For me the more detail the better! nice work.
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Yes. No. 
Over in the Not made on a Glowforge topic I show a way to visualize the finished piece using Tinkercad. I mostly use that for 3D printed pen casting molds but in that thread I demonstrate using it for visualizing a simple lamination.
But for that particular design I have enough experience making laminated pens that I pretty much knew what it’d look like.
For this one I was mostly interested in getting hands-on with a complex lamination so I didn’t care too much what it looked like. Nice plus that it turned out like it did but what I really wanted was to understand how the wood would behave at that size (lots of broken pieces) and whether the veneer would overcome the weak butt joints in the layers (it did!).
That said, if I was better at visualizing things with more complex curves I would never have used the offcut from this pen blank to make an ornament. I should have used it on a short-barrelled pen.
Noted. And thanks!
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Wonderful! Love the pens! The snakes…not so much!
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Dad found a huge one on our place one time – I forget the measurements now, but the folks over at Texas A&M were very happy to get her, and even happier when they discovered she was gravid. 
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Between emptying my parents’ house, clearing Mom’s stuff out of Dad’s apartment now that she’s in assisted living, building our place, visiting Mom (45 minutes away) every other day to keep her spirits up, AND my multiple and varied hobbies, I’m going to have to live to 120 to get everything done that I want to do!
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when i was a kid living in orlando and winter park in the 70s, i saw a lot of coral snakes in the orange groves we used to play in.
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Boy, that’s a LOT of work! But the result is stunning! Thank you for showing us!
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I wrote this project up for Instructables last night and it’s been featured! I mentioned Glowforge (of course!) so I hope they can keep up with the tens of thousands of new orders sure to follow. 
Here’s the instructable, if you are curious. If you tweet and want to spread the 
love, go here. Tip of the hat to Ocooch in there as well.
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Awesome work!! Please do continue to share all the amazing details in your future posts 
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Thanks! Your wish is my command.
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Wow! Very nice! It’s nice to see your work flow!
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I checked in on my Instructable today because the contest has entered the judging phase. I was a bit disappointed this pen didn’t make the finals but the one that knocked me off the list deserves the standing. It uses a laser and the author provides multiple sets of cutfiles so anyone who liked this post might want to have a look. Also, the Instructable is incredibly well organized and detailed. Go have a look at Impossible Spiral Pen Blanks and be prepared to be amazed!
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