A whole mix of Japanese mokume alloys, such as Kuromi-do, Shaku-do and Shibu-Ichi:
I've been invited to make them into one or more pieces for a show in Sheffield as part of the Galvanize (sic) Sheffield festival of metalwork; my colleague Cóilín Ó Dubhghaill has been researching these alloys as a PhD thesis and the final part of his thesis is to produce an exhibition in which contemporary makers make use of his findings.
The exhibition is titled "Beneath The Skin" and I have commissioned Luciano Espindola to make a tattoo machine which I will then decorate and modify with these metals:
The basic drawings for this machine have already been completed by a graffiti artist in America who goes by the name of Zook:
I will work from this to create the machine modifications.