Kayak Burning

I was heating a strip the other day to help it bend and had the heat gun in one place for a little too long giving the strip a little bit of charing. While doing this I was curious as to whether anyones tried this intentionally as an effect for the whole/parts of your yak? Just a random thought.

Wood Veneer

Today I was at work, i'm an architect by trade, and I passed by a vendor displaying some really crazy wood veneers of various woods and several different textures and again it got me wondering? How could i use this on a kayak? Has anyone ever used interesting veneers for more than just a small inlay? The rep had never built a kayak, but he spoke as though he was somewhat knowledgable on the subject, but had never had an order for use on a kayak.

Here the website for the company with veneers.
http://www.baconveneer.com/pages/cuts.html