Glueing Veneer Christmas Cards. (Experiment)

[sihollies]

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone could please advise?

Bit of a random enquiry, and I hope it is in the correct topic forum.

I am planning to make several personalised Christmas cards using 2 pairs of veneers to act as the front and back of the card, with a fabric or wide ribbon glued between the leaves to act as the hinge.
If I am successful, I will then transfer personalised photos & messages onto each card.
I am a hobbyist and mainly use veneers in the projects I make, so have a little bit of experience how they may react, and I know that the veneers may curl when glued.
my thought to remedy this is that I should run the grain perpendicular to the other to prevent this happening?? (Similar to plywood, but only 2 ply as I don't want the cards too thick)
I would normally use PVA when glueing veneer to a substrate, & know that the veneer will start to curl when the PVA is applied.
Would a contact adhesive be better in this situation?
I was also wondering if veneer softener may help to stop them curling??

I hope I made the above as clear as possible???

Many thanks in advance
Simon

 

[TRITON]

It curls due to no backing veneer, the backing veneer being at right angles to the front veneer. If you look at ply its orientated one way, then the other and so on.
Possibly for thin you will need a minimum of 3 sheets. front and back with the middle oriented so the grain is running left to right, and the front and back up to down.
Personally I've not made any that thin, maybe others have a better idea.
Given a sheet is only .5 or .6mm thick, 3 sheets are say about 2mm and i would think better at 5 sheets giving you near 3mm.
These I dont think should be disposable for the recipient, and having some nice marquetry or parquetry on the front makes it more a keepsake.

 

[Droogs]

The thinnest you will be able to make that has any chance of being stable is 3 ply as Triton suggests. Otherwise there will be no way you can prevent curling. I have seen 0.5mm venneer turn 9mm panels inserts into Quavers when just one layer is applied and that was overnight.
I would suggest you make up the front of the "card" with 3 ply and then use thick artists card for the back portion. EG make the card as if you were only using the artists thick card so you have a folded leaf and then attach to the rear of the 3 ply front. I would use ready made hide glue or just gum arabic (kids glue, the type they eat) and put it all into a small press made of mdf and apply pressure and leave for 24 hours. Once dry remove and then give the veneer a coat of just beeswax and a good rub.

Any other way and you have a real chance it will destroy itself in the post. You may want to put the card into the envelope with a thick liner insert panel to protect the veneer face.

hth


edit typos

 

[sihollies]

Many thanks for your input and advice, it is appreciated.
I will experiment a little bit before the final product, but I like Droogs idea of using card.

Many thanks again

Simon

 

[marcros]

It sounds like you have some scrap veneers and some glue- give it a try and report back! Interested to hear the outcome.

 

[sihollies]

I Just like to try things that I haven't done before.
I am hoping that the recipients will appreciate the effort & time taken, but am pretty sure that they won't realise the work involved.
I just class it as a learning experience.