Hi Guys,
I’ve been asked to do 8 table name signs for an up comming wedding. The wedding has an Art Deco / Great Gatsby theme to it. I was going to carve a board around each sign along these lines.
The text would then be carved in. i’d like to do a two tone wood which the main body being a darker wood and then a lighter infill however doing it all as a inlay would be way to time consuming. Has anyone tried infilling with a light wood filler and then sanding back? i can’t decide if this would be passable or rubbish. I’ll probably do the job using F-engrave and a 45deg V bit as the text wouldn’t come out well in Easel.
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I’d thought about that if i was going to go with a black infill however i was hoping to go for a light wood colour, i’ve not seen an epoxy (so far) which gives me the colour i was hopping for. Black is my fall back option.
Just buy clear epoxy and tint with acrylic paint.
Why not use a maple board as the base and a walnut (or similar dark wood) veneer. When you carve through the walnut you will see the maple beneath. Should look sharp and no need to infill.
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That sounds like a clean simple solution
i like that, not that easy to get hold of veneers or Maple in the UK but i can order it all online. I’ve not thought of that process before. Thanks 
If you have access to a thickness planer, glue a dark piece of wood to a light piece of wood then run the board through the thickness planer (dark wood facing up) until it’s the desired thickness.
Stain first and then Vcarve? The board would be whatever color you stained it and the carve would be the lighter wood underneath. Then just seal with poly or whatever.
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If you use the veneer approach or pre-stain, I recommend a downcut bit for less tear-out.
If you go with resin I use smooth-on products which are white or clear, and then you add color or effect powder (like metallic or color shimmer) - lots of options. Though I would be tempted to use a more milky/translucent effect. So it doesn’t look like “just paint”. 
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For really thin inlay stuff I saw a project where the inlay material was not cut all the way through. Leaving a thin “onion skin” of the original material for the base (otherwise it was so fragile it would break free during carving)
the inlay was glued in place and then the top remainder was planed and sanded away.
I made these table names in 2 pieces for easy storage
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wow, how many guests were there? Or was this just for the top table? Either way, great memento for the day. Nicely done.
I made these for a Christmas dinner party as it happens but the idea is the same. I made 10 bases and 14 name tags.
