Need inlay material suggestions for special

[Keith Newell]

Hi all, I've been racking my brain trying to come up with the materials that I need for a custom instrument Im building.
This instrument is all custom and includes a Dragon head inlaid into the headstock with lots of inlay. The problem is I need "wicked" eyes...I mean red wicked...evil dragon eyes. Almost glowing with anticipation at roasting you alive evil dragon eyes. Red color is what I want and can inlay either shell type material or possibly powdered material?? Can you get sintered ruby powder? Any other suggestions?
Also I need to do the veins of the wings in a color that is not standoutish but "there". They need to be subtle against the ebony background but need to be visible when you look close. I was thinking everything from tarnished copper powder set in epoxy to black mother of pearl cut into fine thin segments. I dont want to say more about it but the veins are against black ebony and the eyes need to be REAL red.
Keith Newell
http://home.comcast.net/~mandolinkgn/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html

[Km1000seth]

i dont know anything about a shell or pwder material, but i use a wood all the time called BLOODWOOD that is very red http://yumahardwoods.homestead.com/bloodwood.html i really like, i havent inlayed it but i built a pickguard saddle and trussrod cover out of it
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[grsnovi]

Why don't you inlay real rubies? Finish the headstock with whatever you're going to do, then just inset two small rubies. That would be pretty sweet!

[Yonkle]

Or you could try a couple Sudafed pills! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Greenmando]

Red coral ! fairly cheap, easy to use. It stays bright red! #It would appear very bright red from all light sources. Let me know and I will email a pic of some. I will try to take a pic and show some here in the AM. I have some in slab form and small branches. It cuts easily with a jewelers saw, you might want small branches for eyes, but even coral crushed into dust added to epoxy will look great.

Rubies was my first thought too, but to get any color out of them you need a reflective back to them. Same with most clear stones and jewels, they need light to shine. Sure would be pretty under a spotlight. But under most light and casual glance they would appear like a small shiny spot without color.

For the wings I would use the real dark green abalone. If you prefer, turquoise comes in all colors and works well also. Oh, just read the post again. The veins could be in a dark red that would be subtle, great contrast to the ebony. Is it really veins and not a skeletal shape in the wings? I would probably tend to the shell and coral over stone. The coral and shell will reflect well under a spot light.

Sounds fun, let us see some pics when you are done.

[Keith Newell]

Coral sounds nice. I havent used it. Email me a pic if you can to mandolinkgn@comcast.net The wings veins are really the outer outline and 4 bones/veins running vertical on each wing. The wings curl up over the head and form a cool shape for the headstock. I was leaning to a shell type material but was kind of stumped on the wing vein/bones. Its a real fire breather though and has fire fret markers in gold pearl.
Im gone for a few days to Wintergrass in Tacoma so wont be back to check mail/messages for a few days.
Keith

[Bob DeVellis]

Red glass with foil backing would look "alive." You might even be able to put a small hole (either round or elongated like a cat's eye) in the center of the foil to give you a dark pupil effect.