Colored Epoxy:  So about 5 years ago when I started turning, I was cutting up firewood and saved a small slab of cherry that looked like someday it could be turned into something kinda neat.  There was a branch that was wrapping around the trunk of the cherry tree, and the small bit that I saved had a cross section of both the trunk and the side branch.  I finally decided to tackle the project, because it seemed so simple:  Fill the void with something, then turn it into a shallow bowl.  What could go wrong?

I decided to use clear epoxy, mixed with blue chalk to make a bright blue inlay between the two separate pieces of wood.  I quickly learned two things.  First, without a vacuum chamber or some kind of pressure cooker kind of thing, when filling in a void that deep there is absolutely no place for the air bubbles to go.  The end result is that once I started turning, the air bubbles would be exposed and look really bad.  It ended up taking multiple “mix and fill” sessions, each requiring the piece to wait overnight, before I could finish the bowl.  Second, I learned that trying to keep epoxy from running all of the place when the crack is on a round surface is pretty much impossible.  The mess created by all the dripping and spills was a constant struggle.  In the end, this is what I ended up with.  DEFINITELY worth the effort, I think!