I made 3 blanks with the square inserts , one blank with four piece square inserts and two blanks with 9 piece square inserts. The most difficult part for me was cutting those small sticks and gluing them together maintaining squareness.
Also constructed 6 , all a little different , of scalloped blanks . The scallops are cut/glued on both ends of a square blank , then the blank is cut in half , rotated end to end and glued back together with different center configurations . I am using wood and the beautiful acrylic material , which cuts/sands easy and polishes with steelwool. One of the blanks is made with drilling two circles , turning the same size dowels
and then gluing together.