Friedolin always seemed to have a particular passion and empathy for wood. It was a frequent subject in his photography and he collected pieces of it in his travels through the southwest. It was in 1970, when he was pruning his apricot and Chinese elm trees, that he was struck with how interesting the cross sections of the pruned wood were.

Thus developed a fascination that would lead him in a new direction with his art. He began collecting a wide variety of woods, cutting small pieces into thin slices that revealed their distinctive beauty. After creating intricate designs with these pieces, he poured colored epoxy resins around them. Sanding and polishing completed the process. Friedolin called these compositions "wood mosaics." He continued to work on them until his death in 1995.