Astonishing inlay technique of Khatam

I don’t know if anyone saw this over on Make, but wow… Fascinating how they are tiny sliced strips that are then arranged into triangular patterns and shaved to make inlay. Always wondered how such insanely intricate inlays could be made.

http://makezine.com/2017/01/06/heirloom-tech-inlaid-micro-geometries-khatam/

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Oh, and I will add, when I read it (noting the hex pattern quickly) I read it as “Heirloom Tech: The Inlaid Micro Geometries of Catan” thinking these were over the top Settlers of Catan boards… :grin:

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It’s seemingly the middle East version of japanese yosegi.

It’s so cool! I can’t wait to try come the warmer months when my garage isn’t -10.

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Beautiful craftsmanship! The use of patterned rods reminds me a lot of the process for millefiori glass.

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Yosegi is so beautiful, but the really beautiful part is to see how it’s made.

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Just looked that up. Very cool. Thanks. Visited the Corning Museum this summer on vacation with fam, and saw some of this, but now know how it works…

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Fantastic share, thanks. I can’t get enough of that kind of art. It’s just mindblowing.

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The images in the Maker article are almost sensory overload… amazing how they can create such intricate patterns from so simple structures.

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I knew of Tunbridge ware, an 18th century version, practised and named from near where I grew up, and It was ‘bad’ enough to see the band saw used to cut the slices in the Persian version (I wonder how thin the blade is, and hence the wastage ), but then to see the Japanese version using a plane - no wastage !!!

OMG, if only…

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They take their planing seriously in Japan. Planes big enough for beams. And you can get pads of writing materials that are just planed wood…

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This stuff is really amazing and impressive!

It’s interesting to note that it’s the same technique used in to make some hard candies, as shown in a recent post: Make: Handmade Candy Canes

Sounds like somebody needs to make a gingerbread mosque! (I apologize if that idea is offensive. It’s totally not meant to be).

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