Straw marquetry is a craft very similar to that of wood

marquetry Marquetry (also spelled as marqueterie; from the French ''marqueter'', to variegate) 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 fur ...

, except that straw replaces the

wood veneer In woodworking, veneer refers to thin slices of wood and sometimes bark, usually thinner than 3 mm (1/8 inch), that typically are glued onto core panels (typically, wood, particle board or medium-density fiberboard) to produce flat pane ...

. It is thought to have first been practised in the East; examples were brought to England in the 17th century. To mimic the varying shades of wood veneer,

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

or oat straw has to be split, then soaked in cold, warm, or hot water. The strips are then ironed, and there will be a variety of tones from pale gold to deepest dark brown. There are accounts of nuns in France and Switzerland making a variety of items using straw marquetry. The most famous straw marquetry was practised by prisoners of war from the

Napoleonic wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

. Dartmoor and other prisons had been built for them; the prison most famous for straw marquetry was Norman Cross,

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cr ...

. Easter eggs are decorated with

straw Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has a number ...

applique, especially in Eastern European countries. Geometric shapes, stars and flower motifs are the most common themes. There is a slight difference in the way the straw is prepared, however; for marquetry, the straws are soaked, split and ironed; for egg decoration the straw is not ironed.

Photo gallery

Image:StrawMarquetryFlowers.jpg Image:MarquetryHouse.jpg Image:MarquetryEggs.jpg

References

Visual arts genres Straw art {{decorative-art-stub

See also

Photo gallery

References