Project #7: The design and gluing, or “How I haven’t screwed up anything yet”
These are the pieces of shell, patterns glued on, for my next project. The large piece in the lower right-hand corner is the entire design. All the black parts will be MOP, and be cut largely from the single piece of MOP they are currently glued to. The white parts of the pattern will be cut out of green abalone.
I didn’t have anything in particular in mind for this project, so I paged through my various clipart books, and finally settled on this one. I chose it because it’s going to be a sawing challenge. Big time. The main piece of MOP will be cut out, with the green abalone dropped in, and in some pieces, the green abalone will be cut out as well and MOP dropped into it, so precision is key. Precision sawing is also what I need to work on. If I don’t get it absolutely right on this one, it’s just not going to fly. I can hear the swearing now, but at the same time, I am motivated to get it right. There are only two steps to inlay, really: sawing and routing. Any idiot can squeeze a superglue bottle, even me. So there are only two things I need to master to be an inlay artist. Just two simple things. It should be doable, right? Thus endeth the self-peptalk.
I’ve been having major wrist and hand problems for the last couple weeks, and haven’t been doing a whole lot that requires manual dexterity, so I don’t know if I’ll be working on sawing these this coming weekend or not. I see the orthopedist on Thursday.
