I finally got some more work done on this sucker today. It didn't go exactly to plan, but turned out ok. Here's how one "oops" turned into another, and then everything eventually came together.
I started with tooling the accent pieces. I just randomly hammered them with a pear shader stamp because I didn't want to spend a bunch of time tooling.
After that, things started going downhill. I decided to apply some beeswax to the edges to keep the loose fibers down, and got a bit on the top surface too. Then I figured the sealant I planned on using wouldn't penetrate the beeswax, so I rubbed wax on the whole thing. I noticed the wax chunking up on the surface so I figured I'd put it in the oven a bit to let the wax melt and soak in. While spreading the melted wax around on the first piece, I left the other one in a bit too long, and it got a bit toasted. Great...
I didn't want to start again from scratch, so I decided maybe I'd try scorching the rest of the pieces with a torch to even it out. It turned out looking ok, but through the whole heating process, the pieces ended up shrinking quite a bit. I was about ready to give up for the evening, but figured I would try to soften it up with warm water, despite already having coated it in wax and mink oil. Luckily it soaked up enough to make it pliable enough to stretch a bit. What a relief
So I spent the next couple hours hand stitching, and wishing I had chosen another way to attach it. What a boring job that was, and I'm not even half done.
Anyway, that's as far as I got tonight. Thanks for looking.