A Different Decoration From the Back

BENCHTIPS

- BOB RUSH

Many of my previous monthly articles have featured decorations that show through the front and are the result of carving holes into the back of a cab. These carved holes have been a random pattern or a planned pattern, but they were all just holes.

This month I am trying something different and a bit more complex than the holes. This new attempt will be a heart shape.

I started with one of my favorite shapes, a sharply curved teardrop made from Piranha agate from Brazil. Its name is derived from the state of Parana in Brazil, but after the material arrived in the U.S. the spelling devolved into the name of a fish, the piranha. This agate is much more highly colored than the typical Brazilian agate from elsewhere in Brazil. I really like making cabs from this material because the colored bands are so highly defined and complex.