The Next Level: Process of Medallion Design & Creation

I gave my in-laws a free custom floor a few years ago. It consisted of hand-cut parquet (just about 1,800 pieces), leaf inlays (see the start of my posts about those here), stencil work and a medallion. It took me seven months on my weekends to complete, and let's just say that even though my in-laws love me so much, they could not wait to get a weekend to themselves by the time I was done. I changed my mind so many times during the install, and I still think some of the elements were not completely done. One of them is the medallion.

The finished medallion was about 49 inches (124.46 cm) in diameter and was made of white oak, padauk, yellowheart, holly, maple, wenge, rosewood and bubinga. It consisted of a 56-piece center element, 32 starburst pieces, 32 scallops, two wenge accents on both sides of an eight-piece padauk bend, holly accent and a series of 32 inlaid stringing elements:

I sent a few of my friends and peers a picture of the design in process. Some of you who might be reading this right now were on that list. I took pride and joy in making that floor and wanted to share it with people who I knew would appreciate it. Dave Marzalek (who has won a lot of awards for his medallions) told me that my medallion was "a good start," and I agreed. Even though the medallion was pretty and held several woodworking challenges, it was still a very basic one. "Brutal" and "honesty" go hand in hand because we don't really want to hear the truth out loud most of the time. I knew exactly what he was talking about when he said it. I might go back to that floor some day and add what I thought was necessary to complete that medallion. You're wondering what? I had Federal-style inlays in mind that are usually seen on furniture. Oh well, my point is that when you do something like this, it is never done, so let it go.

Let's discuss the creation of the medallion.

I have dozens of pictures of this medallion in the process of making it. Much like an artist, once you start, you realize it needs something different here and there. The plan changes (just a little) as you start the work. The initial drawings did not have the stringing, but instead had diamond-like inserts. The 56-piece design in the center was supposed to have been a moon flower. I did cut the flower, but once I looked at it, I hated it. It didn't do what I wanted it to do for the overall feel of the medallion. The padauk bend had a maple inlay, which turned out to be too difficult to double-bevel-cut, so I decided to tackle that idea on my next medallion.

Talking, drawing and thinking about what you want to do together make up the most crucial step in the creation of a beautiful element. We'll continue this blog over several posts. Thanks for reading, and to all my friends and peers I saw in Nashville a couple of weeks ago: Thanks for staying involved.