Outlining an inlay

[hummingbird]

Has anybody ever made an inlay with an outline around it?
Kind of like the stars in this example...

I want to make an inlay with an outline but my inlay will be more detailed with tight curves unlike the stars in the example so I dont think I could use coloured wood strips.

Besides wood strips I thought about making the cavity slightly larger and filling the outline with coloured epoxy but I dont think the line would be a consistant width and would probably be uneven.

Any ideas?

[tippie53]

when I do somthing like this , I do a 2 step process. 1st inlay the pearl and glue in. then I can go around the inlay with a .020 bit to even up the outline and fill with ebony and glue or black CA

[hummingbird]

Cool, I'll practice on my hummingbird inlay before I scrap it.