GET INLAID

I have to say that I am really proud of how this project turned out.  It took a lot of work, sometimes redoing whole steps, but it was worth it.  It is the best one yet, if I do say so.  To really get the full effect, and also note what I’m talking about below, you really should look at the bigger one.  G’head, click it.  I’ll wait.

I learned quite a few things about wood in this project, like how fragile it is along the grain lines, especially when using thin stock like I do.  I also learned that those grain lines can move.  For example, the grain line that goes from the small of her back up her nose?  That wasn’t in the piece I cut out.  It was revealed by sanding.  The same issue affected her leg, too, and a little bit on her right arm.  I’ll have to keep that in the mind in the future.  If the ebony hadn’t been 1/32" thinner than the rest of the wood, I wouldn’t have had to sand so much, but I know a way around that, too, that I learned from my inlay videos.  I should’ve used that knowledge this time, but I wasn’t expecting the grain not to be the same all the way through.  Still, I’m so pleased with the rest of it that I’m not going to let it detract from my project joy; it is always so ephemeral in this work! 

I  also learned that cocobolo (the ground) is a very porous wood, and it collects the dust from sanding something awful.  I sucked out what I could with the vacuum, and then took a damp rag to it after that, and it’s not bad, but I can see a few spots where lighter dust got stuck.

I learned that engraving (or an approximation) wood and putting ink into it is a dicey prospect, but I think I did okay in the end. I used a microfine Uniball pen on her nose, mouth, jaw, the bit of hair on the left side of her face, and the lines of her neck and breasts. I could’ve sealed it with lacquer first, then engraved, to avoid any possible bleeding of the ink, but I don’t have lacquer, and didn’t want to mess with that.  I tested it on a piece of scrap wood instead, and then tested it with the oil finish, too, before risking it on the actual project.  This piece still needs a couple more coats of the Tung oil, but I couldn’t wait for show-and-tell.

This is a project I wouldn’t be embarrassed to put out on my mantel.  If I had a mantel.  Maybe I’ll be able to do this after all.   I have no idea what I want to do next; I’ll have to think about that.  But I’ll be going into it feeling a bit more confident.

Did I just jinx myself?  Those words may come back to haunt me.