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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 8, 2015 21:27:09 GMT -5
Many years ago a friend came to me with a little bag of turquoise pieces to cab for him. In the process many little chips and offcuts were created. The friend didn't want the "Junk pieces", so I decided to try an experiment. With my Dremel and a block of wood, I carved and smoothed a roughly cab shaped mold. I coated the mold with a mold release agent, mixed a small batch of turquoise chips with epoxy, and one by one molded several rough cabs. After letting them cure for several days I sanded and polished them. Several were set in inexpensive findings and sold. This one was less than perfect, so I threw it in a box, only to find it today. I can only imagine what one of these would look like made out of opal chips.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 8, 2015 21:37:22 GMT -5
That's pretty cool. Homemade breccia.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 8, 2015 22:30:35 GMT -5
What surprised me is, I made them around 94 and the epoxy hasn't turned yellow yet.
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europast
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2013
Posts: 118
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Post by europast on Jan 8, 2015 22:47:09 GMT -5
This is genius! I always save the too small pieces from tumbling batches and place them in old milk jars as suncatchers. Now a new use for them. Thank you!
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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 8, 2015 23:27:19 GMT -5
This is genius! I always save the too small pieces from tumbling batches and place them in old milk jars as suncatchers. Now a new use for them. Thank you! LOL, the tiny tumbles look good in tropical fish tanks too.
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Post by pauls on Jan 9, 2015 0:45:34 GMT -5
I wouldn't have even thought of doing that with turquoise, I used to do it with opal back in the early 1970s, similar method only I used a small tea spoon for a mould. One of those disposable plastic ones from the coffee shop or Maccas would be ideal. Release agent on spoon, a thin layer of clear epoxy all over the inside of the spoon then let it pool in the bottom, it makes a little magnifying glass when everything is finished. When set spread a layer of opal chips and another layer of clear, when that sets finish to level of spoon with a layer of black epoxy. I really like that turquoise.
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Post by Donnie's Rocky Treasures on Jan 9, 2015 9:05:01 GMT -5
Ooooo I do like that & what an awesome way to use up all those little pieces!
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matt2432
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2014
Posts: 171
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Post by matt2432 on Jan 9, 2015 9:08:11 GMT -5
Great idea, what kind of epoxy do you use?
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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 9, 2015 10:53:05 GMT -5
Great idea, what kind of epoxy do you use? Matt, these were done back around 94. I'm not sure what type of epoxy it was. The boss let me bring home a small amount from work to try out. Some sort of industrial stuff that worked real good.
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leadbelly713
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2011
Posts: 104
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Post by leadbelly713 on Jan 9, 2015 11:41:26 GMT -5
Very creative, with totally awesome results.That specimen may be less than perfect but it looks super cool for a home made rock. Robert.
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matt2432
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2014
Posts: 171
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Post by matt2432 on Jan 9, 2015 13:19:24 GMT -5
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 9, 2015 13:42:42 GMT -5
I used some epoxy resin on the top of a cedar desk I made for my son. I used a blow torch to quickly pass over any bubbles and they came right out.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 9, 2015 14:13:10 GMT -5
Matt, I wish I would have had access to a vacuum chamber at the time. As I remember, I had enough chips to make 4 of them. The others came out without bubbles.
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Post by snowmom on Jan 9, 2015 17:27:30 GMT -5
wonderful ideas here, keep them coming!
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Post by snowmom on Jan 9, 2015 17:28:43 GMT -5
wonderful ideas here, keep them coming!
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 9, 2015 17:57:54 GMT -5
Love it, going to start collecting my chips now. I bet you could mold a shot glass or something to make a sweet tea light (candle) holder. I don't think they get hot enough to harm the resin.
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Post by gingerkid on Jan 11, 2015 14:57:52 GMT -5
Great idea, and thanks for sharing it, jakesrocks! Love your cab!!! Do you have the others you made with the chips or did they find good homes?
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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 11, 2015 15:41:11 GMT -5
Great idea, and thanks for sharing it, jakesrocks! Love your cab!!! Do you have the others you made with the chips or did they find good homes? They all found new homes at a craft fair when I still lived in California.
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