Actually, It's a Grateful Dead feel a la Steal Your Face with a little East Indian mysticism thrown in. With that giant inlay with the eyeball of abalone that looks like the Earth, I'd suggest(sic) Eyes of the World as a good name for this beauty. Jerry lives on!

Mmmmm ...I think it becomes time I listen to a  Greateful Dead CD. I never heard them playing ...really ...yes-yes ..I KNOW ...shame on me. But hey ...maybe I start to grow up ....huh ...I'll get out of puberty before I'm 56 ...promise!
 
Paul the bad one

Paul - listen to the last Fillmore East show, it's my absolute favorite (thanks to Don)!

Let's see... The wood's fantastic, the shape is exciting, the inlays look incredible (each in its own manner)... I'm almost afraid to see the whole picture put together - because it's gonna look soooo good - then I'm gonna be so jealous!  
 
This will be some kind of great looking instrument.  Congratulations in advance, Brent.  You have a lot to look forward to.
 
Bill

Materials look great!  The earth especially is amazing if a level of detail can be maintained.  
 
However, for the overall design I would like to be a little more precise in the shape itself -to mimic a little more heiroglyphic in nature. Below is my mockup (forgive my weak graphic editing skills again).  I wish I had sent a more detailed pic of the original idea.  Now I can't find one....  Something similar to the below would be what I am looking for.
 
Mica,
 
Let me know what you think.
 
Thanks for everyone's great input on the design and overall piece of work that Alembic is conjuring up for me!
 
Happy Holidays to all!
 
Brent
 

 

Hi Mica,
 
How does this look with your artisans?  I don't want this to be the final so I would like your input before we start.  I would like the pearloid to have curvature around the eye which my mock up does not show very well. If you are ok with it then I would like to coordinate on a final mockup.
 
thanks,
Brent

 
Hi Mica,
 
I think I have improved my previous design slightly.  Note the curvature around the eye and some of the 'limbs' have been slightly shortened.  I actually think all of the sharp angles should be smoothed slightly.
 
I am anxious to hear`see what you think.
 
thanks,
 
Brent

Smoothing the edges would make the design a bit less computery feeling. I notice the line under the globe is finer than the one above, do you want to keep that in the final design? Except for the decending parts under the eye, I feel the overall weight of the lines is too light compared to the intricate globe. If it was just an abalone or mother of pearl ball, I wouldn't have a problem with the lighter wight lines.  
 
The mockup from December would be smoothed in the inlay (without the jagged edges). But I'm getting the feeling you prefer something that is more angular from these recent posts. I'll get another version prepared and hope we'll be able to get the same pictures in eachother's heads so the inlay can proceed.

All good points.  Your probably right, a little too thin and computery.
 
But yes, I would like to keep the line under the eye thinner.
 
Looking forward to your next mockup.
 
thanks as always,
Brent

Since my mom has been sick and has a bit of catch up work to do, we enlisted Mike to redraw the shape influenced by your drawings.  

  I went ahead and gave it a quick color mock up:  

  Of course the inlay will be a clean cut, the jpg compression doesn't hold a fine line, but I think you can imagine what it will look like based on these concept sketches. Let me know what you think.

Perfect!  I Love it!
 
The final decision has been made!  Woohoo!
 
Thanks for bearing with me.
 
Brent

Hi Mica,
 
Any luck on getting material for this?
 
thanks much,
 
Brent

Yes! The material arrived and Mike is in process on your inlay. I will get you some progress shots shortly. The acrylic material is awesome - they cast the sheets by hand and so the marble-like swirls all by hand too. It's really neat material.

Great!  I can't wait to see it!  
 
Thanks Mica.
 
Brent

The world is in a ziplock bag on the corkboard:
 

Mike did a great job on the inlay (shame about my autofocus). Very tight joints between the two materials. I hope you don't mind that he made an artistic decision to replace the bright white mother of pearl with golden mother of pearl. It's not as shocking against the abalone.  
 
Please email me privately the address you can receive an overnight delivery on Tuesday. I need to send you a sample piece of the acrylic. It's mostly red, but still sort of pinkish/magenta-y. You can let me know if the color is acceptable once you see it in person. It's not a decision I want to leave to monitor calibration.  
 
In the meantime, we are seeking an alternative in case you don't like the color.