Clavin Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 Hi guys. Everyone knows what it must feel like to be in the spotlight, I tried to capture that mood here with this inlay. It's on an acoustic. The other two holes are now drilled out, I just left them un-drilled for this photo to get the entire image in. Materials are gold pearl, pink mussel, white river pearl, black pearl, silver, mother of pearl, mother of pearl grav-lam, ebony, and the black epoxy effect I used in the wolf and moon was used again here in a few spots, such as the eyelid, etc.. Thanks for looking! Craig Lavin www.handcraftinlay.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanKirk Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 (edited) WoW! Beautiful. Is the hair at the neck/shoulder area 'in the shadows' or is it broken bits of hair that have a deeper meaning? At first glance it looks 'shadowed' but I'm not sure, just curious. You're a very talented artist! Aha! Now that my heads outta my rear I can plainly see that it's the effect of being under a bright light...hence the title "Spotlight" Edited July 12, 2005 by VanKirk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 so nice...i am always amazed at how you capture the delicacy(sp) of the female form so well...i would think that would be very difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clavin Posted July 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 "Shadowed" as you call it. The negative space reinforces the brightness of the front and top. It's actually a piece of ebony pierced (drilled) and the small gold pearl pieces are inset into that. It's more time consuming than just routing into the existing ebony, but the amount of control and the clean-ness of it is paramount to simply routing by far. Thanks! Craig L. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 may i ask how you got the lines in the jacket and at the back of the arm,and the shading of the neck(not under the jaw,i see that is a different material there...but on the throat) i am working on my first inlay and i have not figured out yet how to do the shading Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clavin Posted July 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 That's all engraved. The neck and front of the arm is stipple effect. You take the graver, or a very very sharp scribe, and just simply dot out the area, then fill with india ink, or filler, etc.. The arm line is an engaved line as well, but not a single solid line. I wanted to give the effect of shading more than total seperation. All of the blacdk lines on the jacket are engraved, and the ziper is a silver piece, also engraved. The main jacket area is a piece of black pearl chosen with more white in the middle, with a leather-like grain to it. I wanted the jacket to look like it was reflecting her image back up from the light. I spent a lot of time choosing the pieces of pearl for this one. I normally take a few hours making sure the pearl has the pattern qualities that go with the image best. Just any pearl pieces would look random. I also glued up the inlay face down, then inlaid that deeper than the shallowest piece, to keep all of my shell patterns intact so they wouldn't sand through. The throat is a big piece of pattern free black pearl, in the "off" position, so it doesn't reflect that much in the viewed positon. Craig L. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 That's all engraved. The neck and front of the arm is stipple effect. You take the graver, or a very very sharp scribe, and just simply dot out the area, then fill with india ink, or filler, etc.. thank you...i just bought a little inlay kit from stewmac...and it came with a scribe i have not used yet...now i know what to use it for. one more question if you don't mind...how do you get the different pieces so tight...i am having a hard time with that...and when you sand the edges(if you do),what do you use to get in there and make it so perfect,if you know what i mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sepultura999 Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 Beautiful inlay. Wes, if you need more books for your library, and for anyone else, here are a few books on inlaying. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/087...2315098-1120157 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/087...2315098-1120157 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/087...2315098-1120157 -Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clavin Posted July 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 Start out by making your drawing as perfect as possible. I draw with a #8 hardness technical lead pencil. It makes an extremely thin line in your pattern to cut. I also cut with #3 blades, and for this piece I went down to #6, just to make sure some pieces were perfect shaped. Other than that it comes down to cutting skills. Fear not- the more you cut, the better you get. Go slow. I even slow myself down these days. I make sure every piece fits perfect, if it doesn't I re-cut, or file. Filing is good, but if a piece is undercut and there is a non-acceptible gap, I re-cut. It doesn't matter to me if I waste a piece of pearl. This is my life. The final art is permanent. Any mistakes are there forever. 1) Draw well 2) Look at the drawing to make sure it's perfect 3) Look at your model to make sure the drawing is accurate (reference photos, etc..) 4) Finalize the drawing- Draw well- did I mention the inlay is only as good as your drawing? 5) Cut slow 6) Cut clean 7) Assemble your pattern- delete any bad cut pieces, or gapped areas 8) Re-cut any needed pieces 9) Glue the inlay together- face down so no surface colors are lost 10) Rout clean- take your time. I have started to rout out-side in, to make sure I don't go outside the lines as I am normally pretty burnt out near finishing. This way I am more on my game where it matters most- the edges. 11) Glue the inlay as flush as possible to the wood. That saves on sanding time 12) Draw your engraved patterns. Re-draw them until they are perfect- just like in stage one- you back to drawing again. Take your time and do it right 13) Be a perfectionist. Few people are. When YOU are you work will stand out. Then so will you. Good luck. Craig L. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gun Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 Amazing!!! But it is almost unnecessary to comment Craig's work: it always is awesome!!! Cheers master!!! Gian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zephyr7 Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 Craig, In my humble opinion, you are the Marlon Brando of inlay art, man. Simply awe-inspiring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 Craig, that is photographic! As always your work is the best I have ever seen, hands down. Your skill is very well honed and it shows how much you love what you do. So when are we going to do a project together? ~David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 thanks again...very good advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clavin Posted July 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 Dave if you mean it I may have one for you... I'll e-mail you soon. I need to finish up an article first.. Thanks. I hope you are doing well. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obiwan-kanobi Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 wOwZeR! ...never seen inlays like that before... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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