Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

I used to make my own guitar picks (I like them thick) out of melamine spatulas, and I was looking at a left over handle from a white one, and decided to use it to try making my first faux ivory utaguchi inlay.
It is a very hard material, and finishes nicely.





The first one I tried was the smaller kinko style. It turned out okay, so I thought I'd try doing a myoan style...much harder to do! It was difficult getting the curves to conform, so there was a tiny gap at the top. I figured after I'd done the first gluing, I'd trim it and use a little bit of the leftover white powder and do a superglue/powder fill...but the waterthin superglue completely filled it. Now I know why black inlays are so prevalent. I think it would tend to hide gaps because...gaps are dark so you don't notice them so much!

Oh well, I feel pretty good for my first attempts, and will get a black spatula next time!