The finial is made from Ipe. It is actually a wood that is used for making decks. The color is a nice dark to medium brown. I find it very easy to turn for finials
The inlay was very difficult. Instead of crushed lapis I should have gotten some powdered lapis. You put the Lapis in the void,but be sure and take the chuck off of the lathe so your void is somewhat level. Then add thin CA glue and spray with hardener. It is very difficult to get smooth because the Lapis is so much harder than the maple. If I added something like that to a void again I would probably use Tru Stone or powdered Lapis. Alice