Mokume Kireji DIY Woodgrain Composites

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Mokume Kireji-DIY Woodgrain Compositesby festeezio on March 20, 2011

Table of Contents

Mokume Kireji-DIY Woodgrain Composites ..........................................................................................

Intro: Mokume Kireji-DIY Woodgrain Composites ...................................................................................

Step 1: Gather Your Materials .................................................................................................

Step 2: Get To The Chopper! ..................................................................................................

Step 3: Lay Up Your Composite: Birdseye and Ladder Patterns ........................................................................

Step 4: Reveal the Pattern: Ladder and Birdseye ...................................................................................

Step 5: Finish the Surface: Ladder and Birdseye Patterns ............................................................................

Step 6: Bonus Pattern: Grid Pattern .............................................................................................

Step 7: Bonus Pattern #2: Twist Pattern ..........................................................................................

Related Instructables ........................................................................................................ 1

Comments ................................................................................................................ 1
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Image Notes1. Improvised press. Two sheets of 1 inch plywood and four 5 inch c clamps

Image Notes1. Epoxy resin and hardener

Image Notes1. Patterning materials on bottom press plate. Ready to start the layup process

Step 2:Get To The Chopper!

Using a paper chopper or scissors, cut your fabric into appropriately sized pieces. Keep in mind that the edges of your composite will be wonked up by excess resin, syou should plan on making your fabric slices at least 10 to 15% larger in area than what you need for your final size. It will also need to be thicker. How much thicker?That depends on what you use to create your pattern. The thicker the patterning material, the more material you will have to remove to get both surfaces flat andparallel. This will make much more sense in the following steps. In any event, it is a good idea to make a small test piece in order to get your measurements the way want them.

This is also when you need to decide what your color scheme will be. Will it be alternating layers of black and white? Three layers of red to every one layer of brown?How about red, white, and blue? How many layers thick do you want your composite to be? Figure this out now and cut enough fabric for your project. Also keep inmind, that the tint of your resin will slightly alter the color of your fabric. My resin had a bit of a yellow cast to it, and this tended to give my white fabric a bit of an olivetint. When in doubt, make a small test piece to ensure you're going to get the results you really want.


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Image Notes1. The CHOPPER

Image Notes1. pre-cut

Step 3:Lay Up Your Composite: Birdseye and Ladder Patterns

Now lets put the components to work. Let's make a single piece of composite with two different patterns: The birdseye pattern, and the ladder pattern. This one will bemade out of 15 pieces of black fabric alternating with 15 pieces of white fabric.

If you're using a press, wrap your press-plates in saran wrap. If you're using c-clamps, wrap your pieces of 1 inch thick wood in saran wrap. This will keep youpress plates from sticking to your work.Place a single sheet of your fabric down on the press plate. This will serve as a template to help you place your patterning materials accurately.Arrange your patterning materials on the template sheet. For the ladder pattern mokume, I used several pieces of plastic filament about 3mm in diameter, lineup in a row (toothpicks would have worked too). For the birdseye pattern, I used steel BB's (4.5mm diameter) arranged randomly.Cover your patterning materials with a sheet of saran wrap so that they don't become glued to your composite.Mix a batch of epoxy resin according to the manufacturer's instructionsPlace your first sheet of black fabric on top of your patterning material and coat it with a thin layer of freshly-mixed epoxy resin. The entire sheet should be lighcoated.Now add a sheet of white fabric and gently apply another thin layer of epoxy.Continue this process: black sheet, epoxy, white sheet, epoxy, etc until you have used up your fabric (30 pieces in this example)Take your other press plate (make sure it's covered with saran wrap) and lay it on top of your stack of epoxy-coated fabric.Clamp tightly and evenly using your c-clamps (or press in your shop press)Wait for the epoxy to fully cure

Words of wisdom:-Make sure you let the epoxy fully cure, or the next step will be a disaster-When you clamp your press plates down, excess epoxy will come smooshing out the sides of the press. Make sure you lay down some plastic to catch the excess reor you will have one heck of a mess.-Don't rely on paper towels or newspaper to catch the excess resin. Just enough will bleed through to permanently fuse the paper to your floor and/or work surface. Ymust never ask me how I know this.

Image Notes1. Cover your press plates with plastic wrap

Image Notes1. Press plate


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Image Notes1. BB's and plastic bits to create a pattern in the composite

Image Notes1. Coating each sheet of fabric with a thin layer of epoxy. That top sheet was onlypartially coated when I snapped this pic.

Image Notes1. More


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Image Notes1. Put the top press plate in place and clamp it down tight.

Step 4:Reveal the Pattern: Ladder and Birdseye

Once the epoxy has cured, remove your masterpiece from the press/clamps to reveal: a turd. Your composite will look ugly, with chunks of resin hanging off the edgeand no signs of the beautiful woodgrain pattern that you were expecting. Don't sweat it, you're not done yet. Using files, a power sander, a saw, etc, remove the ugly

tattered edges, leaving behind the nice uniform center. Now using a sander or files, begin to slowly remove material from the surface of your slab of composite. Notethat in the pictures below, the ladder-pattern part of the composite was cut away from the birdseye-pattern part for greater clarity. Also note that the BB's you see stucthe composite were wedged into the composite but were not epoxied to the slab thanks to that piece of saran wrap. The stuck BB's were easily pried out prior to sandi

As you sand down the surface, you will begin to see the pattern appear. The patterned surface will appear dull and matte, but we'll fix that shortly.

Now is probably a good time to fashion your piece of composite into your project of choice. Cut out a piece in the center and make an uber cool picture frame. Maybeescutcheon plate for computer case modding? Perhaps a component of your next steampunk creation? This stuff cuts like wood, with simple hand tools. Don't worryabout making sharp 90 degree cuts, if you radius the the edges with files or sanding (instead of leaving them sharp) the mokume pattern will become even moredramatic.

Image Notes

1. These BBs created the pattern in the composite. I'll need to pick them outbefore I start sanding.

Image Notes

1. After


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Image Notes1. a

Image Notes1. Ladder pattern. Ooooh shiny!

Image Notes1. Birdseye pattern. Ooooh shiny!

Image Notes1. Birdseye pattern. Ooooh shiny!

Step 6:Bonus Pattern: Grid Pattern

But wait, there's more!

Sure, you can come up with all kinds of patterns on your own, but isn't nice to start with a palette of basics?This grid pattern was created with a piece of the brittle plastic sheet that is used to cover fluorescent light fixtures. A 2x4 foot sheet of the stuff set me back about 6 buat a home improvement store.

This is a really fun one as it serves a double purpose. The demo piece below was created using alternating sheets of black and white fabric (again, cheep cotton sheefrom Wal-Mart) with a piece of the textured light-fixture plastic as a patterning layer.

The left side of the piece has not been sanded and has a beautiful "quilted" appearance. It could be used as-is. The right side of the slab has been sanded and then

coated with epoxy to reveal the white layers underneath.

Sweet.


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Image Notes1. Cheesy textured plastic from light fixture

Image Notes1. Left side unsanded. Right side sanded but not coated.

Image Notes1. Right side sanded and coated

Step 7:Bonus Pattern #2: Twist Pattern

But wait, there's STILL more (please excuse me, I seem to have misplaced my dignity...)

Here is one more pattern you steampunk types might particularly appreciate. The twist pattern can really look an awful lot like wood if done well. The sample below wdone with black and chocolate brown cotton bedsheet material in a 1 to 1 ratio. In hindsight, a 4 sheets of brown to 1 sheet of black probably would have worked bettecould not photograph this technique due to the sloppiness involved therein, so I will describe it as best I can.

Wrap your press plates in saran wrapPlace a large sheet of saran wrap on your work surfacePut your first sheet of fabric on the saran wrap, and apply a light coat of epoxyContinue adding fabric/epoxy until your stack is complete

Tightly roll your fabric stack into a cylinderWrap the cylinder in saran wrapTwist the cylinder firmly, and be ready for the excess epoxy to ooze out one or both endsKeeping the whole mess tightly twisted, put it between the two press-plates, and clamp tightlyAllow the epoxy to cure completelyRemove the piece from the press, and peel away as much of the saran wrap as you easily canGrind/sand/file down the surface to reveal the pattern below.Apply a finish coat of epoxy to bring back the shine.Not too shabby...

I hope you've enjoyed my first Instructable and hope it helps you in your quest to build cool things. These low-tech composites have been around for over a hundredyears and while I didn't invent these techniques, I so rarely see them used, that I felt I should share the fun. If you liked this Instructable, please vote for me in theEpilogue Laser Cutter contest.


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Image Notes1. Ooooh shiny and vaguely wood-like...needs work tho...

Image Notes1. Co

Image Notes1. Just pretend these are all coated in resin

Image Notes1. Roll up resin coated stack tightly

Image Notes1. Twist


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Comments

3 comments Add Comment

EmcySquare says: Mar 21, 2011. 2:19 AM REPVery Good !!!I've seen this type of DIY "m"icarta to make nice knife handlesSelecting the "right" colors results are awesome

Soksume says: Mar 20, 2011. 11:43 PM REPThis is extremely well written with lots of insight and detail great work

aeray says: Mar 20, 2011. 9:37 PM REPExcellent. You get my first contest vote ever. Good work, and I'm off to the fabric store.
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