Source for mother of pearl

[hugh bunker]

I am going to be doing a set of boxes in ebony and need to inlay mother of pearl into them. It doesn't need to be real mother of pearl but needs to be thin enough to laser cut. I was thinking maybe pick guards for guitars. Any Ideas of another source for it? Thanks

[Nicolas Silva]

Try Luthier supply. Here is a link: http://www.luthiersupply.com/Shell_blank_page.html

you can easily find some inlay materials on ebay.

[Mike Troncalli]

I just did a quick google search and found a few suppliers. One of them was on Etsy..

[hugh bunker]

Thanks, is genuine mother of pearl cuttable with the laser?

[John Noell]

I have used a lot of cuttable pearl shell for inlays. OceanshellNZ (dot com) in New Zealand has quite a variety. Really nice people in all of my dealings.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

The absolute best, and I have tried many, is from Aqua Blue Maui. http://www.aquabluemaui.com/ It is a thin laminate that is glued up somehow of mother of pearl pressed into sheets. He offers it in different colors. The color is a coating, so you CANNOT sand it if you get the colored stuff. He does have plain shell material. The quality of his stuff is amazing. I use it extensively in my wood surfboards and other projects. It can be laser cut. Below is a video of an inlay that was laser cut, and then I routed the recess for it with a dremel and router base. It is VERY thin, so not much recess is needed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owxHr32JHz0

[hugh bunker]

Really nice job on the surf board. I will give them a call, looks good. Thanks

[Malcolm Schweizer]

By the way, I said mother of pearl, but that surfboard is abalone. I misspoke. He does have many to choose from. Thanks for the compliment.

[Michele Welch]

My understanding is that real mother of pearl is quite pricey. Something along the lines of $70-$80 per ounce. I'm in the process of doing some ebony rastered out and inlay with abalone or turquoise looking acrylic. I'm hoping things go well!

[John Noell]

Even at that price, the VERY thin sheets of MOP go pretty far.

[Ernest Martin]

I'm not sure but doesn't Grizzly have some mother of pearl