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Post by radio on Mar 19, 2016 11:00:03 GMT -5
Not a bot this time. Had this cool, but smaller piece of Reddish colored coral with cool white spots, so backed it, cabbed it and thought it would make a cool pendant. It is on the small side, so I decided it needed some extra mass. I almost always make tracings of the stone I'm about to set, then sketch in some extras that I think might work well with the piece, but always leave one plain as sometimes embellishments just aren't needed. I decided on very small twisted sterling around the bezel, then square wire filed to about a 30° or so angle, then file work to cut notches for added interest. Silver sure is ugly in the working stages, isn't it? Since this was taken, I've filed and sanded the silver, cleaned up the cuts and tumbled it in steel shot before dunking it in liver of sulfur. Next will be a light sanding of the piece with 1,000 grit on a sanding stick, then buffing the piece leaving the patina in the cuts and crevices. Final step is setting the coral, then into the showcase for sale I took today off to try and catch up on some missed sleep. Bit down on a piece of bone last night at dinner and shattered a tooth! Silver is overexposed so the color of the Coral could be seen    |
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,718 
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 19, 2016 11:29:23 GMT -5
Going to be a nice one ..... Thumbs up
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,600
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Post by jamesp on Mar 19, 2016 12:07:51 GMT -5
Sent you a nice batch of select flattish coral tumbles to play with Arlen. They are rarer and sorta one of a kinds or hard to find.
Picked shapes to agree with your reshaping process hopefully.
Was not sure if you like the white patches on them, they are nearest the skin and have the best colors. hard to do slabs on those.
sorry about your tooth. Dentist often charge a bunch for those.
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Post by radio on Mar 19, 2016 13:55:15 GMT -5
Sent you a nice batch of select flattish coral tumbles to play with Arlen. They are rarer and sorta one of a kinds or hard to find. Picked shapes to agree with your reshaping process hopefully. Was not sure if you like the white patches on them, they are nearest the skin and have the best colors. hard to do slabs on those. sorry about your tooth. Dentist often charge a bunch for those. Thank you Sir! Looks like Mama might get another pretty piece of bling for summer time  Tooth is broken off at the gum line, so will likely require surgery to remove. no dental insurance either  |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,600
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Post by jamesp on Mar 19, 2016 14:47:45 GMT -5
Sent you a nice batch of select flattish coral tumbles to play with Arlen. They are rarer and sorta one of a kinds or hard to find. Picked shapes to agree with your reshaping process hopefully. Was not sure if you like the white patches on them, they are nearest the skin and have the best colors. hard to do slabs on those. sorry about your tooth. Dentist often charge a bunch for those. Thank you Sir! Looks like Mama might get another pretty piece of bling for summer time Tooth is broken off at the gum line, so will likely require surgery to remove. no dental insurance either Behave Self employment has it's drawbacks. However, many companies do not provide dental. The dentist office I go to has 4-5 dentists and a full time oral surgeon. Pretty sure he is more inexpensive by avoiding hospital overhead. When I had my wisdom teeth removed age ~35 the dentist gave me a choice of removing 3 roots that broke of from the 4 teeth he pulled. He said I could go to an oral surgeon and pay a bunch. He removed them but it was not pretty. They may not allow dentists to do such anymore. |
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Post by radio on Mar 19, 2016 14:56:01 GMT -5
Thank you Sir! Looks like Mama might get another pretty piece of bling for summer time Tooth is broken off at the gum line, so will likely require surgery to remove. no dental insurance either Behave Self employment has it's drawbacks. However, many companies do not provide dental. The dentist office I go to has 4-5 dentists and a full time oral surgeon. Pretty sure he is more inexpensive by avoiding hospital overhead. When I had my wisdom teeth removed age ~35 the dentist gave me a choice of removing 3 roots that broke of from the 4 teeth he pulled. He said I could go to an oral surgeon and pay a bunch. He removed them but it was not pretty. They may not allow dentists to do such anymore. Had to have a molar pulled a couple years ago and it broke much like this one. He dug the roots out without splitting the gums, but it took a lot of digging and swearing (by both of us ;-) You know something is terribly wrong when you feel and hear the tooth break and the dentist mutters "Oh $#!T!" Can't wait to get the new Corals!!!!! Gotta get even with you all over again |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,600
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Post by jamesp on Mar 19, 2016 15:15:32 GMT -5
Behave Self employment has it's drawbacks. However, many companies do not provide dental. The dentist office I go to has 4-5 dentists and a full time oral surgeon. Pretty sure he is more inexpensive by avoiding hospital overhead. When I had my wisdom teeth removed age ~35 the dentist gave me a choice of removing 3 roots that broke of from the 4 teeth he pulled. He said I could go to an oral surgeon and pay a bunch. He removed them but it was not pretty. They may not allow dentists to do such anymore. Had to have a molar pulled a couple years ago and it broke much like this one. He dug the roots out without splitting the gums, but it took a lot of digging and swearing (by both of us ;-) You know something is terribly wrong when you feel and hear the tooth break and the dentist mutters "Oh $#!T!" Can't wait to get the new Corals!!!!! Gotta get even with you all over again Got a few slabs out of the tumbler this morning. This one is a curious color. Hard to find of course. The best colors in this shade are right on the edge of porous areas in the coral head. They are shoal corals, coral that has been impinged by fast water for many years. Grainy and hard to chip, gotta saw it. heated  Another hard to find  Pasco County, sawn small coral, 2.5 inches long.  more small Pasco's   Grey Georgia coral, harder than Mohs  |
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Post by radio on Mar 19, 2016 15:20:18 GMT -5
Had to have a molar pulled a couple years ago and it broke much like this one. He dug the roots out without splitting the gums, but it took a lot of digging and swearing (by both of us ;-) You know something is terribly wrong when you feel and hear the tooth break and the dentist mutters "Oh $#!T!" Can't wait to get the new Corals!!!!! Gotta get even with you all over again Got a few slabs out of the tumbler this morning. This one is a curious color. Hard to find of course. The best colors in this shade are right on the edge of porous areas in the coral head. They are shoal corals, coral that has been impinged by fast water for many years. Grainy and hard to chip, gotta saw it. heated Love those colors! I also really liked the hourglass shaped slabs with the white rind that you had. |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 19, 2016 20:41:33 GMT -5
I took today off to try and catch up on some missed sleep. Bit down on a piece of bone last night at dinner and shattered a tooth!
Arlen, I love your silver work! jamesp 's coral could not be in better hands.
Sorry to hear about your broken tooth. I can commiserate - I recently broke a tooth (an incisor, #13) on an olive pit. Not below the gum like yours, though. When one of my dogs broke her tooth like this, they called it a "slab fracture."
Got it taken care of (crowned), and have been trying to get caught up on about 10 years of neglect in dental care. Have been just paying bills, dental work is an extravagance I cannot afford. Thankfully, my dad offered to pay for all the work. So far, he has spent $7202 of $12,253 quote. Can you say "yikes"? Price includes six crowns, and crown lengthening procedure an oral surgeon just did on Wednesday. Thank you, Daddy!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,600
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Post by jamesp on Mar 20, 2016 11:22:28 GMT -5
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Post by rockjunquie on Mar 20, 2016 14:59:42 GMT -5
DH had a 12,000.00 bill before insurance. I don't know what the final cost will be after insurance, but a whole lot, I'm sure. He still has a bunch of work to be done.
Thanks for posting some of your process. I'll be a nice finished piece.
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Post by radio on Mar 20, 2016 17:21:58 GMT -5
I ran off and left the camera SD card at the shop, so cell phone pic will have to do for now. Is there a 3 step program for Coral addiction?  if not, maybe i should be the founding member?  If only james had not sent me that box of Bots, I wouldn't be in this predicament  I fear it will get much worse before it gets better though as I'm told there is another box on the way   |
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if not, maybe i should be the founding member? 
If only james had not sent me that box of Bots, I wouldn't be in this predicament 
I fear it will get much worse before it gets better though as I'm told there is another box on the way 
