Inlay powder advice

shanmoon

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I'm thinking about my first ukulele kit build (got a Stew Mac kit as a gift). I'd like to do an inlay on the headstock with a mixture of MOP dust and some other kind of light grey or maybe light tan dust so that I can get something approximating the surface of the moon (since my last name is moon).

Any suggestions?
 
MOP dust will look very bad.
Just use nice round piece of MOP.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. The do have some nice pre-cut inlays. I think I'll be ordering one from him. I might even have to comission a custom one for a second ukulele once I get a little more comfortable with this whole build process.
 
You can always use white sand as a filler or even ground up stone. I used turquoise when I built the infamous "vegan" uke for the customer who couldn't have anything living on the uke. MOP was out because the critter might have been inhumanely killed prior to using its shell. I think it is turned out rather attractively although I've only done it again once and still use shell.

1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg 4.jpg 5.jpg
 
For a crescent moon I use a diamond core bit on a bit of shell then I use the same bit to take a nibble. Drop the moon into a matching circular hole and back fill with sawdust and superglue. This was done using abalone.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/2RCFKLScNDawUft28

To my eye a round "moon" just looks like a big dot while the crescent shape is more easily recognizable as a moon, as long as it does not look like a banana.
 
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