Saturday, September 8, 2012

Current Projects I ought to be taking pictures of.

Making silver quarters (pre 1964) in to rings.
-or any other coin rings really.

Making knife handle scales with inlaid elk ivory for a family friend.
-still worried about whether it ought to be functional or decorative.

Setting up a coal stove in my shop that might actually be retrofitted to be a small forge.
-have to find more heat, just because I have things that can't freeze.

AAAAAAND....  ought to be putting things on line to sell.
-even though I hate doing that crap.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Sunday, October 24, 2010

October crafts update.

Since I've been unemployed lately I've had a lot of free time on my hands. I've used some of that time to work on new jewelry projects.


The first project I worked with was flame painting. I found that it will be much easier to have consistent results if I ever have access to an oxyacetaline torch, but the results were still fun.










The next set of pieces I worked in involved making simple head pins by melting copper wire. I was inspired partly by the carnivorous Drosera plants. They didn't quite capture what I was looking for, so I think I'll experiment and look for a new technique before I flesh out this collection.








Having found a new technique for placing finishes on pieces I decided to play around with permanent markers as a resist for liver of sulfur finishing. The results were interesting, but as I played around with the pieces I found a different technique that not only offered the ability to resist the liver of sulfur blackening, but also gave an element visual depth. I imagine these ones will be turned into earrings, but I may make others more suited to pendants or bracelets.



The latest set of pieces I've been playing with has been interconnected cubes. It has taken a while to get my soldering technique down to the point where I can make these with any speed, but they have turned out nice. I'm considering playing around with finishes for them, since they have silver soldered joints that a lot of folks wouldn't like and several finishes could hide that, sadly the shiny copper would also be hidden.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Little rant

The idea of preventing access to, or even discouraging the Pill or the morning after pill is ludicrous. If that's protecting human life, by preventing its murder, then maybe we should have to prosecute any woman who has intercourse but doesn't deliver a live baby.

If I remember correctly, between 30% and 50% of fertilized eggs never even established in the womb. Of the remaining 50%, only 80% of those survive to become an established functioning fetus. If my math is right, then up to 60% of fertilized eggs are terminated naturally during the first trimester.

No one knows the cause of every one of those lost embryos, or even that most of those miscarriages have occurred when they do, but we know it's happening. If a human is found dead or we know that humans are dying and the cause is unknown, there is an investigation into the deaths, people are looked into for murder, and the matter is dealt with to the satisfaction of society (ideally). There's a good reason why we don't do that with embryos, why we don't have women tested every month to see if they've conceived, why we don't lock pregnant women up in baby farms and monitor their lifestyle and diet, and why all those people who are shouting about protecting human life at that stage are being too extreme.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Paracord Crafting

Inspired by my friend Linus I took decided to indulge in a little paracord crafting. This is just a cheapo throwing knife, but with a little paracord it has become attractive and more useful.

The wrapping is in a Turk's Head knot. I admit I had to look at the instructions every couple of seconds to make sure I was doing it correctly.

Monday, September 27, 2010

New Jewelry

For a recent Dental Hygiene meeting in Casper I created a few pieces to be put in their fundraiser auction.

The first set is slices of copper pipe with held to a pin with a bead of melted silver. The earrings reminded me a lot of cherries.











The second piece is made from silver coated wire, brass coated beads and copper wire. I was told that this piece auctioned for over 150$.


Tuesday, September 14, 2010