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Post by kk on Aug 2, 2015 8:53:06 GMT -5
Stunning possibilities.....
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Post by kk on Aug 1, 2015 18:33:24 GMT -5
Looking great, pup and all. The first jasper does look like it got dendrite opal in it?
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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 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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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 kk on Jul 28, 2015 18:40:58 GMT -5
All the best for your son, wish him a speedy recovery. Gods plan, I'm sure. Nearly 40 years ago, I had a serious accident. That lead to lifelong (thus far) interests in natural medicine and general sciences. While it gave a hell of a scare to my parents, and pain to me, it was somehow the best thing that ever happened to me, in giving me solid interests and foundation, for my life thus far.
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Post by kk on Jul 27, 2015 19:01:14 GMT -5
What a difference in landscape. Born into forests, so prairie would not be for me. Wouldn't mind finding some of those crinoids (?) though. Thanks for taking us along.
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Post by kk on Jul 27, 2015 18:53:37 GMT -5
Nice work you got there, like the look of the poppy, but also the Stefoinite. I think the undercutting in places gives it more character.
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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 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 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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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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Post by kk on Jul 25, 2015 4:22:33 GMT -5
Ellen Blue..... While I like all of them, I simply cant take my eyes of the Ellen Blue piece in the middle.
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Post by kk on Jul 23, 2015 12:07:57 GMT -5
Yep, themes are great. They force one to change direction from time to time. In the games that I partake, they also entice us to think out of the box, and hence gain new experiences with every new piece.
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Post by kk on Jul 23, 2015 8:16:31 GMT -5
The group kk Kurt is in on Facebook does seasonal and holiday themes as well. The thing about themes, they can over-complicate things and scare the newbies away if they get too complex. I think intarsia and carvings should be included but that intarsia or carving only contests probably wouldn't work. Yep, absolutely agree. Many themes seem scary to newcomers. But, the number of participants is often limited simply by one single major factor: People take the meaning "contest" to serious. Contests held here and on FB are intended as a personal challenge rather than competing against each-other. And that factor, is very often forgotten by newbies as well as advanced members. I for one credit most of my advances, to the contests here and on other forums, as it provided a regular platform and reason to practice. But can't participate anymore, as I'm leaning now too far toward the carving side. Allow me to enter with "carved cabs" (cab outlines and flat back, with fresco-style/cameo images carved on the top), and I shall gladly be back in the game. And yes, too many people are scared by carving. So a carving-contest alone would not survive. On FB, we bundle all Lapidaries together and invite all natural materials to partake in a common theme per month, and still have problems reaching/motivating people to participate (despite of obviously playing in a much deeper pool of members)
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Post by kk on Jul 11, 2015 20:18:25 GMT -5
Wow very clean, and looks like it might have iris-effect.
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Post by kk on Jul 11, 2015 20:06:18 GMT -5
Super colour mix and layout.
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Post by kk on Jul 11, 2015 20:04:51 GMT -5
On FB we got a landscape challenge running right now. That cab would fit in, in a big way. Looking great.
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Post by kk on Jul 7, 2015 10:38:41 GMT -5
Like the addition of the dark areas. My pieces missed that.
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Post by kk on Jul 2, 2015 19:15:52 GMT -5
Congratulations! Simply being part of such a contest is a great achievement. I like your entries, especially the dolphins. Is the snail part of the creation (used as a support on which you stuck the dolphins, maybe)? Adrian Thank you Adrian, it means a lot coming from such an accomplished artist as yourself. The snail is just there for display-purposes. Eventually the piece will be strung up with pearls, but did not find the money in time to have a good clasp added as in the moment everything s geared to be saved for a trip home next month. Thats how it should look like when really done:
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