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Post by kk on Jul 25, 2015 21:36:51 GMT -5
Got finally some forums and FB back. Connections are shaky at best, and only over the phone when a relatively secure WiFi is available. So can check in, but not much more. Classes are a blast, got 34 students in the 13-15 year old range, and they are much more approachable, and generally interested that the average student in Hong Kong. All the boring, hard fact subjects are done (the summer camp is themed Canada ), so next week should be even better. My main-subjects for the week are sports, Drama-lessons and building a life-size moose. But first, today its off to Hualin in search for more chattoyant Sodalite (found it here last time), and hopefully for some more small cheap crystals that are sized to carve. Got some last time, but had to slab them, and fractured them while doing that (giving nice internal reflections, but also endangering them to fall apart), rendering them useless really. So this time, I want to find sizes that I can carve outright. As for the trip to Europe: Will be in Vienna (old town) on 13 and then going for 3 days to Salzburg to my mom. On 16, we then finally travel to my home-town of Tragoess (Google "Green Lake") in time to awaken the next day for the first time in over 30 years on my birthday "at home", and make a run for the closest mountain (just a small one at just over 4000ft). The rest of the ten days there is open for whatever weather and life brings along, but will include at least 4 days/nights up in the alps, revisiting old stomping-grounds.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2015 0:04:13 GMT -5
Sounds like an awesome trip. Happy trails to you and family. Jim
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Post by orrum on Jul 26, 2015 7:47:21 GMT -5
Global you are KK! Live the life my friend!
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Jul 26, 2015 8:26:26 GMT -5
Sounds like a long time coming Kurt. Back to the old hood, and to Mom. Travel safe, sounds like some exotic ground to cover. pictures
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Fossilman
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Member since January 2009
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Post by Fossilman on Jul 26, 2015 9:10:26 GMT -5
Travel safe and have fun-hopefully photos too!!!
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Post by kk on Jul 26, 2015 10:29:52 GMT -5
Coming right up..... Today: Hualin First mistake of the day; trying to get there by motorcycle taxi to beat the traffic. When in Bangkok, you take a motorcycle taxi, put on a helmet and close your eyes until the guy asks for the money!!!! Here, thats hard to do. Number one no helmet. Number two; the cycle and driver combined are lighter than me. Number three: that guy must have broken every single possible law in just about under a minute. At times traversing onto sidewalks, entering one-way traffic the wrong way, ...... and still being overtaken both times by motorized bicycles nevertheless. After allowing me finally off in the wrong place, I found my way there in a proper taxi. Building one (of 7). 6 Floor, 6 lanes deep. Any beaders paradise. 100reds of shops, and beads in any conceivable colour and shape Just a bit too large for hand-luggage Before and after, the proof side by side For some deep pockets: Ma Sit Sit super-size Was in and around those markets a solid 8 plus hours. Literally from opening to close. Ran out of battery on my phone before mid afternoon, so no pictures from the side of the jade. Was looking to get some sodalite and a few quartz-points, but not much else. Its hard walking around without a budget to spend......... But still ended up with a 50$ haul in the end. Got my Sodalite, about 4 pounds of it (not sure if it has chattoyance, have not seen any yet), and a bit over two pounds of Flourite (something I have never worked before. Got some good sized points that should do fine for pure carving without having to slice them. and as bonus, found a good sized junk of Black Quartz point, as well as a mystery stone that I have no clue as to what it is, but like the colour and the semi-translucent properties. I'm quite happy with the stash, but not so much with what I had to leave behind! Searched most of the day for some special type of jade and/or agate that has a clear separation of colour. At one point I sat on top of maybe 6-7 tons of jade (Chinese Nephrite) picking through pebbles for at least a half an hour only to find out in the end that my budget for the 6 pieces selected was by far not enough. As all pieces would have been experimental and none gave me instant ideas as to what to do with them, I left them all behind. And so it went on the whole day; every single piece seemed to prove that I got an expensive taste, with nearly no price-request being answered under 100$ and hence out of reach to haggle it into any budget. Did not matter if I asked for Jade, Rodochriste ( no idea how to spell that ), Agates, Amber etc...... Lastly: 2 major changes have happened since my visit 2 years ago: 1.) no more Rhino, elephant ivory, or endangered animal pelts to be seen anywhere 2.) Chinese taste is still into jade and amber, but there is a lot more agate in the market now. Some Montana agates are absolutely superb and top quality cut, layout and finished. They would be priced somewhere in the range 100$ + anywhere on the Net. But I was given starting-prices at about 20$.
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bsky4463
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2013
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Post by bsky4463 on Jul 26, 2015 11:07:19 GMT -5
Awesome adventure Kurt, thanks for taking us along... Safe travels on your next leg of the trip. Cheers
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Post by orrum on Jul 26, 2015 13:20:41 GMT -5
Ya done good KK.
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Post by kk on Jul 26, 2015 18:37:45 GMT -5
Anyone got an idea as to what my mystery stone could be? In places translucent, up to an inch. Greenish blue. congregation of long visible crystals. Seems brittle and hence should be soft. White streak upon applying steak-knife to it
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Post by kk on Jul 27, 2015 10:27:19 GMT -5
Just found some pictures of Amazonite on the net, and crystal structure and colour match up perfectly. Quick look at Fleabay looks like I got a good deal at about 7$ for the 2 pounds of material I got.
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Post by kk on Jul 31, 2015 10:11:38 GMT -5
Part two of trip: As our assignment comes to an end by tomorrow, a quick peek of some of the things we where up to. First up, one of four classes: As the summer-camp is based on Canada (students of this school often end up studying in Canada for college levels), we needed a western themed team name, so we asked everyone to come with names and designs for a flag. A team needs a mascot, so I tried start one. Sadly we did not have the time to create a costume in addition to the head. My main art project this time was creating a life size moose, using mostly recycled materials. Base out of things we found on the grounds (some renovations are ongoing) + a bit of bought wire. Raided the washroom for toilet-paper, and teacher-room for old newspapers. A few cans of spray-paint, and some water-colours 6 hours with students, and a total cost of 9$ later we are ready for proper group-pictures tomorrow. So tomorrow remains to show what we got out of them in regards to drama performance, and lots of picture-taking, and then its off home. Looking forward to my own bed.
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Post by captbob on Jul 31, 2015 10:29:18 GMT -5
Don't know how I missed this thread. Looks like an awesome trip! Looking forward to the pictures once you get to Europe and into the Alps. Kinda funny going to China to buy sodalite from Brazil. That ruby in zoisite is magnificent! All those amethyst cathedrals Chinese are buying up the world. Nice looking moose!! Please keep the pictures coming.
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Post by kk on Jul 31, 2015 18:25:47 GMT -5
Kinda funny going to China to buy sodalite from Brazil. That ruby in zoisite is magnificent! All those amethyst cathedrals Chinese are buying up the world. Nice looking moose!! The moose looks a bit suspect , but as none of us has ever seen one for real, it will do.... Absolutely, there is pretty much nothing in the market that you can imagine, and a lot of it dirt cheap as they buy it in massive quantities. For me, a yearly trip up here would be ideal, simply because of the high cost of postage now from the US. Your postal service has put small sellers out of business when it comes to overseas sales. I for one have nearly stopped buying things as I need only small quantities and the shipping is often higher than the cost of material. So, thats ruby in zoisite. Not Ma Sit Sit as the guy said..... ?
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spiritstone
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Member since August 2014
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Post by spiritstone on Jul 31, 2015 19:25:57 GMT -5
The resemblance to a Canadian moose is outstanding when you compare the two. LoL. Looks good.
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Post by kk on Aug 1, 2015 9:03:28 GMT -5
The resemblance to a Canadian moose is outstanding when you compare the two. LoL. Looks good. ] Yeah, looks reasonable for us, as none of us have ever seen one for real By the end of the day, the main-point of the exercise, as I tried to explain to them earlier today, is to get them away from their games for a while, and get them to know the simple joys of creating something with their hands. In the end we abused the creature by adapting the usual wishing tree into a wishing moose. And pinned the wishes for the coming year to the horns instead.
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Post by kk on Aug 3, 2015 7:47:27 GMT -5
Back in Hong Kong, so its time to start practicing and even more important, walking in, new hiking-booths. At 80+ humidity, that's easier said than done. 2.5 hour easy walk today, up and along the ridge on the left to about 1000 feet. Next up the hills to the right going to about double that height and expected to take at least 6 hours including the return trip on foot along the shoreline through boulder fields. Not getting any younger, huffing and puffing like a steam Lock, sweating like in a sauna, but at least my feet /legs seem to have missed the message about the advances in age. Looks like the dogs had a harder time with the heat than me this morning. They did enjoy a good cool down, before we started, as well as at the beach later..... :lol: Mommy of the two boys gave up and returned home, as soon as she realized that we are not going on a flat-out walk. At an estimated 13-14 years of age, she is allowed to do that!
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Aug 3, 2015 8:10:20 GMT -5
Just found some pictures of Amazonite on the net, and crystal structure and colour match up perfectly. Quick look at Fleabay looks like I got a good deal at about 7$ for the 2 pounds of material I got. Looks like Madagascar apatite Kurt. Which would be a good bit softer than amazonite.
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Post by kk on Aug 3, 2015 8:17:13 GMT -5
Just found some pictures of Amazonite on the net, and crystal structure and colour match up perfectly. Quick look at Fleabay looks like I got a good deal at about 7$ for the 2 pounds of material I got. Looks like Madagascar apatite Kurt. Which would be a good bit softer than amazonite. Whatever it is, its some horrible stuff. Crumbles in my hands like nothing I have ever had to cut. And once you take a crumb of a piece, you got two different materials to deal with: I presume feldspar plus something harder (the bluish stuff), the two are interwoven, so its like peeling onions, in the hope of getting rid of the feldspar. Trying to get one piece in place for two days now, and nowhere close to a finished piece.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 3, 2015 8:25:54 GMT -5
Sounds just like Mada blue apatite. It is crumbly kk. A lot of it is treated and has a strong chemical smell when crushed or scratched. Tumbler shattered it to bits. Great color, terrible mechanical properties.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2015 8:50:39 GMT -5
Thanks for spending the time Kurt, always appreciated. Love to see what you do with the kids. We could use some of that kind of instruction here.
Hope all goes well on your trip and you have a great mind adjustment. Mountains are a very good place for that. Jim
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