Rough Rocks, Minerals & Crystals

Well we have finished the first of the wire tree sculptures and we are pleased with the result, so is the recipient as we have it to my youngest daughter for her birthday yesterday.

As you can see from the picture we applied more colour to the base using Indian ink, although the yellow hasn’t taken too well on top of the green, need to look into this further, maybe I am doing something wrong here!

After the ink was completely dry, Shalini took over and added the Amethyst beads to the branches which really finishes the tree off nicely.

Wire Tree Sculpture 1 Finished

We now have several wire tree sculptures on the go and Shalini is experimenting with very fine wire which is really looking very good.

Enjoy

Dave

Well the the three wire sculpted trees are now in various stages of production, trees 1 and 2 are now firmly secured to their bases and the sand layers are fully dry on the base. Both of these trees have had their sand bases dyed with indian ink to bring out the texture of the sand.

Tree 1

tree-1-stage3

Tree 2

tree-2-stage3

Tree 3 has now been wrapped and secured to its base, I used a lump of flint for this one, the next stages now will be to build up the layers of sand around the roots and trunk.

Tree 3

tree-3-stage-2

Tree’s 1 and 2 now need more colour applying to the sans on the bases and then we need to figure out which style of tree they are going to become. Tree 3 still has quite a way to go yet as there are quite a few layers of sand that need to be secured to build up the texture arond the trunk and roots.

More to follow

Best

Dave

I am sorry I haven’t made a post for a while, I have been suffering with a prolonged head and chest cold which has been going on for over a month, gladly it appears to be getting better now.

Also, because of the very cold winter we have endured this year it just has been far too cold to go out into the Lapidary workshop, even the wood burning stove couldn’t cope with the sub zero temperatures so nothing has happened out there at all this winter so far.

I am one of those people who cannot sit idle for long so I had to find something t keep me occupied and I went in search of ideas. As you know I had a dabble with a gem tree a while back so I thought it would be good to expand on that idea and as a result I found a fantastic site which is written by the artist Sal Villano, his site can be found here:

http://www.salvillano.com

His work is really wonderful and the finished product is so realistic to look at, all manner of trees from Willows to Bonsai’s, but the real appeal of his work is how he mounts them in sea sand and the uses Indian ink to create an effect that makes the trees look like they are growing out of moss.

I was bitten, I just had to learn more about how he makes these wonderful wire wrapped tree sculptures, and fortunately he has a downloadable book which at only $9 is wonderful value. The content and instructions are really well written and it’s fully illustrated with working drawings so you really can’t go wrong at any step.

So far I have three trees at various stages of construction and they are starting to look good. The beauty of making these is that once you have mastered the basics, you can really let your creative juices flow.

Here are pictures of the three so far in various stages of production:

The first is mounted an a small flat pebble, I followed Sal’s instruction to use sticky tape to stick the branches to the deges of the dish, I found this quite fiddly to do. I am waiting for the glue to dry which holds the sand.

Wire Tree Sculpture number 1

The second is mounted on a slab of rock, I got more creative with this one and made the roots longer than the first and I decided to try using small dabs of epoxy to hold the tree to the base instead of using sticky tape, it seems to have worked and is much less fiddly.

Tree Wire Scuplture number 2

The third tree, well this one has only just been started, the root structure has been formed now I need to wrap up the trunk and get the branches formed. I really have no idea how this one will turn out because they sort of gorw their own shape as wrapping progresses.

The Start of a Wire Tree Sculpture

I will post more pictures of these 3 wire trees as they progress.

I would advise anyone who has found this interesting to visit Sal’s web site and have a good look around and buy his little book to help get you off the ground with this art form, you won’t be sorry I am sure!

All the best

Dave

A while ago I started learning how to make gem stone crosses, at times it was frustrating and there were a few casualties along the way.

In a previous post I described how we cut the crosses out of green Aventurine, since then we cut some more out Orange Aventurine, Rose Quartz, Sodalite and Lapis Lazuli, just to get the feel for using different materials for making crosses.

One thing I did learn was to use smaller tools for this type of work, the expanding drums on the cab machine are too harsh, so as it turned out was the felt polishing wheel.

So I used small felt bobs mounted in the Fordom Flex shaft to sand and polish these pieces, for the sanding I used progressive grades of diamond paste on the felt bobs then finished off with cerium oxide as a polish.

As I said there were a few casualties along the way, the first happened a while back before I figured out to use the felt bobs as the one below fractured on the felt polishing wheel.

This one fractured when it was being polished

The second one fractured when I was trying to drill a hole for a jump ring to go through, Rose Quartz seems to be very fragile in this type of work, but it’s more than likely just me.

This cross fractured when it was being drilled

Anyway those that survived are below, I know they could be better but that’s what learning is all about and you don’t learn if you don’t try!

Gem stone crosses - our first attempt

I will do more of these when time allows and I am sure the next batch will be much better.

All the best

Dave

I have been wondering for a while about what I can do with all these tumble stones that we have, mainly the ones that are too small for jewellery or not good enough for jewellery.

So I decided to have a go at making a gem tree out of some Amethyst tumble stones.

Amethyst Gem Tree

First of all I found an end piece of Amethyst left over from a lump that had been slabed, a nice flat face on one side to serve as the base and rough on top, then I “borrowed” some of Shalini’s silver plated copper wire, 0.8mm, to make the tree out of.

As you can see I cut 12 lengths of the wire, six being shorter than the other six and left about 2 inches protruding at the bottom before I started to wrap the trunk.

One I had wrapped the trunk, I splayed the shorter bits at the end so they would go over the rough top of the base slab, after much bending a poking about to get the “roots” sitting on the slab properly I then used Devcon Epoxy to glue it in place, I used too much of this and it ended up a bit messy, read on to see how I hid this.

Next I selected the tumble stones that I wanted to use and started to attach them onto the branches, I found that by making a large loop at the end of the branch and then tightening the loop around the stone, it would stay in place while it was glued with the epoxy.

Now I had to go and hide the mess I made at the bottom, this was easily done using small tumble stones glued into place.

As I said this is the first attempt and I hade to figure out how to do it as I went along and I learnt much for the next time and there will be a next time because we have so many tumble stones to use up. Actually I am quite pleased at the finished item.

I wrote a short post recently about the Stamford Artisans Guild, now I am reporting back on the recent Christmas Craft Fair that was held on the 6th December in the Stamford Arts Centre.

The show was organised by my wife Shalini and three other ladies, Lorna, Sharon and Amanda, they put lots of effort into the organisation and publicity off the fair, and it paid off big time.

At the outset, there was very strict criteria laid down for who could take part, notably, everything had to be hand made by the person who was exhibiting and they had to based in Stamford or within a 25 mile radius, although there were a few people who were there from further afield.

The Arts Centre was full, they sold 31 stalls to various crafters covering all manner of skills from jewellery, wood turners, photographers and of course me with my lapidary.

Shalini was even approached a few days before the event by BBC Radio Lincolnshire for an interview about the Fair. The interview was conducted over the phone and Shalini did en excellent job of describing the Guild and its aims.

Everyone arrived around 8AM to start setting up and the doors were due to open to the public at 10AM, but because of the great job they did of publicising the event, members of the public started coming at 9:30AM, people were still putting the finishing touches to their stalls.

During the day their was a steady flow of visitors, I have no idea how many there actually were, but the whole place was buzzing throughout the day and all stall holders were very happy at the end of the day, a good level of sales was achieved and many good contact were made by almost everyone involved.

The organisers had requested the Arts Centre café to open on the day, normally they are closed on Sunday’s, anyway the Café was sold out by 2:30PM such was the level of demand for refreshments and food.

The event closed at 4PM officially, but even as everyone was packing up there will still visitors coming in which was great.

If you would like to learn more about the Stamford Artisans Guild or its activities to date please visit their web site at:

http://www.stamfordartisansguild.co.uk/

All the best

Dave

Seems I made a mistake when I decsribed these as crucifixes, I have been informed that a crucifix has the figure of Jesus on the cross, sorry about that, I will now describe these peices as crosses.

We recently had a request from a lady who wanted a cross made from rose quartz, fortunately there is no rush for this item as we need to figure out how to make these, good job as we needed to teach oursleves how to do it.

This post is about the initial learning phase of making these cross shapes and the problems we faced and how we resolved those problems.

We selected green Aventurine as we have plenty of this in our rough rock store.

So the first job was to cut some slabs on the slab saw which was easy enough, then we marked out the cross outline with an aluminium scribe, again easy enough!

Now we returned to the slab saw to cut out the cross shape, this is where we hit two problems, the first was that it was difficult to see the scribed lines because of the saw oil, the second, and we hadn’t realised this. We found that if we cut right up to the scribed line and then reversed the stone the cut actually extended beyond where we wanted it, this is because of the circumference of the saw blade.

Time for a cup of tea and a bit of think about these problems, during our discussions we remembered the small diamond cut off wheels we had bought an age ago but had never used. So we fitted one onto a mandrel and then onto out Foredom flex shaft drill. Eureka, this sorted out the problems, first of all because water is used as the coolant on these wheels so no problem seeing the scribed lines and also it was much easier to make the cuts simply by cutting close to the line and then reversing the stone and continuing the cut from that side. Se finally got a couple of cross shapes!

The next step was to drill a hole of about 2mm through the top of the cross so a leather thing could be threaded through. I find it’s better to do the drilling at this stage rather than drilling a finished polished item simply because any marks or scratched that might be caused by the drilling process or holding the item in a vice can be ground out at later stages.

So we drilled a pilot hole of 1mm with a triple ripple diamond bit, then opened it using 1.5mm and 2mm diamond twist drill bits, no problems there, just the time involved, it takes an age to drill holes in rock.

aventurine crucifix showing the hole for the leather thong

Then we moved onto the cab machine, but only got as far as the roughest wheel and then ran out of time.

The first green aventuirne crucifix preform

We will continue this post when we have made further progress on these 2 cross preforms.

the second aventurine crucifix preform

Best regards

Dave

Yes, our small town of Stamford in Lincolnshire now has its very own crafters group, the Stamford Artisans Guild.

Recently formed by my wife Shalini and a few of her friends, who all practice various crafts, the aim is to provide a forum for all local crafters.

The Guild is having its first craft show on 6th December in Stamford Arts Centre in time for Christmas. At the show you will only find genuine hand crafted items that have been made by the people at the show, there will be no imported jewellery or other items that seem to find their way onto craft shows

The Guild is looking for new members and crafters who would like to have a stall at the above show.

Please visit their web site for more information:

http://www.stamfordartisansguild.co.uk

Best regards

Dave

First of all let me say that this is a stone that I have had a hard time getting a shine on. Every attempt left me with a dull finish no matter what I tried, even after using a set of diamond flat laps I still couldn’t get a result.

Then I read about resin impregnated belts for use with diamond lapping paste, these belts are knows as REZ belts and are available here in the UK from Manchester Minerals, they come in sizes to fit 6 and 8 inch expanding drums, you can also get the lapping paste from them as well.

I will provide links at the end of this post regarding sources of supply.

Now regarding the Lapis Lazuli, well the first step is the shaping on the harsher silicone carbide belts then I continue through the steps on these belts through to 600 grit. Up until recently this was as far as I could go and the results were very disappointing indeed!

But recently I bought a couple of REZ belts for my expanding wheel and two grades of lapping paste, 30 micron and 50,000 micron.

The first step with these belts is to charge them up with the diamond paste, something I have never done before but it is pretty simply. My method was to apply lines of paste to the belt at intervals then use a finger to spread it over the belt, you can use a small amount of lapping compound to dilute the paste thus making it easier to spread. This was how I charged both of my belts.

Next I fitted the 30 micron REZ belt onto the wheel and then got started, as I said it’s the first time I had used the REZ belts and had read about the dangers of heat buildup because no coolant is used. I adopted a sort of touch and remove motion with the stone, keeping it in contact with the belt for very short periods and this prevented the heat buildup.

Even though 30 micron is broadly similar to 600 grit silicon carbide in terms diamond / grit conversion tables, the diamond after a very short time started to get a shine on the Lapis Lazuli.

The next step was to change the REZ belts over and fit the 50,000 micron belt, again using the tough and remove method and very soon we started to get a reasonably deep luster on the stone.

Currently that’s where I am at however, I have ordered two more REZ belts which will be charged with 7 micron and 2.5 micron. I did this because the gap between 30 micron and 50,000 micron is huge and by adding the two extra stages a better shine should be achieved.

Once I have these other belts in the process I will write a follow up.

I am sure that what I have described is nothing new but I wanted to share this because I find it hard to find information on the internet.

I guiess my next step is to build another cabbing machine with 4 expanding wheels purely for the diamond steps mentioned above – one day maybe!

Resources:

RES Belts, Diamond paste and Lapping fluid can all be found on the following page at the Manchester Minerals web site:

http://www.manchesterminerals.co.uk/acatalog/Lapidary_accessories.html

Best regards

Dave

I am sorry I haven’t made any new posts here for a short while it’s because I am recovering from a broken left collar bone at the moment which happened as a result of a motorcycle accident back on July 17th.

It is healing well but the doc’s told me it would take about 6 weeks so I am taking their advice and not putting any strain on it.

This has not only hindered my Lapidary activities but also my motorcycle courier business as well, both of which I need to get back into but only once this bone is fixed.

I aim to start cabbing again in early September, I think some more Labradorite will be first in the line as it’s my personal favourite followed by some Carnelian and of course some more Lapis Lazuli now that I am getting closer to understanding the polishing process for this rock.

That reminds me I must order a few more REZ belts and some more diamond paste as I believe these will allow me to bring the Lapis Lazuli to the next level.

I haven’t been totally away from the jewellery making though as I have strung and knotted a few strings of pearls for Shalini, think I will do some more later today.

Anyway all for now

Dave