Inlay colors

[putnamm]

I have a few different ideas for inlay designs, but they involve several distinct colors--green, yellow, blue... All of the inlay materials I see are either white (pearl) or include just a bit of color (abilone). Is there a material or technique I can use to get the colors I want for my inlays?

[Drew Streip]

In those colors, I'd be thinking about a dyed maple or colored epoxy. The benefit (or problem, if you will) of epoxy is that it depends on the accuracy of your mortises.

Google turned this up (NFI):

https://www.mudhole.com/MicroFlex-Ab...SABEgIFO_D_BwE

[amowry]

Recon stone is great for brilliant colors. It's what I used for the red on the trout below. If you Google it you'll find a number of suppliers.

[Jacob Hagerty]

I would check out and contact Santa Fe Jewelers Supply. They have a wide variety of stones and shell...some on website some not. for yellow and green won't be too hard. blue might be a challenge but lots of different stones to choose from, could then have a lapidary cut them down and thickness them for you.

[putnamm]

Andrew, do you have any recommendations on how to cut recon stone? From looking at your website it appears you use a CNC machine, which is not an option for me. I have a quality bandsaw. I also have a coping saw. And I don't own but I have access to a very good scroll saw. Or would recon stone require something like a jeweler's saw?

Thanks,
Mark

[belbein]

I stumbled on using kitchen counter laminate, and now it's all I use. I tend to do pretty complex designs, so I need to be able to cut very small pieces … not unlike (but of course not as accomplished) as Mr. Mowry's example. The samples at your hardware store are either free or cheap. The colors and textures are great. They're easy to cut, glue up nicely, don't fade or scratch. They don't crumble, flake or disintegrate while you're working them. I've gotten very good results with them. Of course, it's like putting chocolate in your chili: it's great as long as you don't tell anyone what the ingredients are. Oh--and you can mix in MOP or Artificial MOP or Abalone, and it makes the whole assembly look "natural."

[belbein]

Beautiful, Andrew!

[amowry]

Thanks!

Andrew, do you have any recommendations on how to cut recon stone? From looking at your website it appears you use a CNC machine, which is not an option for me. I have a quality bandsaw. I also have a coping saw. And I don't own but I have access to a very good scroll saw. Or would recon stone require something like a jeweler's saw?

Thanks,
Mark

I've cut a lot of it by hand too--the recon stone is actually softer and easier to cut than shell, but like shell you'd probably want to use a jeweler's saw to cut it. I think a coping saw or bandsaw blade would be too coarse and would chip it. You could try the scroll saw with a fine blade--you'd probably want to glue the stone to thin plywood first and soak it apart later. All the normal inlay techniques used with shell work great. In addition to being softer than shell it's not quite as strong, so it's more difficult to use really narrow parts. Take a look at Grit Laskin's inlay work to see some spectacular and extensive use of recon stone.

[Marty Jacobson]

Recon stone is great for those flashy colors. Also check out Abalam, and browse through the Masecraft catalog. They have a lot of zany stuff - search for the Nordic pine cone, super cool.
My favorite inlay material, though, is wood. You can dye it after the fact to get a lot of different colors, or just leave it be.

You can also inlay acrylic with paint or other decoration applied to the back side. I once inlaid amber with gold leaf on the back to make it shiiiine.

[CarlM]

My favorite inlay material, though, is wood. You can dye it after the fact to get a lot of different colors, or just leave it be.

The problem with wood as an inlay material is that over the long term almost all woods tend to become brown. What started out as yellow or orange or red or greenish tends over ten years or so to oxidize and become a similar shade of brown. You lose the brilliance and definition of the original scene. I am not as certain on dyed wood but natural colors tend to do this. Websites and written material on marquetry and wood inlay talk a lot about that problem.

[Sam Schillace]

I make fountain pens as a hobby and I’ve always thought that the acrylic pen blanks would make interesting inlay. Easy to cut as well, tons of really wild colors.

Here’s an example seller, there are others.

https://www.beartoothwoods.com/catal...x.php?cPath=22

[pops1]

There are a lot of colored perfelings that are 100 years old and still look good. I think steam dying helps.

[Sterling]

And what a great effect, gold leaf under amber.

[hank]

I’m surprised holographic texture isn’t being used especially on composite builds. Think of holographic 3-D inlay and binding with the limitless colors and textures. How about a Clownbarf 3-D binding on a clear blonde Maple body?

[belbein]

Technically, gentlepersons, "inlay with wood" is called "marquetry," not "inlay." As another denizen of the Cafe informed me many years ago when I marqueted (?) my first mandolin.

[Marty Jacobson]

Technically, gentlepersons, "inlay with wood" is called "marquetry," not "inlay." As another denizen of the Cafe informed me many years ago when I marqueted (?) my first mandolin.

Hmm, I don't know if that's true. Isn't marquetry where you make a flat panel out of multiple pieces, then apply that like veneer to a substrate? Or is all wood inlay marquetry?

[amowry]

Right, I believe it's only marquetry if you overlay the pieces and cut through all of them at once to make perfect joints. In that case all the pieces are the same thickness. With inlay, the design pieces are set into a cavity in the substrate, not necessarily to the full thickness of the substrate. I don't think the material is relevant.