Examples of traditional Hutsul riz’ba with several types of inlay
(from the Folk Museum of Kolomiya)
Wooden inlay, a form of “rizba,”is a very old traditional art. Some of the greatest practitioners of this art are the Hutsul craftsmen of the Carpathian mountains, where the knowledge and skills are passed down, generation to generation, from father to son.
This art is applied to just about any wooden surface, but was most commonly used to beautify household items, and to create decorative wooden objects for churches, including crosses and the iconostais (the wooden wall separating the altar from the rest of the church, and covered with three or more rows of icons).
Inlay is creating by carving small lines and holes into a wooden object, and then filling them with beads, copper or brass wire, mother of pearl, and dyed wood.
Often objects would have a combination of simple rizba (carving) and inlay.
Below are some simpler examples from my collection and that of my mother.
