Here’s a detail on the skull showing the redesigned headphones, and is pretty much exactly what I had envisioned from the start.  There’s a distinct 70s, mechanical quality to these ‘phones that I believe just goes perfectly with the rest of the scene.  In fact, they bear a scary resemblance to these quadraphonic headphones that I found in my closet (I must have taken these from Dad at some point, but could never use them without a quad decoder and actual quad sources!)  The next version should see the return of the materials mock-up, but for now a line art-only version is necessary to confirm that the design works.  The earmuffs are officially gone!

A day later, and I already have a revision.  Most striking is the lapis rendering for the shirt.  I think Mica grabbed some dark and light lapis, polished it up (a fetid process), photographed it, and worked it into the mock-up.  The use of this natural material certainly adds to the realism of the scene.

The ground has changed a bit, and is something Mica continues to develop.  Today, the chair is on a bed of grass, courtesy of some dyed Burl Maple.  Darker Burl Maple creates a path at the very bottom.

I’ve been told that Susan has drawn me some new headphones, so I’m hoping to see them in the next revision.  We’re getting pretty close to something I can approve.

After a few weeks of inactivity, I’ve finally got something new to share.  This is the first try at a materials mockup for the medallion.  It is rough, incomplete, and subject to change.  The pipe and headphones are still shown without materials, and the leaves and shirt have only solid color placeholders.

The shirt is going to be made of lapis – a semi-precious stone that in ancient times was used to make scarabs and amulets.  The leaves will actually be little pieces of the mineral gasparite.  The buttons on the shirt may ultimately be represented by bone or the shed antler of a deer.

The tree and Adirondack chair will be actual wood.  The moon and bones look like they’ll be comprised of Mother of Pearl and Tahitian Black Mother of Pearl.  The grass-like ground at the bottom is Abalone.  The darker material that the chair is sitting on is Burl Maple, but that’s probably going to change.  Dark Gabon Ebony will provide the night sky backdrop.

This version of the medallion has not yet incorporated all of my requested design changes (but the apple is already gone), so I expect another round or two before I can approve it for cutting.

I meant to get this up last week, if for no other reason than to present all the concepts I had come up with.  This is just the continuing evolution of the modified wedge shape I presented in the last post.  For this design, I asked that there be less material used for the fret markers.  Although I was excited about this shape before I saw it laid out on a fingerboard, I now feel I tinkered a bit too much with the traditional wedge shape.  Of course the fact that Mica thinks it looks like a fingernail clipping didn’t help the sell!

This design is too curvy for what I’m looking for, so I don’t think I’ll be pursuing it any further.  It’s always worth exploring the different ideas that pop up, because if nothing else, it reinforces my feelings on some of the earlier concept drawings.

As of today, I have made the decision on which layout I’m continuing with, and I should have a color mockup by the end of the week.

A day later, and I’ve got two variations on the original design.  I asked Mica to give the wedges a little more character for this round.  The results are shown above, including a fret marker detail.  It’s amazing what a small variation can do!  At the very least, I haven’t seen this exact shape on any other fingerboard.  At the same time, it retains the simplicity I asked for.  Simple and unique – just what I’m after.

Version three (the bottom fingerboard) shows a clever design where the markers travel up the thumb-side of the neck, but then “change lanes” at the 12th fret, continuing up to the nameplate on the finger-side.  At first, I wasn’t crazy about this design, but the more I look at it, the more I am warming up to this layout.

I do have at least one more idea for the shape of the wedge, and I will probably have another fingerboard layout with that design in a few days.  After that, I’ll probably sit on the fingerboard ideas for a bit, to make sure I’m at peace with my final decision.

Shown here is Alembic’s first pass at the fingerboard inlays.  This is not the final design, but I need them to give me something that I could provide feedback on.

I asked for them to start with a traditional sidebar inlay, but wanted the shape modified in some way.  I am after a simple, repeating shape that stays clear of the center of the fingerboard, and this wedge is Alembic’s starting point.  The 12th fret features my initials bound in an oval of sterling silver.  The guitar’s name tag will be up at the 24th fret (it is misplaced in this picture, and won’t say ‘DE’.)

I am expecting several revisions of this design, but I don’t think it will be drastically different.  The wedge shapes will change, and I’ve asked that the oval be skewed to neatly fit between the two inlays of the 12th fret.

Materials-wise, the fret markers (with the exception of frets 12 and 24), as well as the ‘CJ’ initials will be black Tahitian mother-of-pearl.  The inlays at the 12th, 24th, and tulip-end of the fingerboard will probably be the more traditional white mother-of-pearl.

I should have some new drawings later today to mull over.  I’ll post them here so you can see its evolution.  Meanwhile, a materials mockup of the medallion has been promised to me shortly, so hopefully I’ll have all the inlay decisions made in the near future and they can start the cutting!

Here is the latest rendering of the medallion line art, and it’s pretty much done.  You can see how precise the lines are, as well as some design simplification in this version.  Most notably simplified are the ribs and spinal column, which makes this drawing slightly less anatomically correct than previous versions.  The fact is that this medallion will not be very large, and such high detail will not translate well when cut from shell.  The key is creating detail that suggests other detail which isn’t actually part of the finished piece.  This is one of those things that only time and perspective reveal, and is one of many reasons why this process takes so long.

Some things to notice are the pipe, which has been redesigned to actually match Dad’s, as well as the all-important addition of a pocket to the shirt!  Someone at Alembic suggested placing an apple in the tree, but I’m not sold on it yet.  Apple trees tend to have low lying branches, and the one shown here just doesn’t otherwise look like an apple tree.  Also, we never had an apple tree where I grew up.  Still, I think I want to see it in color before I make the final decision.

I’ve also given some additional feedback to Mica, where I suggested the musical notes trail off toward the moon, rather than forming an arc around the skull.  I also suggested to her some ways to make the headphones look a bit less like earmuffs.  I expect to see these ideas implemented in the next version.

Overall, I have to say that Susan and Mica are really staying true to my original concept, and the inlay art is coming together amazingly well.

So here we are about a week later, and the vast majority of the line art is now complete.  I guess Mica has been putting in a bit more than fifteen minutes per day!  Some elements are not yet placed (pipe, shirt details), and some things will change slightly (tree and rib details), but it looks like this tedious process is coming to an end.  Mica tells me she needs to work on the pelvis bones a bit more, but she feels as if she’s really close to finishing that off.

Once I approve the line art, Alembic will immediately begin mocking it up with a proposed materials simulation.  Mica will add color and texture to approximate the wood, shell, and/or metal choices determined to give the best look.

I’m told that they might begin actual cutting in about 3-4 weeks, so I’ll probably have the color mockup in relatively short order!