I’ve heard a lot of people talk about doing inlay projects when they receive their X-Carves. I’m really interested in this kind of thing too but don’t have a ton of experience with it. I’ve tried a couple basic inlays before but wanted to get better at the process.
I’m the Product Curator for Inventables, so I’m always looking for cool new stuff to add to our site. I found some pre-fabricated wood inlay bands and used them to add accents to a bamboo tray. I created the design in Easel and played around with pocket sizes/depths on a piece of scrap wood before trying it with bamboo. I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out:
After seeing how simple these made the inlay process, I’m thinking about adding them to the Inventables store. Thoughts, questions, concerns, suggestions? Don’t hold back 
I set up a page where you can enter your email address if you think this is a cool product, and you’ll be notified if we decide to offer the inlay strips in the store. Just thought I’d see how everyone felt about the idea.
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@AlexBerger, that stuff is really cool, and the (proposed?) price seems very reasonable. Inlay work is on my list of things to learn once I get my X-Carve, so something inexpensive - and quite nice looking - like these strips would be perfect for the initial experiments. Your serving tray is fantastic! 
Thanks @TimothyHanson! The pricing ($3.25 per 12" strip) is an estimate but should be pretty accurate.
This might be a kind of silly question, but are the strips at all flexible? Or are they rigid? If you tried to bend a 12" strip, how far could you bend it before it breaks?
I’m thinking about whether these could be used on curved surfaces, like to wrap around a cylinder or something like that.
@paulkaplan the do have some flex. There’s enough flexibility to be able to bend them into an arc, but not into a full circle where the ends are touching.
I wonder if you can steam it or soak it in water to get more flex out of it, i have some here i will try it later.
The glue may dissolve but its worth a shot.
the way luthiers bend guitar sides to the curved profile is with steam, it makes wood very very flexible, depending on the type of glue used to hold the binding together, steam may be a good option.
@WarrenDownes @JamiePhillips Great ideas! I hadn’t thought of water/steam.
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