|
|
Post by taylor on May 18, 2019 23:17:56 GMT -5
What a handsome cat!
Hope you heal quicker than expected.
|
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 12, 2019 19:42:25 GMT -5
Welcome also from Arizona!
|
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 12, 2019 19:40:06 GMT -5
 I see a tiger's head/face within a paw print. Sorry I wasn't clever enough to draw one of those curvy shield shapes freehand. |
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 11, 2019 23:33:00 GMT -5
A friend to help with set up and tear down would be a huge benefit, otherwise if the business would store all of your stuff from Thursday to Friday that would save walking and give you a little more set up time. I hope it goes well!
|
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 7, 2019 16:58:32 GMT -5
26-Z reminds me of wild horse magnesite from Arizona
|
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 7, 2019 16:56:00 GMT -5
Any more posts like this and I'll need invest in some Glad wrap to save my keyboard from the drool puddle!
You are an inspiration!
|
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 5, 2019 15:47:15 GMT -5
Thank you Tommy. I see the similarities and the red isn't that prevalent in my piece. Nice cab! |
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 5, 2019 12:07:57 GMT -5
opalpyrexia, @rockjuquie, vegasjames, miket, hummingbirdstones Thank you for the kind words. Aha! No hard wheel on the ruby. Thank you. I work a fair amount of really soft stuff (most recently phosphosiderite) and have developed a soft touch to the wheels so I didn't even consider that would be a problem. Fibers? Could be. In polishing (felt with cerium oxide) the curved lower edge of the one on the left I originally created a large patch of white by working cross grain. Working with the grain got rid of most of it, but adjacent to the ruby that wasn't making sense to me. Yes. My DH promptly claimed it! 
|
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 4, 2019 22:26:35 GMT -5
Should have titled those. Doh!
As for the Zoisite, I'm not liking the white areas around the ruby. And the surface of the ruby isn't smooth.
|
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 4, 2019 22:17:00 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 4, 2019 22:09:17 GMT -5
I started a few cabs with the March cab contest in mind, but life got in the way. Now its May! Anyway, I thought I would share the end results. Any tips on how to finish ruby in zoisite would be greatly appreciated.  Dragon Jasper from South Africa (4), Arizona Lizard Stone, Fancy Jasper/Bloodstone, Malachite, and Fancy Jasper/Bloodstone  Ruby in Zoisite The fancy jasper/bloodstone is from a chunk that we picked up at the Rock Shedd last summer. It produced several slices of the orby stuff like above and then transitioned into the standard green with red spots bloodstone. |
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 3, 2019 21:58:29 GMT -5
It is important to learn your market. We sell locally at an open air market in a small town and online. It is exceptionally rare for us to sell a cabochon at our local market. I put a few on the table simply to see which ones draw interest. If there is interest, then that cab may chosen to be made into jewelry. It has taken time with consistently being available to develop a following which I attribute to being in a very small economically challenged town. Pricing can be interesting. Obviously you want to recoup your costs and all of those other elements people have already talked about. If your price is too high for the local economy it doesn't sell. If your price is too low it also doesn't sell because of perceived lack of value. Sometimes we make jewelry with cabs that have more value than will sell locally, so those pieces are sold on Etsy. Some pieces I have listed on Etsy are also available locally, but at different prices. I don't even bother with jewelry on eBay because I can't compete with the imported stuff. Based on the pictures that I see your cabs are nice and will draw interest. Have fun smithing!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 3, 2019 10:33:40 GMT -5
Welcome from southern Arizona! Lots of really great tumblers here who are very helpful. |
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 2, 2019 19:23:14 GMT -5
Thank you MsAli and rockjunquie. We bought the Royalite rough from Robert "Colorado Bob" Ross at the Tucson Miner's Co-op show this year. |
|
|
|
Post by taylor on May 2, 2019 19:13:01 GMT -5
Does anyone here sign their cabochons (at least the better ones)? Artists and artisans in just about every other endeavor do so, so why not? They did/do so to establish their reputations (aka, marketing), establish a history to trace back to them (for repeat buyers as well as for future reference), and just to show pride in their work and the effort put into it. Signed works art and craft typically sell for more. I have bought many cabs over the centuries years, and a signature would sure help my old brain with those I can no longer recall who cabbed them. Even better would be a signature + some indication of the gemstone - important information that very quickly is forgotten, otherwise. Fiddly small signatures are easier to stamp into metal (and hopefully all you who do settings are already doing that), but for those of us who collect cabs, something unobtrusively scratched on the back or girdle of the stone would be even better. They're laser-signing the girdles of diamonds these days, so not a new idea. Oh, and logos. If you are going to use a logo as your signature, that is only good if you register it with one of the organizations that track artist signatures. This whole question came to mind as I've been attempting to track down who made an opal carving. Has a logo, but not one that appears in the catalogs, which helps me not one bit  My avatar is my "logo" that is called a touchmark in the blacksmith/metal worker trade. This example was hot-forged into copper. I put it on custom made work - not production work. I'm planning on replicating it on my jewelry designs and pieces, which I am now transitioning into, since I am getting too old to swing a heavy hammer on hot steel, etc. Anyone know of a good stamp maker? James We had a good experience back in October with Infinity Stamps, Inc in California. We ordered a custom stamp for silver from them. See www.infinitystamps.com |
|
|
|
Post by taylor on Apr 30, 2019 17:52:32 GMT -5
 from southern Arizona.
|
|
|
|
Post by taylor on Apr 30, 2019 17:45:49 GMT -5
Wow! What a great group of cabs! I completed a piece of Royalite. Its out of La Plata County Colorado. The cab is about 34 mm by 43 mm. the slab  the preform  the cab    |
|
|
|
Post by taylor on Apr 27, 2019 16:26:21 GMT -5
We have installed a couple of repurposed computer fans over our two Lortone 33Bs. One year later, working great! Tumbler motors are running cool even with the covers installed. We had been running with the covers off and both motors were too hot too touch. Fans don't seem to be bothered by continuous use and the electric bill isn't scary. The shop area where these are located is not temperature controlled.  Hi Taylor. That is a pretty "cool" setup you have there! looks like you might be running those off of the step down from a computer power supply. Neat idea. I find it interesting to note that your 33's run cool at any time. The motors might be under less stress, perhaps? But I cannot hold my hand on the side of my FASCO units on any given day, Summer or Winter. They've all (4) been hot, hot, hot to the touch, since day 1.  Thank you for the idea though. I might try to make room to park one of my Vornado units next to the tumblers. Thank you, I hope it is helpful to others. The fans are 24VDV, 0.3A wired into a computer AC adapter that conveniently plugs into the AC outlet. All repurposed, so low cost. And not space hogs! I suppose "cool" is subjective. They run at a temperature that I consider normal; warm, but not hot to the touch. |
|
|
|
Post by taylor on Apr 26, 2019 13:43:48 GMT -5
We have installed a couple of repurposed computer fans over our two Lortone 33Bs. One year later, working great! Tumbler motors are running cool even with the covers installed. We had been running with the covers off and both motors were too hot too touch. Fans don't seem to be bothered by continuous use and the electric bill isn't scary. The shop area where these are located is not temperature controlled. |
|
|
|
Post by taylor on Apr 15, 2019 20:19:14 GMT -5
What is that white stuff?  Love those wide open spaces! Thanks for sharing! |
|
from southern Arizona.
