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TribalWind
2nd November 2004, 10:04 AM
Hey all,
been a long time since ive posted anything new. i havent had time to play for a long while but now getting back to it.

the other night i messed a bit with carving/inlay and really enjoyed it.i can see now why you do so much of it Mark! carving at least.

was thinking of what would look/work good as inlay,apart from the stuff they sell in stores for that purpose(inlace for example,kinda costly!)

i tried gold glitter and it worked well,then tried white quartz rock gravel, crushed into a fine sandy powder,i got a slight yellowing discoloration in spots,probably from more glue than stone in those areas.

next i'll try metal shavings,brass/copper/aluminum etc. was told that home-depot will give it away from the keymaking machine.
other things?,colored glass,seashell,dyed/colored epoxy,rust,solder,colorful sawdust,brick,slate,colorful stones/gems(non precious),corian,coal,baking soda,candlewax?charred wood scrapings. im sure theres alot i missed this is just off the top of my head now.

whatever would react/hold well with CA (super glue)or epoxy.

heres a shot of the glitter inlay, i didnt spend more than 15 minutes on this and most of that was sanding/polishing,probably could be more glossy with more polishing.i didnt use any finish. the waxes/oils/pastes used in woodturning would probably work great since the bamboo's 'skin' is sanded off
http://www.bamboocraft.net/gallery/data/527/thumbs/124Gold-inlay-full.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=958)

http://www.bamboocraft.net/gallery/data/527/thumbs/124Gold-inlay-closeup.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=959) gold inlay close up

a lot of the inspiration to learn this kinda work came from my friend and fellow flutemaker Darrel Allen,who does the most amazing inlays! and whom i still owe a flute(plus interest at this point lol!) he's also a member here :)

the initial carving was freehand with a dremel..it might've been smarter to DRAW the pattern first ha! a trick that scrollsawyers use is to photocopy a design then "iron" transfer it onto the wood,wonder if sanded bamboo would work!?

Mark Meckes
6th November 2004, 10:17 AM
Hi Matthew and great to hear from you!
Nice work! Inspiring.
I've got to find some time to try this out.
I can imagine it is pretty exacting work... ie if it isn't done right the first time then it takes a lot more time to `fix it up'.

An off the wall thought...
I used `non-toxic' glow-in-the-dark goopy paint on some toy bamboo creatures, and they sure looked interesting when the lights were turned off.
Would be interesting applied as an inlay...

and more off the wall...inserting a fine electrical wiring with tiny lights under a transculent quartz inlay...

Mark