Copper Inlayed Wood Plaque

This is my first Instructable, but I hope everyone enjoys it!

I found this design on Google images, saved it to my computer and printed it off. I used some spray adhesive to glue the paper on the wood. Trying to center it as best as I could. I used a piece of pine, as I found using a soft wood is best for this application. I used a regular utility knife blade to cut out the edges of the flower. And then peeled off the paper.

Using a Dremel and a #108 wood carving bit with the height attachment (approx 1/8 inch) I slowly followed the marks from the razor blade. I then used a shop vac to get the remaining sawdust out of the carving.

I used some regular 14 gauge wire that I had left over from wiring my house and garage. I peeled off the insulation on the wire and softly flattened it with a hammer on the concrete floor in my garage. Then I softly tapped the copper into the cutout I did with the Dremel. After It was tapped in, I super glued it in a couple spots. Using needlenose pliers helped a lot with bending around the tight curves.

I used my miter saw and table saw to center up the picture.

Using some wood glue and some sawdust I collected from my orbital sander, i filled in the cracks ALL the way around EACH part of the inlay to fill in the gaps. I let the glue set up and sanded the face and sides. I didn't show it in the picture, but I also used a router to give the plaque a nice edge.

I used Minwax Red Mahogany #225 and a Minwax one coat polyurethane to finish it.

For a more detailed instructable on this and other projects you can see the video on my YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/c/adamfleisch

Thanks for looking!