How come I seem to be the only one starting new threads? The excitement of being a newbie, I guess.

So I'm mostly done with cutting strips, starting to think about the design pattern for my Mystic Star. I want to keep it simple, but it does seem very elegant to highlight the sheerline and differentiate the topsides from the bilge (if those are the right terms) and do a simple accent on the deck.

All my strips (so far) are RWC - but I tried to group my boards into similarly-toned lights, and similarly-toned darks. As rough-cut strips there isn't really that much difference between them, though - might be too subtle to try to use for accent strips. (I assume stain wouldn't survive the sanding process)

Any recommendations on materials people have had success with? Not sure yet if I want to accent with a lighter color or a darker one (or one of each) I'd need to do some testing, but would appreciate suggestions on materials I might want to test.

Also, seems like it'd be possible to apply an accent after the hull has been sanded - pinstriping tape under the fiberglass, maybe, or applying a veneer, or cutting a groove and incorporating a strip as you might do with guitar binding. Seems like just incorporating a contrasting solid-wood strip into the build would be more straightforward and better-looking, though - is that in fact the case?