: The one question I have now is what species of wood will give me the best
: coloration for my inlay work. I need a red that matches the Canadian Maple
: Leaf and a blue that matches the Quebec Fleur-de-lis. I have thought about
: using wood dyes but for all intensive purposes, that seems like cheating
: considering what I want as a final product - original inlay work with no
: artificial colors.

At least for the maple leaf you can go find a REAL leaf, steam it a bit to get it flat, and glue it on under the glass (like decoupage) You should be getting plenty of leaves to practice with right about now, so do a couple test panels to see how well the colors hold up once they are embalmed in epoxy resin.

Here is an article which talks about the formation of colors in leaves. Notice that it mentions the color changes with pH. Natural dyes made from leaf extracts. Steep them like tea leaves in some alcohol and see if that leaches out some of the color. If so, add a drop of ammonia or lye to see if you can change the colors into blues. This just might work for you.

http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/FNR-FAQ-5.html

Another site with pictures of various species is:

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/indextotal.htm

because of all the pictures it can take a while to load. A faster loading, page with fewer pictures is

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/

Check out the briar or bloodwood for your red. Redwood might work for you, too. Look at the Mahoe for your blue. Might not be intense enough, but when coated with epoxy the color may deepen.

Hope this helps.

PGJ