Marquetry, according to wikipedia, is “the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns, designs or pictures. The technique may be applied to case furniture or even seat furniture, to decorative small objects with smooth, veneerable surfaces or to free-standing pictorial panels appreciated in their own right.” It is basically taking pieces of different color wood, cutting them into shapes, and inlaying them into a larger piece.

Leah took a marquetry class right after we took Bob Dalsemer’s dance calling class together. She decided her project would be not one, but two, identical boxes to hold calling cards: one for me and one for her. The image she chose was a photo of the two of us swinging at a dance in the community room:

On the Community Room Dancefloor

I helped her to draw us as shapes in Adobe Illustrator and she took the printout to the woodworking studio and made wood magic. She made the most incredible boxes for us to hold our blossoming dance card collections. It was one of the most touching gifts anyone has ever given me… she freaking inlayed us in wood! How cool is that?

Thank you Leah! I will cherish my box forever.

Us on the box top

Immortalized in wood forever!

Of course I had to get creative and put on my thinking cap to do something uber special for Leah. For her going away gift I made dividers and an assortment of custom made dance card for her. Here is an example of one of the cards:

Leah's custom dance card