The finished piece is a 75 by 75 centimetre square panel of marquetry showing a stylized horse and cheetah in profile, framed by leaves and curved background elements. Every tone in the picture comes from the wood itself, with no paint or printing anywhere, and the maker set out to bring personal spirit animals to life in veneer.
The construction follows a careful sequence. Shapes were traced from a paper template and cut from veneer with a craft knife on a green grid mat. Edges were dipped into a heated pan of hot sand to create gradient shadows, then the cut segments were taped together over the master drawing, mounted on a backing board and smoothed with a random orbital sander. A cursive signature was burned into the bottom corner with a pyrography pen before a clear coat went on through a pneumatic spray gun.
The palette is what stands out for me. Seven species appear in the composition: birch burl, mahogany, walnut, eucalyptus, maple, ash and cherry, mixing figured and burl sheets with light and dark tones. Picking a different wood for each animal seems a smart way to keep the two figures distinct while everything stays natural.
One thing is still open. The maker mentions a personality test that identifies animals representing a person's character and inner strengths, and says custom pieces can be built from the answers, but how those answers turn into species choices has not been explained yet. That would make a worthwhile follow-up.