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Mica Wickersham (mica)
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 740
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Saturday, March 15, 2003 - 10:38 am:   Edit Post

My mom worked up the artwork for the inlay you were discussing with her. Here's what we've come up with:

Ruthie


This Ebony oval is to be flat and then inlaid on the surface of the guitar. It will appear like the lid of a compartment, but it will be permanently affixed.

Here you can get an idea of the scale of things:

Ruthie on Tribute
Mica Wickersham (mica)
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 758
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2003 - 11:28 pm:   Edit Post

Here's the sketch you requested with more roses:

Ruthie.v2
Sam Salamon (smsdr)
New
Username: smsdr

Post Number: 2
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 4:01 pm:   Edit Post

added roses look excellent!
what would blue specks for eyes look like?
Mica Wickersham (mica)
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 792
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Thursday, March 27, 2003 - 5:57 pm:   Edit Post

Here's the latest version with the parrot and the space in the eyes for the blue zircons:

full
detail
smsdr
New
Username: smsdr

Post Number: 3
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Saturday, April 19, 2003 - 7:09 pm:   Edit Post

Please show me any update, with color, as well as Tribute body progress....
I plan to snail mail y'all two sets of conure photos (Peppy & Dusty)
jake
Junior
Username: jake

Post Number: 27
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 - 3:20 pm:   Edit Post

mica, i alway's loved your mom's art. Even if i can't afford to buy a guitar from you, is there any way i could buy one of her drawings?

Jake
jake
Junior
Username: jake

Post Number: 28
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 - 3:21 pm:   Edit Post

mica, is there any way i could buy one of your mom's drawings? they are totally awesome!

Jake
mica
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 874
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Thursday, May 01, 2003 - 9:03 am:   Edit Post

Hi Sam,

Here's some of the first pieces cut out, some still ahve the paper pattern attached:

ruthie under construction

Jake - My mom does sell her artwork. You can send her an email susan@alembic.com and she'll be happy to discuss it with you further.
mica
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 878
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Tuesday, May 06, 2003 - 5:28 pm:   Edit Post

James has been making good progress on the inlay. Here's your guitar parts in the carving department:

body
neck

These will be joined together this week, Looking good!
mica
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 882
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Thursday, May 08, 2003 - 7:24 am:   Edit Post

More inlay pieces:

more ruthie pieces

Mike made the Ebony oval already, and James thinks he will start inlaying the pieces next week.
smsdr
New
Username: smsdr

Post Number: 4
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Thursday, May 08, 2003 - 5:56 pm:   Edit Post

looking great!
when do you put on the strings? (just kidding)
any mockup of the bird(s) yet? (did you receive hard copy snail mail pics?)
eyeball at 12th fret?
mica
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 888
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Friday, May 09, 2003 - 5:27 pm:   Edit Post

We got the pics of the pretty birds, thanks. The line art for the bird is up on March 27, I wasn't planning on doing a shell mock up of it since it's so similar to the previous version.

Your guitar is in the spray department now:

sams in spray

Sorry I didn't get the photo before Bob prepped it for the next coat of finish (what you're looking at is the sanded surface). It practically has strings, heh heh.

The eyeball inlay art will be ready for you towards the end of next week.
smsdr
New
Username: smsdr

Post Number: 5
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 3:44 pm:   Edit Post

The conures don't have the vertical line at the base of the beak which you show in the line art. If you could mockup with (fingerpaint?) a dab of watercolor to clue me in on the bird's appearance in carving that'd be appreciated...
What's ETA ballpark?
And how many guitars are gestating at once? looks like multiple births waiting for spray. No trade secrets, just curiosity
mica
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 915
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Friday, May 16, 2003 - 10:49 am:   Edit Post

Here's the revised area with Peppy:
peppy

We're thinking this project will be completed in mid-late June.

There's about 90 instruments "gestating" here right now in various stages of development. Ain't "ultrasound" a wonderful thing?
smsdr
New
Username: smsdr

Post Number: 6
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Friday, May 16, 2003 - 11:18 am:   Edit Post

Yes, hyper-mega-ultra-sound gives great vibes.
Pls make Peppy's beak black, utterly black; the white eye ring is perfect, & Peppy looks perky & chirpy!
mica
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 923
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2003 - 4:00 pm:   Edit Post

The eye iinlay for the 12th fret will look somethin glike this:

eye shelled

Materials are golden mother of pearl for the background, white mother of pearl fo rthe sclera, paua for the iris, pink ivory for the tear duct area, ebony for the pupil with a small silver "glint". The rest of the details will be done scrimshaw style - engraved then filled with a mixture of ebony dust and epoxy.

The radial lines in the iris will be more exact (not really radial in this drawing) in the actual inlay, as well as the thickness of the lashes. Some lines look a little smudgy in this rendition, but it's just a quickie to get the idea down.
smsdr
New
Username: smsdr

Post Number: 7
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2003 - 7:28 am:   Edit Post

1. Wow!
2. But...I'm thinking less is more. More like the CBS oval eye ball logo. A horizontal oval with the fretboard as the surround/background, and a green-blue iris with squiggly radial lines of varying intensity, and the glinty ebony pupil. So there'd be no skin, eyelashes or tear duct tissue.
There could be some faint red or pink squiggly blood vessels towards the edges of the scleral oval. So it'd be anatomically correct, but less of it. I want the eyeball staring out from the guitar a bit more blatantly than the eyelids ("adnexa") would allow. Thanks.
3. Again, wow! If I needed a logo for my practice, we'd be there.
mica
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 937
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Friday, May 30, 2003 - 9:20 am:   Edit Post

Is this more what you had in mind?

eye 2.0

smsdr
New
Username: smsdr

Post Number: 8
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Friday, May 30, 2003 - 11:48 am:   Edit Post

eye agrees
*pls make the iris predominantly green ,with less of the other elements
*could the horiz oval be pointy rather than rounded?
ie the sclera would end in a point at each end
*blood vessels could be finer, more threadlike if possible
looks quite pretty & just natural enough
thank you!
guitargadfly
New
Username: guitargadfly

Post Number: 1
Registered: 6-2003
Posted on Monday, June 02, 2003 - 11:55 am:   Edit Post

NICE job Susand and company, very gratifying to see my first sale of an Alembic at Olson Guitar Studios coming along. Sammy is gonna love it. The fun thing is , the parrot and the Ruthie look exactly like them! How'd ya do it?
Tom Olson
smsdr
New
Username: smsdr

Post Number: 9
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Monday, June 02, 2003 - 4:09 pm:   Edit Post

Tom, I disagree
we (Ruthie & I) eat to live, & live to play! So there's lots of artistic license at play here...
Sam
mica
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 1009
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Friday, June 20, 2003 - 2:44 pm:   Edit Post

Here's an "in process" shot of James doing the puzzle of Ruthie:

ruthie's parts come together

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