Btw, most of these advanced techniques are best used on your second or third kayak, not the first. You'll learn all sorts of tricks building your first boat which allows for more advanced work.

Bill H.

I agree completely with Bill on this.
On your first boat, I'd recommend concentrating on doing a good job on the essentials - get a reasonable-weight boat with good bulkheads and hatches, full perimeter lines, a decent seat and footpegs/bulkhead arrangement, a good cockpit (shape and ) coaming that holds a sprayskirt well, etc. etc. . Without those features, a kayak is more suitable for hanging over the fireplace or on a restaurant wall.
Then take that boat and paddle it a lot and take classes and clinics with it. Lend it to your friends (e.g. swap boats at lunch on day paddles) and try to get your instructors to paddle it and give their opinions when you take classes.
IME, you'll probably find that your choice of design for that first boat doesn't match with your new skill level and interests, and you'll be glad you didn't waste a lot of time on 'work of art' cosmetic details.
When you (eventually) get a boat built that matches your paddling interests, then you can build a duplicate with the fancy inlays and great cosmetic touches.
Also, since amateur-built boats don't sell for a great deal (again, in my experience / IME) it won't be so painful to part with your 'plainer' early builds.
Just having a wood-look boat that you built yourself will get lots of attention and compliments, even without stripes and inlays.

But, it's lots of fun to talk about /discuss these build details anyway! :-)