Official Luthiers Forum!

I'll forever admire the talent and artwork I've seen here. Craig, you are certainly an inspiration.

Here's my take on Hula Kahiko (traditional). I've learned a number of things in attempting this inlay, which is my most number of pieces intensive inlay to date. Based on Randy Jay Braun's Wahine series, with permission from the artist (photographer).

Aaron, that's a great, wonderful inlay! Is that your first? The #1 in the title makes it seem so..

Thanks for the nice comments, If I helped inspire you to do that, as well as the others who I admire, then I can feel good about my work..

PM me if you would like to talk one day!

Craig L

_________________
www.handcraftinlay.com

That is great. I love the Hawaiian vibe and think you have captured the organic beauty found in the hula. I would defiantly be proud to have something like that on one of my guitars.

Nice work.

John

excellent work. im also curious how much experience you have. great work either way, but if that is one of your earlier works then it makes it that much more impressive!

_________________
sweat the small stuff.

Thanks for the comments, guys. I've been doing inlay for a while (if that's what you call it), very simple names, signatures and the sort. Faces and realistic types of inlay have eluded my abilities, especially from an engraving standpoint. So, I just thought I'd jump in with two feet, two or three inlays ago.

This is the first "large" inlay that I've done, but that's not what the Ekahi represents. The builder has always wanted to do a Hawaiian themed instrument. Long story short, Hawaiian themed inlay, for me, have a very cultural meaning, and because of one previous inlay for a Kumu Hula (Hula Instructor), I learned a few things about the art of Hula. Suffice to say, the builder wants to do a series.

This was the first "test" project for us, and I learned a lot. Execution on the next one will be quite different. I didn't have any idea how difficult it would be to source a photo of a dancer, especially Kahiko, without breaching into copyright issues. Fortunate that photographers are an email away.

Thanks for letting me share.