Time to move on from aliens!
The ukulele’s main inlay is a stylized “Man in the Moon” on the headstock plate. The moon is made up of 5 pieces of shell plus an ebony “mini-moon” that is actually part of the underlying ebony headstock. The moon, moon “eye” & “eyebrow” are gold Mother-of Pearl (MOP). An accent of Paua Abalone floats around the eye and across the moon.
This was a fun to build. The most challenging element was the “eye”. It’s only 2mm (0.088″) square and I kept losing the part as it flipped off the cutting board or my workspace. I also kept tolerances down to 0.025mm (0.001″) so the fit was really tight. Each part had to be perfectly parallel to the surface to slide in. Next time I need to loosen things up a bit!
Still so much in love with the way you used the abalone – you found the perfect piece and the lines make everything feel so fluid (and cloud-like) on top of the soft pearlescent yellow!
In other news – nice changes to the site! Especially your picture with the award-winning Pua Nani 😉