GALLIPOLIS, Ohio — Jim Dabney became interested in Intarsia several years ago, after reading an article in a woodworking magazine by Judy Gale Roberts. He says he remembers thinking to himself, “hey, I can do that.”

Dabney ordered a pattern of an eagle and began the tedious process of cutting out the pieces with a band saw. The project took several hours to complete, a lot of hand sanding and shaping of the different hardwood pieces.

Once completed, he entered his first piece in the Mason County Fair, winning a first place blue ribbon. That was the start of a journey leading to more difficult projects, some recognition, and designing his own patterns.

A sampling of Dabney’s work is on display through Feb. 28 at the French Art Colony in Gallipolis, Ohio. The gallery is located at 530 First Avenue.

Dabney is a native of Mason County and still resides there with his wife, Vanda. He grew up on the family farm, spending hours in his grandfather’s blacksmith and carpenter shop and later in his dad’s shop, using carpentry tools to make toys for himself and siblings.

As he grew older, the toys became a little more sophisticated, from soap-box derby cars to rowboats. His dad would buy scrap lumber from the old Carolina Lumber Co. (Point Pleasant) for $3 to $5 a truck load, quickly becoming his supply source.

Dabney starts with an idea and designs a pattern. Once the design is complete, several copies are made (usually ten) so each piece can be cut from the pattern, later to be glued to the selected piece of wood. He then selects the proper wood species, with special attention paid to the grain and color of the wood. He carries an inventory of 51 different species of wood to select from. The pattern is copied and cut into pieces using a scroll saw.

Each piece is shaped and sanded to get the desired shape, then finished naturally in its own color. The grain and color of the wood add great detail, painting the picture. Some of the white wood species have a white bleaching stain applied to prevent yellowing, which occurs naturally as the wood ages.

Each piece is glued with “school glue,” for it is easily removed from the wood, and all pieces (500-2000) are numbered, for it can take several hours trying to fit the pieces together if they are not numbered. The piece is given a three dimensional look by adding or removing thickness (thicker pieces are in the foreground, etc.). Tongue oil is applied as a finish.

The most difficult part of the process is gluing the hundreds of pieces of wood to the backboard. This process sometimes takes several hours to complete and the glue dry time is usually 20 minutes. One micro-inch space between pieces can amount to as much as half an inch space by the end of the gluing process. Once a piece has dried to the backboard it is almost impossible to move it.

Dabney said that his Intarsia projects contain from 400-1000 pieces and from 10-20 different species of wood. Each project takes approximately 100-200 hours to complete.

(On the Internet: French Art Colony, www.frenchartcolony.org. Phone: 740-446-3834.)