My nephew was in town and so it was laser time. He settled on making valet trays as a gift for his girlfriend, this is how they turned out. I didn’t make them, just advised and got his permission to post them here.
Yup, he picked and chose from existing projects and added some elements to remix it into his own.
The bee inlay was one element from a previous tray:
And the corner flourish inspired by another tray:
The dragonfly inlay and rose/inscription engraves were new elements, and the material choices were all his ideas. These are truly #1 and #2 of 2, unique items.
His work with your guidance made a great team! His girlfriend will love those! Those inlays are beautifully done! And that blue leather is striking against the colors of the woods. Gorgeous!
Not as much as you might think, this is not our first project. Almost all of the skills involved were used when he made an inlaid dice tower. The guidance I offered were really more of a refresher and details about the quirks of my tools like the belt sander etc.
He’s just really good at it. He takes his time and pays attention to the details. He has the same philosophy on making stuff that I do — if something minor isn’t right people may not notice, but l’ll know.
