Fretwork

Fretwork

:" for stringed instrument manufacturing see Luthier."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 scroll saw. Most fretwork patterns are geometric in design. The materials most commonly used are wood and metal. Fretwork is used to adorn furniture and musical instruments. The term is also used for tracery on glazed windows and doors. Fretwork is also used to adorn/decorate architecture, where specific elements of decor are named according to their use. eg. eave bracket, Gable Fretwork, Baluster Fretwork. Any item that is cut out is considered fretwork.

Fretwork patterns originally were ornamental designs used to decorate objects with a grid or a lattice. Designs have developed from the rectangular wave Greek fret to intricate intertwined patterns. A common misconception is that fretwork is fretwork because it was done with a fretsaw. Actually the pattern is a fretwork whether or not it was cut out with a fretsaw.

Moorish Fretwork was invented by Moses Younglove Ransom in 1885. It consists of milled spiral rods that are "woven" into lattice like screens. In 1856 Owen Jones published the remarkable Grammar of Ornament, which collected and sorted patterns used by cultures around the world. In his chapter on Moresque Ornament (Moorish), Jones lays out the principles used in Moorish interlace designs. Ransom's Moorish Fretwork follows these design guidelines.


The CNC machine (Computer Numerical Controlled) has brought about change with which the method of timber fretwork is manufactured. Lasers or Router/Milling cutting implements can now fashion timber and other various materials, with the aid of the CNC into flat and even 3-Dimensional decorative items.

ee also

* Scroll saw
* Jigsaw
* Coping saw
* Fretsaw


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Fretwork — Datos generales Origen Reino Unido Información artística …   Wikipedia Español

  • Fretwork — Fret work, n. [6th fret + work.] Work adorned with frets; ornamental openwork or work in relief, esp. when elaborate and minute in its parts. Hence, any minute play of light and shade, dark and light, or the like. [1913 Webster] Banqueting on the …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • fretwork — also fret work, c.1600, from FRET (Cf. fret) (n.) + WORK (Cf. work) …   Etymology dictionary

  • fretwork — ► NOUN ▪ ornamental design done with a fretsaw …   English terms dictionary

  • fretwork — [fret′wʉrk΄] n. work ornamented with frets; decorative carving or openwork, as of interlacing lines …   English World dictionary

  • fretwork — /fret werrk /, n. 1. ornamental work consisting of interlacing parts, esp. work in which the design is formed by perforation. 2. any pattern of dark and light, such as that of perforated fretwork. [1595 1605; FRET2 + WORK] * * * …   Universalium

  • fretwork — The extra work that goes into producing a news story, designed to make it that bit more worrying. Every writer who got hold of the story added a little fretwork of her own …   Dictionary of american slang

  • fretwork — The extra work that goes into producing a news story, designed to make it that bit more worrying. Every writer who got hold of the story added a little fretwork of her own …   Dictionary of american slang

  • fretwork — [[t]fre̱twɜː(r)k[/t]] N UNCOUNT: oft N n Fretwork is wood or metal that has been decorated by cutting bits of it out to make a pattern …   English dictionary

  • fretwork — /ˈfrɛtwɜk / (say fretwerk) noun 1. ornamental work consisting of interlacing parts, especially work in which the design is formed by perforation. 2. any pattern of dark and light, such as that of perforated fretwork …  

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