|
Post by kk on Mar 7, 2016 8:27:02 GMT -5
Got some time to try out the amber I got last week. First off, a splinter that came off the first piece to play with. Cut a slab from the heavily included piece with my foredome. a 2x1 inch section. Everything crumbled, and this was the only piece substantial, to be saved. Any further piece from this stone will from now on be numbered 1...something. Will not do that again. After having everything crumbling on me. I took the long way round, and took the hacksaw to it. Resulting in fracture free starting-points. Yesterday, I tried an extra that came with the shipment. I now got a new perspective and even more respect for people like Przemysław Kuś. In many ways, this stuff behaves like quartz crystal. Just as brittle, and no internal colour can be trusted. But, when it works, it works out great.Trying out splinters and breakaways from the amber I got. It looks like, one needs to stay away from inclusions as they are very weak points. Light touch, and very similar than working Quartz crystal overall. No wonder that the guys need such a huge piece to start with, if you need to clean it up and only use pure sections. The second piece I tried yesterday has nice colour, but does not seem to turn blue the way I see it at any angle. Nevertheless, it turned out interesting. Just trying to test how the light functions in this material. So no balance, but interesting despite of it. And finally, a small piece that came off, while cutting a slabette from a cleaner piece (Number two something from now on). So, needs a careful touch and preferably carbon burs plus slower speed. But I'm quite happy with what turned out today. Just needs to be finished with toothpicks to get into tight spaces. Tghanks for looking, Kurt
|
|
|
Post by kk on Mar 6, 2016 4:42:11 GMT -5
"file work on the spine" Thats what I meant. Thanks Dave... If you file that down; will looks fab. But, but then would/will it not be hard to hold on to?
|
|
|
Post by kk on Mar 6, 2016 0:00:36 GMT -5
Kurt, what is the "mane" you're talking about? Dunno exactly what you refer to. [/quote] The wave pattern.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Mar 5, 2016 20:45:49 GMT -5
Like your use of colour in the grip. Not too bold yet still standing out. At first sight, I wondered why you cover up the mane that much after spending so much effort creating them. But come to think about, it makes perfect sense, as it otherwise would not allow a firm grip.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Mar 3, 2016 16:59:32 GMT -5
Very nice! I look forward to seeing what you make of them. I just learned about blue amber last week. I kept eyeing Indonesian fossil coral at Tucson, but prices were ridiculous! Maybe next year. Directly from the source, the coral averages about 5$ per slab, but a 50$ postage ruins that. So only worthwhile when buying 15-20 slabs at a time.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Mar 3, 2016 10:46:50 GMT -5
So, If I would like to do a flower, I can not outline individual pedals? Only the overall shape, if I understand the rules right. Is that right?
|
|
|
Post by kk on Mar 2, 2016 9:39:55 GMT -5
Quite a few nice cabs here. Somehow the Rhondonite appeals the most to me. The colours are just so sweet.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Mar 1, 2016 8:45:47 GMT -5
Nice coloured moss you got in there. The shape looks great too. You see, It does not take an extreme kerb to make it an outstanding effort at this shape.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Feb 29, 2016 17:14:12 GMT -5
Did some homemade tests yesterday as I was afraid of ending up with copal. Burned some only to get a lovely "incense" smell, floats in saltwater and acetone gives zero reaction.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Feb 29, 2016 8:16:53 GMT -5
Have been looking for a few years now for an affordable way to work some amber. Baltic and Dominican blue is out of range for my pocket, plus there are way too many fakes around to top it off. So I have been eyeing Sumatran Blue for some time now. Have spoken to quite a few would be suppliers, but it always failed as they wanted to supply industrial quantities. :evil: Now finally, I found this guy, willing to work on overall budget and happy to let go of some good sized pieces at an excellent prize to try out. At 40$ for the pound of material; a steal. To make the crazy shipping-cost worthwhile; I took the opportunity to get 4 pounds of Coral from him too. Randy recently posted a baby python, I think there might just about be one in those slabs. :LOLOL:
|
|
|
Post by kk on Feb 28, 2016 20:02:40 GMT -5
I never realized that garnets have inclusions like that. Thanks for the lesson.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Feb 27, 2016 9:09:45 GMT -5
Must have been tired and didn't see the name with the rock -,- Never gave a name because the person who gave the slab to me is not sure either. I presume its from Turkey and could be called "dendrite jasper" or something like that. Its neither opal or agate that comes usually with the dendrite label from that country.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Feb 26, 2016 11:43:39 GMT -5
You have one in progress right? We can up the tally to 5. My guess is that the first option made people not want to try and didn't see the 2nd option as noted by some in last months thread. I do find it interesting that everyone so far decided to follow both options. Mine is in since a couple of weeks.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Feb 22, 2016 4:25:10 GMT -5
One week to go and only four entries? Where is everyone? Its been a quiet month overall on all platforms, but such a wide open theme should have gathered more entries.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Feb 20, 2016 11:31:15 GMT -5
Need some eyes from time to time, and usually under 2mm. Do them by hand without topping, but having said that, I do not usually have to worry too much about wasting more material than what I get out of them.
To-date, have done 3 simple faces at about 6-7mm, and looking to go smaller hopefully soon.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Feb 16, 2016 9:11:21 GMT -5
OK, Arrow for nephew is done. Some small problems remain, but he seems happy. So, its gone. The Pixie is done too and wearing it since yesterday. The contrast is still not very strong, but I like it. There is enough to see at first sight to wake interest, the rest can be explored later. After all it's supposed to be dreamlike, so clarity is not necessarily the most important thing. Now its time to focus on the FA for the rest of the month (will not have time for anything else anyhow as the school-drama needs to be front and center from now till middle of next month). After getting a reasonable front, I turned to the back, to shape and drill a hole for a cord. To my surprise, as I shaved away sand and excess material, I found a lot of reverse bubbles. Usually you get them in ring-stones from time to time as those have to be fairly thin. In pendant you get a spot here or there. But dang it, this looks like it could cover more than 50% of the back. Mind you, this is not ring stone sized, we are talking here a bit over 3 inches by over an inch wide, for this piece. So I think its a stunning find. So from here on, its trying to get as close as possible to the actual colour on both sides and then set the octopus into it. Thanks for looking, Kurt
|
|
|
Post by kk on Feb 15, 2016 11:31:27 GMT -5
Nice work you got there.
The one top left looks like my favorite of the set. Got a bigger picture of that one?
|
|
|
Post by kk on Feb 15, 2016 11:28:20 GMT -5
Liking the heart and the dendritic it is made of. most sensuous It is the backside of a shapely mermaid bending way over on her knees and her fin bundled. LOL. Sorry Kurt, my dirty mind. You must have some very strange mermaids over there. Never seen one doing a stint like that.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Feb 12, 2016 22:09:00 GMT -5
Thank you.
|
|
|
Post by kk on Feb 12, 2016 9:22:15 GMT -5
Thank you. Think I might have a solution for the Polka Dot: Massive undercut of up to 3mm. Now lets see if the contrast holds up to sanding.
|
|