Clavin

Hi DividedByJames.

I do the face down thing on certain occasions, mostly using shell and stone.

For the plastics the color is fast throught most times, so I tend to know what I am getting from the start. Abalone and black pearl, and even gold pearl have very shallow color depth, so it helps to have all the same thickness material from the start. Then glue it up face down, then inlay it flush.

The shells are all available in .03-.06. Abalams are available in .03-.19, and up if you know where to find them. I have abalams over a 1/4 inch thick! It's expensive stuff, but if you inlaying on a really high radius it can be helpful.

As far as thickness of materials goes, I use a Preac mini ship model woods thickness sander to get my thicker stones, and other materials down to .05-.06.

It's available on-line, and cost me about $300.00. It is basically a mini drum thickness sander, and I use it often for materials prep. If you have all of your materials at the same relative thickness, when you cut to the line of your pattern your basically following the top cut, any variation of your cutting angle as you go down gets magified towards the bottom of the cut. That can result in wide gaps, etc.. in your pieces. If they are all at the same thickness when you join the pieces together, assuming you cut to the lines, any variation beneath is non-significant, as long as you rout to the exact depth and inlay pretty flush with the surface.

Thicker blades help with cutting straighter, but some materials are only available in 1/2, and 1/4, or 1/8" thicknesses. Having them all even is one of my big secrets..

and now you all know

More pics and text soon.

Craig

O.K in the last part we had our pieces cut, and joined together.

At that stage the whole inlay should be able to be picked up in our hand, and held like a 3-D puzzle.

Next is positioning- find the place where the inlay goes and glue it down with some contact cement. NOT CA, or epoxy, those are too strong. You want to use something that acetone will dissolve at least. Put a few drop on the bottom, position your inlay and let it dry in place for a few hours at least.

Like this.. Like this..

If you don't let it dry you will mess up your scribing, and have to start over again, and that can be a real pain. Don't rush it, do it right, be patient, and fight the urge to touch anything. That's the hard part! Just let it sit untill it dries.

Once the inlay is dry I use an exacto #11 blade and go around the entire thing with that, scribing out the patttern.

I then carefully lift off the piece and go over the scribed lines again with the blade, deepening the cuts. This isn't really necessary, but I like to make sure I have a clear pattern to rout to.

I then clean off any residual glue on the inlay and the board with acetone. This keeps everyting clean, otherwise your depth and height of your inlay pieces could be thrown off by the glue residue.

I rout using a foredom flex shaft tool. Basically a fancy dremmel.

I use The Stew-Mac downcut carbide bits in decreasing size as I get nearer to the edge of the rout pattern. I normally end at the 1/32 size. These bits are great, last a long time, and cut extremely clean.

No pictures of routing, sorry. You guys know how to rout though, right?

Next time gluing, leveling and engraving, with more photos.

Craig

Well, even though you CAN start to work 15 minutes later in some CASES, I still suggest letting anyting glued up as much as an inlay to sit overnight regardless.

I do think I like the CA better.

Thanks!

Craig

Hi all.

Here is the finished product.

I will post more tutorial on how I got to this point ASAP.

I just want to show you that it was done, and how it turned out.

Also-

I think at this point I like the CA better than the epoxy. Either it's not fully cured yet (after 24 hours) or this stuff does stay softer than the CA. I know I mixed it 50/50.

It also looks more off in color than CA and ebony dust. I may go back in the re-do a couple of areas I am not happy with in the routing with CA and dust.

More very soon. The engraving made this piece what it is.

Craig.

Thanks Dave.

That's exactly what I was trying to say..

Filing is for the areas where you didn't cut as accurately as you SHOULD have. Don't PLAN on doing it, and if your going to make mistakes cut outside the line, so you don't have to throw out the piece. The goal is to cut away the lines, leaving a completely tight fit, each piece having it's half of the original line shaved off, totally tight. But you will gain those skills as you go. For a completely new beginner some filing is goung to happen. It happens to me in almost every piece (total piece that is- not each piece of shell) Most are tight from the start. Pierced pieces almost always need at least a little something filed off.

More pics soon, I am already engraving the shark. He's almost done.

Craig

About the backing- I do not use any backing. I glue the pieces together with the liquid CA from stew-mac. I am most interested in the surface color of my materials. Sometimes I will glue everything FACE down, unpside down, so that the surface of the inlay is completely even, and the back is uneven. I can then rout to the deepest piece, and use dust or something to life the other part of the inlay up. The glue will fill in the back. This preserves your surface colors. Just make sure the inlay sits flush in the rout pocket. Any shell sticking out will get sanded down, and your color patterns will go away. This is a little tricky on radiused fingerboards, but it can be done. More on that later.

Craig

ryeisnotcool2 is correct in that there is a little filing most times to get a perfect fit, and yes I use the little jewelers files. However, if you take your time cutting, especially when piercing (when shell is going into shell, for inside pieces) then you won't have to file. Typically there is always some filing.

Also make sure when you cut to stay on the outside track of the line, aspecially as a beginner.

It's easy to file to fit, you can't add shell if it's cut down under the fit, you have to re-cut. I re-cut any piece that's not acceptable. It's wasting a little bit of shell, but my names on these projects. if they are not exactly what the customer wants, and they are not totally blown away I have failed. I rather re-do an entire piece then have someone be unhappy.

More soon, Craig

Some more on drawing up your inlays....

1) Make sure all your lines join each other so they can be cut out seperately later like a puzzle. Any unjoined lines mean starting over. You can creat free ending lines with a graver tool later, as your engraving skills get better. More on engraving later

2) I draw all my art for patterning with a drafting pencil. I use #8H leds- very hard, for drawing thin clear lines. These lines wil photocopy nicely, and are good for getting extremely close tight cuts. The thicker the pattern lines, the more off your cutting will be, the more gaps between pieces you will have in your inlay. These are hard to hide, so just prevent them with good cutting to begin with.

3) When photocopying you can shrink the pattern a little, making the lines thinner.

4) Make about 15 or so photocopies of your original, and use these to piece out your inlay materials.

More on materials and thicknesses later.

Craig

Hi guys.

I know I promised this a while ago but I have been working on a lot of commisions. Some huge, others as small as signatures in truss rod covers.

I'll have to do this in installments. Here is part one..

Basically I decided to show you how I am going step by step on the blue shark that will go on the chimera headstock classical guitar. For Dr. Douglas Fields.

First things first- this is on a NON radiused classical fretboard- that makes this one easier. It's totally flat. the board is ebony, also easy. So- this is an EASY inlay!

I am using epoxy for the first time on this one, so we'll see how I like it. Normally I use the CA, and touch up afterwards.

so- start out with a picture right?

Here is the inlay so far- this photo includes the original art, (lower right), the photocopies for cutting the pieces, the odder materials, (blue/teal plastics in this case, and black tahitian pearl) other more regular materials include ebony, and regular mother of pearl.

The inlay is already cut out and glued up together.

I use 003 jewelers blades, and a normal jewelers saw as well. Nothing special there.

Recently I have started to use size 1 blades, as they seem to be much more tight against the cut, and give you a more even edge cut from top to bottom.

Post questions as you see fit. I know I am leaving a lot out but I assume you guys know the very basics already.

The main thing with inlay design is originality.

For example..

start out like this- " I really want a killer inlaid tropical rainforest scene on a guitar" how can I make that happen? THEN worry about materials, etc..

If your staring at a single piece of pearl in front of you wondering what to do with it you are limiting yourself a lot!

You'll notice design-wise.

For one the shark is extremely fore-shortened, he's going to look like he's swimming out of the fretboard. Also the top fins are cut off, he's swimming through the board. You don't need to shove or fit the whole design into a small space. The human mind wil piece in what is missing as long as the main parts of the image are there. To much and it looks off, but done correctly it adds a new dimension to the art, and looks really unique.

More soon.

Craig

Very cool!

Nice job all around.

Your skills are getting better. Nice engraving touches as well.

Craig

Your best bet is to start out with, and then STAY with, flat blanks

Cutting blanks and grinding them is an entirely different art than inlaying!

It's also more dangerous due to the amout of dust produced.

Take $45.00 or so and buy an ounce of blanks.

You'll be happy you did.

Craig

I agree about Inlay USA

Stay away from it. It is a scam. If it's not then he's flat out just lame..

On the other hand.. Mother of pearl DOES come in sheets, as does abalone, and about a dozen other species now..

Abalam is laminated pearl sheets that are 9" by 5"..

That's right. BIG sheets.

The thing is with MOP you get joint lines between the joined areas. It doesn't look good unless you are either going for that look, or use smaller pieces of it.

Chuck Ericson (The Duke of Pearl) has all the shell species and also laminated shell (abalam). He patented it actually..

He also has a $1000.00 minimum order.. Not quite the begginers budget.

I recommend rescuepearl.com, they offer a lot of Chucks materials, and distribute it at a lower price quota. Andy Depaul at luthier supply is also great.

They ( both Rescue pearl or Andy) will send you items by the ounce/piece if needed.

I like real shell the best, it has more luminecent qualities. BUT, the abalam has a lot of distinct qualities. I use it as well.

This Chimera is both real brown lip pearl and abalam pearl.

Real brown lip only gets pieces as big as an inch and a half or so..

The entire back tail area of the fish is abalam brown pearl. It's the only way I could get a piece of it that long, with no joint lines..

Craig

For my living sea guitar the luthier ( Tim Huenke of Superior Guitar Works)

just put some parafin wax (painted on like crayon) over the inlays and then set the stain. The wax kept the stain from getting on the inlays, and was relatively easy to clean up.

This was done over open engraving as well, and it preserved that too.

I personally have not done it, but his methods seemed impressive.

Craig

I would drill the dots out, then cut actual ebony pieces the size of dots and inlay then into the holes. Use CA with ebony dust to fill the gaps if any.

That way you still get the actual wood look. Glue or filler of any kind will look off.

Matching up the wood's grain can only help as well.

Don't try to cheat your way out of it with filler. You won't be happy.

My 2 cents.

Craig

Hi guys.

man your all too much..

My head almost exploded (not hard for me )

I promis I'll get a tutorial going with my current piece. It's a photo-real piece of a friends wife in a "lady of the lake" scene.

Tons of engraving, and a lot of detail.

As for the cutting, it's all hand cut, with .03 blades and a standard jewelers saw.

the water drops are silver dust and pearl pieces added to engraved/gouged small areas. Fill with glue and then sand.

More pics soon, and a tutorial as well.

Thanks for all the support!

Craig

Thanks again guys.

The seahorses on the truss cover are solid gold, glued to a black pearl, white pearl, and paua shell 3-d cut wave pattern. They have a ruby, and a saphire eye, (symbolic of the calm Vs. angry sea) and the algea fronds are synthetic opal.

The whole piece is a 3-d jewelery piece pretty much. It's a real truss cover. It comes off with screws.

Keith at www.whimsmith.com made the seahorses and cut the opal. I just designed it, and cut the shell, then assembled it.

The blue is recon stone turquoise. I use a lot of it. (recon stone!)

Craig

The frets would need to go.

In my opinion even if it's just dots.

It would be a pain to level each one Vs. the whole board.

I do agree with everyone.

Scrap the CNC and learn the old way first, get the methods, then jump into tech stuff.

Do a non-fretboard inlay first. Your first one will be a challenge, as was mine.

It will most likely be time consuming as well.

Do either a scrap piece, or headstock, but save that neck for your third or so inlay.

Get some cutting in first, and routing.

Just my two cents..

Craig.

Thanks LGM..

I met Andy at ASIA this past summer.

Nice guy and great materials.

As far as photos go two methods work well for me.

Actually placing the finished work on an color photographic photocopy machine

or my other trick- digital camera, on macro mode- NO flash.

Take the photo in good light and you should be O.K.

No sunlight- flourescent is best.

I really like your dolphins! Great piece!

I am going to do another themed guitar with sealife soon after I get a little break from my new son (may take a while!)

Until then I have a piece in the works that will hopefully make my other works look pale by comparison.

Pics soon hopefully.

Thanks again! I love your work

Craig

Hi all.

To those that have seen these already I apologize..

For the rest, these are from my site, which I will not post because I don't advertise or financially sponsor this site YET. I enjoy helping out.

Brian I am going to

I'll talk to you about that!

More of my inlays:

The living sea guitar- I didn't make the guitar, just the inlays

A full body sailfish on an Braz rosewood telecaster

A celtic cross on an box top

Gandolf from Lord of the Rings- on a guitar battery cover

A turning hammerhead shark on an 7 string guitar- the teeth are position markers.

Buffalo bill

And, last but not least a sperm whale fighting a giant squid on back of my whales guitar.

Thanks all for looking, and being so supportive of my work!

Craig Lavin

Hi Guys.

I saw your recent threads about inlaying into maple.

I have a bit of experience with this, and I have my own method which works very well for me.

It's pretty easy..

1) Make your inlay pattern. White pearl into raw maple gets washed out, if your staining over it it will look better, but for the most part unless it's used in the context of a bigger pattern then use something with some contrtast.

2) Cut the inlay and glue up your pattern pieces.

3) Take your glued together inlay (or single inlay if it's a single piece) to a copy center and place it FACE DOWN on the copy machine. Make a few copies.

4) Take you photocopies and use them as the routing template. Make sure you photocopy at the exact same size as the pattern!

Attach the pattern to where you want the inlay to go with some 3M spray tack glue. Just cut out the pattern from the paper, spray the back with the adhesive, then place it in position.

Let it dry.

5) Scribe the edge of the inlay image with an exacto knife. Lift out the pattern, and you will be left with the paper pattern border.

Rout to that.

This will give you an exact pattern routing edge. You may need to rout a little over it actually to give ou the extra space you need to make the inlay rest properly, but a very small uniform edge of black glue, etc.. will look natrual if it's clean.

No filler at all should be needed with this method. Just keep a steady hand and take your time. I have spent multiple days routing some inlays.

Here is a maple example- the manta ray on my living sea guitar, and the corals around the pick-up rings.

Both were routed with this method.

I hope this helps.

Craig

You can still get tons of green plastics, corians, etc.. all over the world!

Don't think of inlay being shell and wood only.

If you can cut it, sand it, and polish it, and it has a hardness at least of 3-4 on the MOHS scale, you can use for for inlay.

Really. Now open your mind, get on the net, and break out that wallet!!

Materials are all over for inlay.

Not just here in the states.

Good luck!

I'm sure Masecraft ships internationally as well.

Craig

You can get a lot of different green plastics, as well as jade recon stone, and about 7 or so other greenish stone types from Masecraft Supply.

Call them up, get the catalogue. It's worth the effort.

Craig

Get normal india ink.

"Paint" it on the lines with a small paintbrush, let it dry, either sand it off with a little 400 grit, or wipe it clean with your thumb, then "seal" the engraved lines by taking a little CA glue, and puting a drop of it on some wax paper. Tear a little piece of wax paper off and dip it in the glue, then again "paint" over the engraved lines with that. You'll have to sand it down again ever so slightly with 600 or so grit paper, but your engraved lines will be sealed.

You can get any color lines you want with this method. Just be careful not to sand away your lines. Just the glue.

Some people also use shoe polishes, and other colored sticky substances.

I think ebony dust is much more trouble than it's worth.

Stay with the inks.

I've done it this way almost 99% of the time, and almost all my inlays have some engraving on them somewhere.

Craig

I have been using CA just like Larry (and no- he does not endorse any specific brand)

However I have started to experiment with epoxies.

Pros of CA is-

1) Can be gotten in very, very thin forms where every space will be guaranteed to recieve glue.

2) Dries clear.

3) Dries hard if allowed to.

4) Few if any bubble form when you are using the stew-mac thin variety.

5) Mixing ebony dust with CA looks more like natural wood than straight epoxy does, and blends the inlay into the wood nicer (in my opinion).

Now a few cons-

Biggest for me is it shrinks a lot in some cases, leaving the gap around the inlay lower than the inlay itself. Just adding a little more helps, but I am annoyed enough by this to want to change. Also CA doesn't hold totally well to black or gold pearl.

Two of my favorite inlay artists both use either CA or epoxy. Either of thier work is the best in the world. Try both, and see which you prefer.

Craig Lavin

It's just as easy on either. Maybe a little more when the fretboard is on already. That way its already sized, etc..

Craig