Epoxy inlaid gift boxes

This project came from the December, 2005 issue of Workbench magazine. It starts with separating a 3/4 inch lid blank from a 3" x 6" x6" turning blank. A decorative symbol or drawing (the article includes three: dragonfly, wheat, and love symbol) is adhered to the lid blank. The lid blank is scroll-sawn and then filled with colored epoxy. The lid and body pieces are then glued to waste blocks.
Using a faceplate the lid is turned to round and the design paper and excess epoxy are turned off the top face of the lid. The lid is finished and then parted off. The body is likewise rounded, hollowed out to match the lid, and parted from the waste block. I used black epoxy for the walnut and jatoba bowls and beige for the burl bowl.
I followed the process as outlined in the article and ended up with four small, attractive and interesting lidded boxes. I used a bowl gouge for most of the turning as opposed to the article's use of scrapers. I had some difficulty with a cloudy epoxy finish which took extensive polishing to remove. I used a sanding sealer and then polished the boxes using the Beall system.
I would like to try the project again using some different designs and unique woods. I would also try a different method for mounting the wood so that I can get a better appearance and form to the lid and box bottoms.