Unexpected solution to a problem

I've been struggling for the longest time to find a way to draw a thin line on dark wood, like walnut or sapele.  I have a white pencil, but the lead is thick and waxy, the pointed tip breaks off immediately, and the line it makes is too wide for accurate cutting.

I mentioned this dilemma while teaching a class at this year's Fox Chapel Open House.  One of the participants mentioned that his wife uses something called a quilting pencil to make marks on dark fabric.

I went to a local shop that teaches quilting and sells supplies, and sure enough they had one.  It wasn't inexpensive, but came with extra pieces of lead, so I decided to give it a try.  The lead is still quite fragile, and I broke a few tips until I figured out how much to let out, but it does give a line that is thin enough to use as a cut line, and shows up nicely against the dark wood.

So, if you've faced a similar problem, here's one solution.  If anyone has others, please let me know and I'll get the word out.

Preparing for Fox Chapel's Open House next week

Made a new project, a larger version of one I'd tried, especially for my advanced bowl class, and have also made a totally unglued version of it to show how to handle multi-blank bowls.

The larger version was made the same way as the smaller one, but with slightly thinner wood, and one extra ring for the lower section to give it better proportions.

Not too difficult, and a really fun project!