When doing pearl inlay, on a pattern which is (or should be) dependent on the exact piece of pearl, and the grain of that pearl, I do the following. I take the paper pattern to Staples, and have a copy made onto transparency. Now I can align the pattern exactly to the pearl, to get the effect I am looking for. In this case, I am making a feather for a customer, and wanted to make sure that the top of the feather both fits on the pearl, and that the pearl pattern in the big top piece is nice and dramatic.
