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Krystee,,, I did a "demo" "talk" to a group of Cub Scouts twice in about 5 years time here at my home about tumbling rocks. I was pretty nervous the 1st time because this was the 1st time I had to 'speak" to a group in an educational manner. As you know I've written a lot about various aspects of lapidary but typing and talking are 2 different things,,,,for me anyway.
Even though these boys were very young I was still nervous about the whole thing and had prepared a somewhat "professional" talk for them.
I had set up 2 folding tables with all sorts of rough,broken rough,rocks after each stage and polished rocks.I also had all the tools of the trade set up,all the different grits and polish,etc,etc,etc.
As the Scouts and their parents (mostly mothers) began to arrive I was totally shocked at how may came to hear Tom talk! LOL When the 1st few arrived some of the Scouts and parents began to ask me questions and I just answered them as they were asked. Before I knew it,my basement was as full of people as it could hold and this 'talk" I was so scared of began to "gel" all on it's own!
All of the several papers I had typed and printed out to give a "speech" from became useless and I just let Tom be Tom talking about a subject I know well and trying to answer all of the questions thrown at me the best way I could.
The funny thing was that the parents had WAY more questions then the kids and instead of this talk only being 1,,,1-1/2 hours long,it went on for hours and hours in a very informal manner!
You're going to be talking about a subject you know very well to a group of your friends. This is NOT a political debate where you're going to get bashed with embarrassing questions so your answers to any questions WILL come very easy for you!
You give me a LOT more credit then I deserve! I more or less fumble my way through things,,,some work out and some don't. I don't do well with written instructions,,,never did and probably never will. If I can see something being done I can get a pretty good handle on it but that's not saying much as a lot of us can do and learn things that way.
I can't hold a candle to any of the work Adrian does.He is one brilliant man.
To "insert" a Celtic Knot into a cab is something I wouldn't know where to begin with.I'm having tons of problems making the know itself let alone get one into a cab!
I may try to "lay" one on top and form it to the dome of a cab but I can foresee problems with the soldering there too.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,it's funny how the mind works,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I wasn't going to post this pendant but after reading all of the replies and looking at the pendant I got an idea of a different yet similar design that could incorporate the Celtic Knot without the circle in it. I think I can manage to for the knot without that dreaded circle in the middle of it! LOL
We'll see but if you hear a LOT of grumbling it's only me trying to form that Celtic Knot,,,,,,again,,,,,,still! LOL
A friend who taught English in Japan for many years sent me many boxes of beach rocks he collected at a beach that was very seldom visited by any locals.He had the beach just about to himself every time he visited it.The beach went on for miles and all along the shore were beautiful jaspers and even some agates he collected.
This is a pendant I made from one of his rocks. It's made from sterling silver and 14K gold filled wire.
For those of you who saw my post on the Trinity Celtic Knot I was trying to make,,,,,,,,,,,,,this pendant will hopefully be accepted by the person who wanted that knot! LOL
Here's a photo of some of the beach rocks I tumble polished,,,sorry for the blurry photo,,,,
I wish I got started at this much sooner but didn't have the time until after I retired. It's a catch 22 because the "economics' of retirement don't allow me to move along as fast as I would like due to the cost of tools.equipment and mostly sterling silver. I have what I have and try to do with that and that doesn't always work so I get frustrated,,,,hopping to hit the Powerball! LOL So,,,in the end I don't have much room for "practice pieces" and try my best to get it right the 1st time! Sometimes I do manage to do that but as we all know we can't hit a home run every time we step up tot he plate!
I just finished a pendant I made for the friend who wanted that Celtic Knot pendant. I HATE bad photos and refuse to post anymore of them so now I'm on a kick to try to take some good photos and we'll see how that goes! LOL
Adrian,,, The knife at the link you have is beautiful and I love the engraving. When I was researching knives and knife making I did as you and read and looked at everything I could find. Something I found that VERY few of the knife makers do their own engraving. Engraving is only something I can dream about cuz I don't have that artistic ability needed to do it. As I followed all of you posts with your knife I saw the copper inlay on the handle spline and thought about "file work". I thought that if I could do a simple file work I could then try to engrave but my file work didn't not look very good so I gave up on the whole aspect of it all.
Have you ever tried any file work? I KNOW you can do it cuz I've watched you throughout every piece you've done so far and a lot of it has been done with simple files on stainless steel!
Thanks hulagrub,,,, My work can't hold a candle to some of the pieces I see here and I can only hope,dream and pray that maybe some day I can do nearly as well!
Christopher,,, As we already "chatted' about those infamous tube settings on the RTH we'll keep chatting here not only about all our mistakes but hopefully some day about our success! LOL I keep looking at those Celtic Knots and maybe some day I'll figure out a way to do one. If do,,,,,I'll be SURE to post it!
Hi Adrian,,, Although I just joined this board I've been lurking in the background following you knife on the RTH from the start.
It's very hard to come up with a comment that justifies your work and I've been sitting here for quite a long time trying to do just that without much success!
Accomplishing what you do at home in your shop is a phenomenon in itself.Working with stainless steel with only the best tools and equipment is very difficult yet you do it with only what you have at hand.To do this takes a LOT of skill,thought and determination not to mention all of the trials and errors that you have overcome!
As I have told you before,,,,my only wish is that we lived closer so I could sit and watch you do wonderful things with nothing to do them with!
My hat is off to you my far away friend and I wish you ALL the VERY BEST in what ever your next BEAUTIFUL project may be!
The tigereye pendant was my first effort at a multi-stone piece and (for me) was quite a challenge. First off I don't do well cutting small cabs and this piece needed 2 the exact same size,,,,,,,,,I ended up with quite an assortment of different size tigereye cabs after this project! LOL My next problem was it was another 1st trying to use sterling silver and 14k gold filled wire in the same piece.I got quite a lesson in soldering the gold wire and most of it has solder all over it. After soldering the bezel wires for the 3 smaller cabs I had hissy fits trying to form and burnish the stones toward the center of the piece. I ended up making my own tools for this,,,,,,live and learn I guess.
I've been working on a pendant for the past 3 days that most of you could knock out in a few hours and I HOPE to get it finished today but that's up in the air. One wrong move now and it's headed for the scrap heap!
I still have the copper and silver Celtic knots peering down at me while I'm at my bench and my subconscious is running full tilt trying to figure out how to accomplish making it. Being only a hobbyist it's impossible for me to have every different type of 'stock" here for every project so I try to do with what I have and that doesn't always work.
Mark,,, Being that useful land for building on here is becoming harder and harder to find developers have bought land that is 99% massive rock formations,set up rock processing plants and literally grind/blast down the massive rock formations to clear areas for building on. Nothing is safe here anymore! LOL
I do a lot of practice pieces with both copper wire and sheet copper and although the guages aren't always the same the copper always comes out better then the silver.I think it's because I'm afraid to make scrap out of the silver and not the copper! With the copper I just let myself go for broke but with the silver I will be broke if I scrap it! LOL
I'm not afraid to show mistakes.I try to help people by not letting them make the same mistakes I've made and I could write a set of books on the mistakes I've made and am still making. Mistakes = learning Learning = mistakes
I wanted to try to use a fairly heavy guage wire so the pendant wouldn't look like a bunch of thin wires but I can see I bit off way more then I can chew here. My problem s that I have NO patience with myself and in my madness want EVERYTHING to come out perfect the first time.We all know this doesn't happen but my tiny brain hasn't figured that out yet! LOL
Steve I can see what your talking about in doing the pendant in sheet silver but I haven't got that far with my sawing ability yet.I have to saw up a bit more copper first just to get a better feel for it.
I don't really know how to say this but I do think it's important when trying to help someone.
I DO NOT want to sound like a snot or to come across like a "know it all" or just be plane rude.I AM NOT that type of person so PLEASE believe me here.
I think when trying to help someone it's important to have a feel for their ability and how far along they may or may not be in what ever it is you're trying to help them with. Although I'm not a beginner at this I am NOT in the advanced stage.I'm sort of in a limbo of a DIY type guy who doesn't learn very fast at all.
So,,,,in order to let you get a feel for where I am I will post a few photos of a few pieces I have done so far,,,,,
I think this will help you all to help me a lot easier.
I help a LOT of people who are rock tumbling and if I can get a feel for their ability and how far they have advanced I can save a lot of time and mostly 1 and 2 finger typing,,,LOL
A friend from Ohio sent me quite a bit of it years ago when all I did was tumble polish rocks.He sent me quite a few chunks and mostly Nelli Blue which has an awesome color pattern to it. He also sent me a LOT of chips he got for free at a knapping contest and the chips make a great "filler" for tumbling rocks.They also make a great "byproduct' as they can be used to fill small bottles with them after they're all polished up.
You've got me going here and I'll HAVE to cut a cab or 10 out of what I have left!
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