DIY - Easy simulated wood inlay using veneer (aka "fancy plywood")

[evansd2]

Oh this is a nice addition to the idea.

For anyone who wants to try something like this, it’s also possible to do it using a standard laser printer:

Help with a photograph on poplar

There’s also a sad truth to consider: some photos are just not great candidates for engraving with a laser. There are alternative ways to use the laser and crafting skills to make a highly personalized thoughtful presentation, the crafsman did a really great tutorial on how to transfer photos to wood. Let’s see if I can find it… aha: [EASY Photo Transfer to Wood | LASER PRINT on Wood Using Mailing Labels, Fast, Reusable, Cheap DIY] Maybe laser up a nice wooden box and transfer the…

[cynd11]

Oooo, I really like this project! And I too have a fairly useless stack of veneer to play with…

[deirdrebeth]

@lampert

pre-painted the plywood base with white paint, but I wanted some of the natural wood grain

I wonder if bleaching the wood would get you closer without losing the grain pattern…

[shop]

actually, i’d consider doing a whitewash instead. you can literally just water down regular paint and do some testing on how much to thin it down.

[ovm.steve]

They all look wonderful. Thanks the great write-ups and ideas.

[didicky16]

It looks very shabby chic … which I love. I may have to buy a sublimation printer etc… which I have been looking at for some time now!

[ChristyM]

I think at that point, you should go with another pattern. I love sublimation, but printed wood looks like printed wood. Speaking of which, did you just sublimate on uncoated ply? It strikes me that I haven’t tested that.

[lampert]

“but printed wood looks like printed wood”

Agreed. And bummer!

“did you just sublimate on uncoated ply?”

Yes, unfinished non-PG ply. It was cheap stuff (relatively speaking) from Home Depot. Since this was an experiment, I didn’t want to use my “good” plywood.

[High_Latitude]

Thx for the writeup variations, very cool!