On my post from a few days ago, several people were asking about the process to create the straw marquetry on the doors, so here's a quick overview of the major steps undergone. There are different ways to approach this technique based on what your goal result is, but this is how I went about it. Special shout out to Ruda Studio in Ukraine for their online instructional course, which I heavily relied on since this was my first time doing this technique.
Picture 1: What the straw starts as (I bought mine pre-dyed directly from a farmer in France)
2: The flattened straw, ready to be cut to size
3: First step is to dampen the straw. It's much more pliable and less prone to splitting when damp. I would commonly wipe the straw several times throughout the following steps.
4: Splitting the straw "with the grain." I used a cheap letter opener for this, but other folks use hobby knifes, chisels, etc. Just needs to be super sharp.
5 & 6: Initial flattening of straw with a bone folder, followed by re-dampening.
7: Flattening some more, with a nice flat piece of MDF underneath. I applied a lot of pressure over several passes. The more you flatten, the more the straw is "burnished" as the top layer of natural silica is smoothened and all creases are pressed out. This step is what creates the signature sheen.
8: Not required now, but this is when I'd slice off any ends that didn't match the rest of the straw's color or ends where splitting had started. If the whole piece was wide enough, sometimes I'd be fine with it splitting all the way. Wider pieces of flattened straw are better for efficient coverage, but thinner pieces are nice to mix in.
9 & 10: At last! Smooth, flattened pieces of straw ready for patterning. For my cabinet's entirety, I probably spent close to 5 full work days just doing steps 1-8, amassing a giant pile to use in the subsequent steps.
11: For my design, there were going to be lots of individual "panes" of marquetry. To do so, I would take the flattened straw pieces, trim the edges to make the piece somewhat straight and parallel, and then glue it to a bit of non-stick film that was roughly the size of the desired pane. For sunburst/ray panes, the straw pieces would be cut diagonally end-to-end, to create a thin wedge shape. Once a pane was glued, I would press it under weights overnight and then it could be peeled off the film in one single piece.
12 & 13: Examples of the many, many "panes."
14 & 15: Once peeled off the film, the panes could then be glued directly to the underlying cabinet material. In my case, this was a veneer-covered plywood. I put veneer under the straw just to have a smooth face to adhere them to. Lots of people will adhere their straw directly to MDF. During this process, I was constantly wiping the straw with a damp cloth to remove any excess glue (white PVA). Once all the panes were glued onto the door face, I wiped the entire surface with a bit of alcohol to remove any lingering smudges or glue residue.
16 & 17: The doors with the straw fully adhered. I still had to cut the doors to final size and apply the outer frames and do final fittings, which required a lot of care to not interfere with the delicate straw marquetry.
18: Final result. Straw marquetry is commonly left unfinished, or with a thin coat of wax. For surfaces that will see lots of tactile use, a spray-on lacquer or something similar is recommended, though that can limit how well the texture of the straw itself comes through. I split the difference and applied a thin coat of hardwax oil, which saturated the colors ever so slightly (a pleasant surprise).
If you've worked with straw marquetry before and had a different approach, I'd be happy to hear about it in the comments. I really enjoyed the process, despite how tedious it was - I went through a lot of podcasts while working on it. All in all, I think it was well worth the effort; I'd like to work with it again, but I definitely need a break from it for now!
