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Hi Guys

Last week I got back from a trip to Mexico, Rivera Maya. I found some wonderfull pink, yellow and red shells on the beach. I gather a handfull of the flattest shells I could find. My original thought was that I could cut some inlays out them, but I notice most are very thin and still have a slight arch to them. So my next thought was to crush/break them into smaller pieces and make a laminate with epoxy or something.

So the theory I thought of was to use a pie tin or similar and coat the bottom with epoxy and lay the shells on top. Then brushing more coats of epoxy over that. Once dried, I could remove it from the tin and send it thru the drum sander (or block level it...?). Could I even come close to making a sheet product out of this? Is there other ways to do this?

If nothing else, I could make dot inlays, but what a waste of time and beauty.

Joe

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Joe

When crushed, the pieces will shift and lose their reflective quality. It ends up looking dull and lifeless. If they are too thin to use for dots or other small pieces then they are not really very useful for inlays.

Even when polished back up?

Joe

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Joe

I'm wondering if it would work better if after crushing you screened them to get a good size for inlay. You could pack it in dry and flood with CA? I just did a shell inlay and after sanding an 1/8" worm hole in the shell turned up. I can't decide if I should try to fix it or have it be part of the art.

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http://goatrockukulele.com

Yes, even when polished it will not be reflective, but will have a rather dull whitish appearance. Look at the edge of a piece of MOP to get a preview.