A Stitch and Glue kayak can be great to look at, but unless you have struck it lucky with the grain on the ply the expanse of wood may need breaking up with some sort of decoration. The use of wood veneers and other inlay materials allow you to keep the "natural" look without a lot of hassle. Anything can be used from leafs to thin slices of agate. Take a look at Pete's Paua shearline and rice paper Guillemot for good examples: Pete's S&G Guillemot.

What I have done with the Orca should really be called Marquetry instead of inlay since the veneer isn't set into the wood at all. I used two sorts of veneer, 1mm thick Mahogany which I was given from a cabinet maker, and some sort of very white wood from a pallet. This veneer was obtained by planing a very thick shaving. It curled a bit once the epoxy soaked in so next time before gluing to the hull I plan to presoak the veneer in thinned epoxy and weigh it down until the epoxy sets. You could also bleach some pine or similar light coloured wood to get the same effect.

Cutting Out The Design

Computers are great. They enable anybody to be an artist. To get the design I searched through hundreds of Orca jpeg and gif pictures on the net. Once I found one similar to what I wanted, I used a graphics programme to get the outline of the pic, stretched it a bit since it looked pregnant, then printed it out to the size I wanted (if the chosen pic is not public domain please request permission from the artist before doing this).

Take your veneer and tape up the good side with parcel tape. You want to completely cover the veneer with a single layer of tape which overlaps by 2-3mm. Veneer is very fragile and the tape helps to stop it from splitting when you cut out the pattern. Using carbon paper, transfer the pattern onto veneer. You might want to mirror image your design before printing since the pattern will be on the underside of the inlay.

Snap off a blade on your craft knife to be certain it is sharp, then cut out the design. Take extra care around any fine detail (like fins) to avoid it splitting. If it does all is not lost since the tape will hold it together and once glued to the hull, you will be hard pressed to find the split line. Cut out any extra piece's need like the white segments on the above Orca.

Gluing On The Veneer

I should have mentioned earlier that the veneer goes on the bare wood of the hull either before fibreglassing or after the wet out coat (if used). Mix up some epoxy then thicken it slightly with Cabosil or similar fumed silica. You don't want it as thick as you would normally use in gluing. Something in the vicinity of cold but still runny honey will do. Spread it thinly on the wood face of the veneer, put it in position on the hull and press down lightly. It is important to wipe off as much of the excess epoxy that squeezes out as you can. This will make sanding and cleaning up the edges easier. If you haven't sealed the hull with epoxy beforehand, any excess glue will soak into the wood and cause a "halo" around the design unless removed as soon as possible.

Weigh down the veneer until the glue sets. A plastic bag full of sand with extra lead weights on top works wonders.

Cleaning Up

Keep an eye on the epoxy in your mixing cup. Once it has set up hard but you can still scratch it with your finger nail the weights can come off. Because the glue is thinner then the left over in your mixing cup, you can remove any excess around the veneer that has come out since weighing down with a bit of plastic. Wait until the glue has completely hardened then carefully remove the parcel tape. Separate the difficult bits with your craft knife. Sand down the edges of the veneer with 220grt paper. You want the edges to slowly curve down to meet the hull wood. Give the rest of the design a light sand as well.

Its now done. From now on forget about it and complete your fiberglassing as normal. If (like the light coloured piece's of mine) your design does not stand out from the hull as much as you like you can put an outline around it. With the Orca belly and chin, I carved the outline with a compass like tool. A sharp nail or large needle will do just as well. Sand some scrap veneer to make wood flour, mix with epoxy and full in the outline.

Because the veneer is only 1mm thick and the edges are also sanded down, there is no bump once the hull is glassed. If you plan to use thicker material then you might want to look at recessing it into the wood.