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Post by helens on Aug 8, 2012 12:33:37 GMT -5
Soo... you are both single... and you both love rocks. And you cook, but Frank doesn't do windows... hrm.... bet he doesn't do dishes either. Susan does windows. Both are nuts about rocks, with appreciation for the good stuff *will patiently wait for my invitation* Never know about these things:)!!!
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Post by 3rdrockfromthefun on Aug 8, 2012 13:48:45 GMT -5
Heh heh, heeeelen! I'm not on the market but I do love to flirt! Rocks get me all flustered and I love a gal that loves her rocks like Susan obviously does. Oh if only I'd found this hobby 30 years ago... (yah I'm ancient *creeeeaaak*)
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,787
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Post by adrian65 on Aug 8, 2012 15:24:18 GMT -5
Hard to say who is at the winning end of this trade ... both of you, I think.
Adrian
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Post by 3rdrockfromthefun on Aug 8, 2012 18:32:12 GMT -5
Was just looking at the purple "I don't know". If that's the one Susan was saying was calcite and cited the mohs - could it be calcified wood (with impurities of course to purple it up)? I just noticed the bands looked a lot like wood - but guessing. I'm a night person - just woke up - was actually dreaming about these rocks...! I'm almost afraid to see her tumbling work - I may go into awesome shock! Was looking at more of your glasswork Helen. Pretty amazing to say the least. You can't play softball indoors at your house though huh?
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Post by helens on Aug 8, 2012 19:07:29 GMT -5
Hey Frank... no, the purple is NOT calcite, DEFINITELY agate:)... it's HARD stuff:). The calcite she was talking about was the banded onyx... which is fairly soft and has that sort of nubby texture that I'm now recognizing as a feldspar/onyx/calcite/selenite type with my new acquisitions:).
I have NO idea what the purple stuff is but OMG!!!
She's quite a tumbler, I mean the competition for the World Championship was stiff last year. I never did see a pix of the winners tho... grrr... dunno why they don't post em!
I have glass all over the place, and my kids broke plenty... but before I started making glass I was collecting it my whole life. I guess I never had a problem with living in glass houses:P. hehe.
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Post by susand24224 on Aug 8, 2012 21:49:17 GMT -5
Hey, Frank and Helen, the purple agate comes from Idaho and the mine used to be owned by Tony (Catmandewe). I purchased three slabs of it at the Spokane rock show a few years ago and gave one to Krystee, now one to Helen. Krystee posted it, and Tony was able to identify it, although I've forgotten the name. Helen is correct--it's agate. Tony said that he still had lots of it around, and it has beautiful colors. The stuff at the rock show had a lot of fractures--the three slabs I got were the best ones, and you can see that Helen's had fractures, as do all of them. But--it appears solid beyond that.
As for my tumbling, I'm pretty sloppy unless Connrock is looking over my shoulder!
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Post by helens on Aug 9, 2012 0:46:39 GMT -5
Thanks Susan! I love it!!! (along with all the other goodies!!!)
You need to enter my 'Favorite Rock' contest (well, it's not really a contest, just wanted to see what everyone's FAVORITES were, and thought I'd give something away for incentive). But not many entries yet... what's your FAVORITE rock look like:)? (yours or wish list)
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
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Post by carloscinco on Aug 9, 2012 16:29:20 GMT -5
Museum quality all around! Beautiful glasswork and rocks.
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Post by 3rdrockfromthefun on Aug 9, 2012 17:33:38 GMT -5
I had a feeling it was the onyx one - that one looks like calcite to me and the purple looked like agate. That was good news - made me feel saner.
Do you still collect old bottles Helen? If so I'll keep you in mind as a donor recipient. The ground around here is a landfill - late 1800's through 1940s'ish. The stuff I find - man - makes me wish I was into collecting it. Gave a bunch of old ink well shaped jars (looks like you could buy the ink and use the bottle for a well - two or three brands I found - one a high ender by the looks), an old murine tube shaped bottle, 3-in-1 oil bottle and other recognizable name brands from way back - to a neighbor because I just didn't have room. It was a few shoebox sized tubs worth - a few things still with original corks in place.
I loved your marbles - had to go back for another look last night. I saw a show on making marbles the 'old fashioned way' (mind you I'm clueless about marbles) - a guy putting different colored rods together and fusing them then snipping and twisting and wrapping with other rods and so on until the outer layer came then he snipped the resultant rod into pieces and put those in some doo-dad that rounded them. Maybe I'm wrong but I'm guessing on a small scale it's even more involved? Whoever thought of that was definitely a kid at heart - that looked tedious but super fun!
I'm still light headed from those rocks - very happy for you Helen, Susan gave you some good ones. Not sure if you saw my post on the other forum of the rocks Daniel sent me from Indonesia but that was a heart stopper also. Some great people on these boards!
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Post by helens on Aug 9, 2012 18:14:54 GMT -5
Thanks Carlos:).
Hi Frank:). I don't collect regular old bottles, I collect perfume bottles... if you see any of those, I'm interested! But before you think of me, realize that old bottles can command a pretty penny on Ebay... they aren't making more of them! I'm talking about whole old bottles that closed with a cork in the old days, those are always worth money!!
Marbles... yep, that's how the spiral marbles are made. Those are the fastest and easiest to make of all the marbles (and what I did for my 'atoms' as you see above. The thing about glass is that no matter how good you are, you are always limited by the TIME it takes the MELT the glass in the first place. So 90% of your time is doing nothing but rolling and rolling and rolling the rod around in the flame to soften then melt it. This is a MUCH faster process for people who do soft glass... which is why the majority of jewelry makers use soft glass.
Soft glass doesn't have the strengths, durability and resistances of borosilicate tho (think pyrex, think hubble telescope mirror). Boro takes MUCH MUCH MUCH longer to melt... so even an 'easy' project becomes an exercise in waiting for the glass to melt.
I don't use molds, I use tools to push the glass around and gravity. For marbles, we use a shallow 1/2 circle that you can roll the glass around in, this is easy and much faster than gravity rounding, tho really, that's the detail, by the time the glass is molten enough to roll in the mold, you had it round already anyway:P.
I think I posted on your Indonesian rocks?? Didn't I?? Those were great!!! I talked to Daniel a few months ago about buying some bumblebee from him... but because of the costs of shipping, I'd have to buy a lot more than I wanted to to justify the shipping cost.... and as I'm just a rock hobbyist, I don't need tons of rocks. Maybe later on, once I actually figure out what I can do with my rocks to make money, I can bring in more rocks.
Right now, I'm just enjoying them, polishing them, and trimming them. I just ordered still more displays to hold them temporarily while I figure out what to do with them. I want to start with some simple mosaics, but that involves trimming, polishing first anyway:).
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Post by 3rdrockfromthefun on Aug 9, 2012 21:21:42 GMT -5
Thanks Carlos:). Hi Frank:). I don't collect regular old bottles, I collect perfume bottles... if you see any of those, I'm interested! But before you think of me, realize that old bottles can command a pretty penny on Ebay... they aren't making more of them! I'm talking about whole old bottles that closed with a cork in the old days, those are always worth money!! Marbles... yep, that's how the spiral marbles are made. Those are the fastest and easiest to make of all the marbles (and what I did for my 'atoms' as you see above. The thing about glass is that no matter how good you are, you are always limited by the TIME it takes the MELT the glass in the first place. So 90% of your time is doing nothing but rolling and rolling and rolling the rod around in the flame to soften then melt it. This is a MUCH faster process for people who do soft glass... which is why the majority of jewelry makers use soft glass. Soft glass doesn't have the strengths, durability and resistances of borosilicate tho (think pyrex, think hubble telescope mirror). Boro takes MUCH MUCH MUCH longer to melt... so even an 'easy' project becomes an exercise in waiting for the glass to melt. I don't use molds, I use tools to push the glass around and gravity. For marbles, we use a shallow 1/2 circle that you can roll the glass around in, this is easy and much faster than gravity rounding, tho really, that's the detail, by the time the glass is molten enough to roll in the mold, you had it round already anyway:P. I think I posted on your Indonesian rocks?? Didn't I?? Those were great!!! I talked to Daniel a few months ago about buying some bumblebee from him... but because of the costs of shipping, I'd have to buy a lot more than I wanted to to justify the shipping cost.... and as I'm just a rock hobbyist, I don't need tons of rocks. Maybe later on, once I actually figure out what I can do with my rocks to make money, I can bring in more rocks. Right now, I'm just enjoying them, polishing them, and trimming them. I just ordered still more displays to hold them temporarily while I figure out what to do with them. I want to start with some simple mosaics, but that involves trimming, polishing first anyway:). Yes, lots of those. Had one of porcelain with an ornate porcelain stopper in it. I was trying to ease the stopper out to see if it had anything left in it. I was using a lot of force but going very slow and very easy and concentrating really hard and then my cell phone, which I had on a string around my neck at the time (doing yard work that day) rang and it shot me through the roof. I found out there was plenty enough left in the now shattered bottle to make me smell really perfumey. The call was someone who wanted to know if I got the stopper out or not... Those are the fastest and easiest marbles!? Holy S* that didn't look so easy to me! Reminded me of a blacksmith making damascus and juggling at the same time! Do I remember you replying to that? Oh dear Helen... you are so cute - pretending I have a memory! Yes foreign mail is crazy expensive anymore! We should all start combining orders for things to and from foreign destinations. With me having nothing to do with organizing it (remember - I have no memory! )
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