Writing a prompt that makes a great wallet

Wood inlay has rules that photographs don't. These are the habits that consistently produce a wallet worth carrying.

1. One subject, not five

A single bull elk reads better than a whole herd. The wallet face is about the size of a playing card — detail disappears fast.

2. Name the time of day

Sunrise, midday, sunset, night. It changes the palette completely: a night scene leans ebony and maple, a sunset leans padauk and cherry.

3. Think in layers

Sky, far ridge, near ridge, foreground. Scenes that stack naturally into bands are the ones that look best in wood.

4. Silhouettes beat portraits

An animal in outline against a bright sky is striking. The same animal rendered with facial detail becomes a brown smudge.

5. Landmarks are fair game

The Tetons, Half Dome, your home range, the skyline you grew up under. Named places give the design a recognizable shape to work from.

6. Ask for woods by name

You can steer the palette directly: "make the sky maple", "put the elk in ebony", "warm the foreground up with cherry".

7. Avoid text in the scene

Small lettering doesn't survive as inlay. Use the engraved text option instead — that's a separate, cleaner process.

8. Give it contrast

If everything in your scene is mid-brown in real life, say which parts should be light. The wallet needs the difference.

9. Iterate

Nobody nails it first try. Three or four replies is normal and completely free.