This is actually my first post here, I’ve just been sitting back and loving everyone else’s creations so far…and honestly, my stuff until this hasn’t really been WOW enough to be worth posting. This project though, I’m beyond proud of.
I’ve been dying to use abalone veneer in a project since reading @tyler1’s post about doing inlay with it (Abalone / Mother of Pearl Inlay), and I finally came up with a way to do it. I used his settings as a start, so thank you for posting those, as well as the link to the material itself.
Yes, I literally came up with the design just so I’d have a good reason to use that one material (and because I love that quote). Unmasking everything was kind of a pain, I hadn’t realized just how many tiny lines were in the images until it was time to peel it all off. And getting the cut-out veneer to line up with the coastlines in northern Canada was all kinds of interesting. All told, it took I think 8.5 hours for engraving, unmasking, and sticking the abalone in.
Then on the back I just did a quick engrave of the summary form of my actual travel wish list…not quite everywhere, but pretty close!
Oh wow! It’s a remarkable piece! Never tried that abalone stuff, but maybe you will inspire me. I really like the whole concept of this sign, and I hope you get to all those places.
Actually, I figured out pretty quick the trick was to NOT be afraid of breaking it! Doing the really tricky bits around coastlines where it was so thin it was barely hanging on was much easier if I broke it into smaller bits. (This was already a combination of 3 sheets of veneer, since they’re so small, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to do that…and you can barely see the join lines unless you’re really looking for them.) Plus I actually messed up a little cutting it out and didn’t give it any kerf adjustment, so along most of the coastlines, it’s a bit crushed because I had to kinda shove it into place (illustrated below). I actually kind of like the result though, because I feel like it gave it more wave-like texture.
