Blanket Chest Update

Well  let me start by say that while doing a project like this is a lot of fun it definitely reminds me why I don't do this for a living...... I would starve, either that or I would have to find a market that is willing to pay for the time spent on something like this. After well over 50 hours of marquetry work this is were I stand. I finally finished the last couple of flowers but as I mentioned before I still have to add the little stamen in the center of these flowers but I may end up adding that bit of detail after they are glued up to the panels and just do it as inlay instead of trying to cut in all those little pieces into the thin and fragile veneer.

 I am finally at the point were I can do something besides cut out little leaves on these lilies. I have one side (not including the back) and the top that have nothing on them so that is were I was going to add some butterflies. I don't' want this chest covered with butterflies so I plan to just add 2 or 3 to to one of these panels and a bird to the other just to break it up a little.
I started with the bird first. I found a picture of a White-fronted Bee-eater on Pinterest that I liked. This site is a great resource for inspiration and images to use.

I picked out some veneers that I thought would work. I only had one shade of green and its a little dark but I went with it anyway and as this is really only a representation of the picture who will know the difference. The picture below shows the birds side by side before I add some sand shading detail.

This little guy only took a little over an hour to do so it shouldn't take to long to get the rest of the marquetry done on this project. I have to make him a branch to sit on but that's pretty easy but it might have leaves on it...... Sigh!  Now its just a few simple butterflies to finish up.