Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi Guys.
Know it's been a long time since posting, it's been really busy down here!
We had a little girl, Cynthis Alexis Lavin born about six weeks ago, and since then it's been non-stop!
That said, inlay is getting back up to speed.
Here is one that was definitely challenging. The client's name is Crabtree, so we had to come up with a scene involving a crab, and a tree. The result is this little mangrove crab in the bay, with the mangrove tree back lit by the spiny oyster sunset. Lots of corians, pearls, stone, ebony, etc....

Under a finish the ebony will blacken out, and it will look darker, as it should.
Thanks for the look! More coming soon!
Craig Lavin

_________________
www.handcraftinlay.com

Wow!!!!! that corian is perfict affect for sand

Craig,
Absolutely beautiful work, as usual!

Chuck

_________________
"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

Beautiful !
I think the crab is smiling!


Mike

_________________
Mike Collins

Congratulations on the little one, Craig. Enjoy while you can. They grow up too fast.

Once again I'm astounded by your skill at inlay. Beautiful work.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Oh no you don't..... Craig let's see a pic of Cynthis Alexis? And congrats to you and your wife my friend!!!

Craig and Brad the inlay is just absolutely beautiful!!!! WOW!!!

Thanks everyone. I like the corian for sand, it's true.

Hesh I'll get a picture of her up when I get one that looks good. I just started the dslr thing to help with the new website (WHICH IS ACTUALLY ON THE WAY- ALMOST TWO YEARS AFTER IT WAS STARTED... ) and I am working on indoor images of kids wikthout a flash or studio lighting, otherwise called "need to know what youre doing"

It'll happen

Craig

_________________
www.handcraftinlay.com

Of all the 'saw and scribe' crowd, I'm most consistently impressed by your work, Craig!

Indoor pics of kids...ISO 1600, burst shooting, and luck

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

That's great advice, and thanks. Thought about upping the iso. Just got a Nikon D90, the iso goes up to like 3200 or something crazy like that with little noise.. That may be the only way to get the sensor to read as enough light.
We'll see what happens!
Trying to get a smile on a six week old's face is tough enough..


Craig

_________________
www.handcraftinlay.com

Guys, this thing is unbelievable! I picked it up from the post office this morning. I asked the lady at the post office for a knife, because I couldn't even wait to get it back to the truck! She was impressed with it, too! I took it home, sat at my workbench and just stared at it. This whole thing started because my client, last name Crabtree, wanted a crab and a tree on his peghead. I told him there was no way I would even attempt it, but I knew someone who could pull this off and make it look great. I gave Craig a general description of what we were looking for, and *poof*! You see the result! If you need a one-off, Craig is the man!

It is going on a BRW dread, bound with bloodwood, and abalone around the top and rosette. It's going to have the Waverly black pearl tuners, so it will match the bay pretty well! I've got a bit of work left to do, but I'm definitely going to post pics after the finish goes on the peghead!!

Craig, I sure do appreciate you doing this, and I am more than impressed...
I couldn't be happier with it. I'm glad the little one and the Mrs. is doing well!

_________________
Brad Tucker

Craig, that's beautiful! I CAN'T WAIT!

_________________
http://www.presnallguitars.com

Craig, I love your work! Wish at times I had you looking over my shoulder while I am designing my inlays.

_________________
http://www.casperguitar.com

Well congrats on the little girl!
And that headstock looks amazing, love the detail!

Josh

dang....

Sk

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I always love seeing your work Craig. It's truly inspirational. This new one doesn't dissapoint (none of them have yet!).
Excellent composition, use of materials and workmanship/execution as always!!! Love it!!!

It looks and sounds like the whole guitar is going to be very special Brad! I'm looking forward to seeing it when it's done.

Congrats on the new baby too Craig. I'm not interested in baby pics though...they all look red and scrungy to me until they are a couple of months old at least. I'll wait.....

Cheers,
Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Thanks as always for all the wonderful comments guys.
It's always good to see ones that felt challenging to make happen receive approval (the inlay- not the little girl! Were very blessed that she was "easy"... )
There is plenty more coming up for posting soon. The last batch had mainly more regular non-art stuff in it up until this one. Be expecting an alligator baby (next) some clown fishes and an anemone, a huge reef scene (two actually- one is just going to take four months). So these will be fun.

Baby images as soon as they work out.
Thanks again!
Craig

_________________
www.handcraftinlay.com

Craig,
sadly enough, again I can't see your beautiful work for some reason. All I see is a little blue square with a question mark. I'll check your web site to see if you've posted it there. As beautiful as it must be, I doubt it holds a candle to the new little one. Enjoy. they grow up way too fast.
Craig S.

Sorry Craig, it's not on the website yet.

The whole thing is a mess right now, and I need to use photo bucket. Most likely that's why it's being blocked.
Drop me an e-mail and I can shoot it over to you.

Thanks,
Craig

_________________
www.handcraftinlay.com

Very nice craig.

I have a general question about inlay hopefully someone here can answer. I'm wanting to build a guitar which will be my first. If I come up with a design of my last as I want it to appear on the head stock (as the name Tucker appears on the head stock in the first post above), does anyone offer a service where they can make an inlay using that design? Can the design then be replicated for subsequent builds?

_________________
Formerly known as Adaboy.......

for less then I can, so go with those guys. The links for the sponsors are up top. All of them are great at what they do.
Good luck.
Craig L

_________________
www.handcraftinlay.com

Dude.. your work is absurdly good... -_-

Craig I am in awe of the inlay and cannot add anything that hasn't already been said. I could never nor would ever try something like that. On the other hand, I can help you with photographing your baby and getting a smile! That's what I used to do.

1. Make sure she has had a nap, before trying to capture her smile.
Early morning is best, but any time after a nap will work.
2. Make sure she is clean, dry and filled up!
3. Be very careful to set your equipment up and you are going to want a squeeze bulb,(tell you how old I am) or some other means of remote control. Position yourself just outside the frame with the remote. Lean fairly close to her, and gently blow a "puff" of air into her face! Key word here is gently. 90% of the children I photographed would smile with this trick. Of course when photographing other peoples babies, I didn't blow in their face but used a little squeeze bulb to direct the air.

Try it a few times just playing with her and see how she reacts. I would nearly (nearly) bet you, she will smile on command!

Mike

Funny you should say that- we just "figured out" the blow in the face for a smile trick last night by accident!

Now I just need to get the remote..

Thanks for the compliments. This discussion has turned into an "off topic", so let me just say thanks for all the photography tips, and the wonderful inlay support. I'll see you over at the photo blogs..

More inlay soon.
Craig

_________________
www.handcraftinlay.com

Wife = remote

Mike

Congratulations on the keiki wahine.

As usual, your use of material and color bears no boundaries. Very nice.