Post #466891 by TikiMango on Sat, Jul 4, 2009 5:43 PM

Benzart, that inlay is a pain! Of course I don't know what I'm doing, so that may be half of my problem. I shape the inlay with a round diamond bit and keep test-fitting it until it drops in place. If the inlay begins to look too weird, I'll adjust the hole shape it's going into. Then I place a drop of super glue on the bone and "try" to position the paua into place before it's welded to the spot. The working time of the glue seems to be about 1.3 hummingbird heartbeats (if I'm not mistaken).

I hope everyone is having a grand ole 4th of July! Days like this I tend to like to be alone, safe in my house, away from all the crazies... unless I have fireworks, then that's a totally different story! This year I didn't have any, so between grilled snacks of meat I worked on a little Honu (turtle) pendant. This guy was a design challenge mostly due to his shell. It's a blank canvas, and the options for How to approach it and What to do with it are numerous.

I think turtle beaks are the coolest.

He's my Happy Honu.

I tried to create a Hawaiian styled image on the shell, but it sort of looks a bit Marquesan.