What is Fretwork?
To make it simple, fretwork is the "inside cuts" in the design, mostly in wood, but can be done on anything that can be cut. Here are some definitions you can find on Fretwork:
• Interlocking geometrical designs cut from the piece's own wood and used ornamentally.
• Open or pierced wood carving with an oriental influence, used as a decorative element in Chippendale and Chippendale-style furnishings.
• Ornamental decorative wood work.
• Ornamental shapes cut by the thin-bladed fret saw
• Ornamental woodwork, cut into a pattern, often elaborate.
• lattice: framework consisting of an ornamental design made of strips of wood or metal
• Fretwork is an interlaced decorative design that is either carved in low relief on a solid background, or cut out with a fretsaw, jigsaw or scrollsaw. Most fretwork patterns are geometric in design. The materials most commonly used are wood and metal. Fretwork is used to adorn furniture, musical instruments and just for decoration.
• Fretwork is a form of craftwork created by sawing ornate, intricate patterns with numerous inside and cutout openings involving many quick sharp turns.
A Brief History of Fretwork
The art of fretwork began more than 3000 years ago with fretted inlays on furniture in Egypt. It has been popular in North America and Europe from the mid 1800's until today. Fretwork of the 1800's and early 1900's was done with hand fretsaws or foot-powered scroll saws. In the 1920's several scroll saws were designed for use with electric motors.
The evolution of the scrollsaw is linked to the rise in popularity of fretwork (the sawing of intricate shapes from wood). Although there are examples of fretwork-like decorations on early Egyptian, Greek, and Roman furniture, these were probably carved or cut with a knife. It wasn't possible to saw delicate wooden shapes until the late 1500's, when a German craftsman (possibly a clock maker) devised a method for making fine, narrow blades.
Fretwork was introduced to America in the mid-1800's as Sorrento wood carving , so named because of the area in Italy that it was most popular. By the 1860's, the first mechanical fret saws - called scroll saws - began to appear in the U.S. And so a great art form and hobby were born. Today there are over fifty models of scrollsaws available with many options.
I hope this is a good representation of what Fretwork is and how it came about. My goal is to keep fretwork a “hand made” item, without the introduction of laser and computer cutting because they just take away from the uniqueness of an item and are basically “cookie cutters” of wood. It is fun to create and come up with different things, that is what art is all about, and fretwork is definitely an art!!!
~Chiz
