The beautiful sea-shell design

A small hand-saw and lots of patience !

The talented luthier Giannis Kadoglou finalized the creation of the decorative elements for the pick-guard and the side capping strips .

Faithful to the traditional way, Giannis used the difficult and time consuming technique of the small hand saw (Pearl Cutting Saw) to cut the tiny and intricate design 

This particular bouzouki has an elaborate design on the pick-guard inspired by Iordanis Tsomidis bouzouki made by Onnik Tsakirian . The decoration of the side capping strips is inspired by the great artist Akis' Panou carvings / sculptures.

The materials used for the decoration are natural white sea-shell and celluloid .

The luthier sent me a video ( increased 5X-in speed) showcasing the process of  cutting a small fish made by natural white sea-shell.

Giannis at the end of the 'figoura' creation, will enhance  the design by adding details using the difficult technique of sea-shell hand-engraving  , found on the Neapolitan mandolins' “scratch plates” of the last century.

Stay tuned!