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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 30, 2017 10:56:04 GMT -5
Those are beautiful. And that cab - killer! Love that.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 30, 2017 10:54:23 GMT -5
Hmm . . . I see possibilities for that James! Thanks all.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 29, 2017 11:40:13 GMT -5
Hi. I guess the green could actually be plasma agate on closer inspection. I haven't tried to scratch it yet but it's in the cutting bin so I'll know before too long.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 29, 2017 11:38:40 GMT -5
Thanks guys. Try it with a bigger cab though so it won't be so tall. And don't drop it!
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 29, 2017 11:36:59 GMT -5
Love all of those! My favorite is the Nipomo, but it's a close race.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 28, 2017 14:20:04 GMT -5
A regular mirror has the mirror at the back. I could have ground off some of the glass on the front, but I wanted that there to allow more light to enter from the sides.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 28, 2017 14:19:17 GMT -5
Ok, all finished. Final height at the top of the dome is 8.5mm. About 8mm on the sides. I cut the dome as low as I could. Some thoughts and "Today I learned . . . ": The space between the plumes and the mirror does make a pretty big difference in brightness but overall the piece is still sort of dark, so I don't know if I'd go to the trouble again. If I do, I'll lap the plume slab thinner and probably just back it with howlite. About 1 or 1.5mm would be a better thickness. This one was 3mm I'd say (and it was uneven, which is easy to tell in that side view pic). I did the initial dome on the flat lap at 180 after evening up the sides . . . should have done it on the cabking at 325. I broke the corner off the agate piece and top glass layer when I dropped that sandwich on the floor prior to the final expoxy step. Oops. I glued it all together so I could continue the experiment, and it looks better than I thought it would, but the line bugs me. I didn't try too hard on some parts because of the broken-ness. Like, I didn't get the sides ground down enough on the first step and ended up with some epoxy remaining on the edge of the agate layer and then not polishing correctly on the sides. You can see some of it just at the top border of the cab - through the dome it looks like little bubbles. If it wasn't broken I might have gone back and ground that off. When I discovered it later I was too lazy to go back. Also, the angles aren't a true 90 degrees on the sides. If it wasn't already broken I might have put the perp-it attachment on the flat lap and tried harder as I was grinding it down to size. Did pretty good on bubbles in the epoxy I think. There's one wierd squiggle thing in the lower third of the cab just left of center, but I can't tell if it's a glue anomaly - cat hair? - or an agate anomaly. Those dots you see are dust not bubbles. Probably won't bother to set it, and chalk it up to a learning experience!
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 28, 2017 13:55:21 GMT -5
Yup, I've done that before on other backings. This one has the mirror layer as the back layer though.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 28, 2017 11:53:05 GMT -5
Ok Here's where we are this morning. I epoxied the two sandwiches together last night and they're ready to grind. Looking a bit tall! But we're not finished yet. Next step is to grind the edges down flat carefully on the flat lap, then dome the top. Notice how light it is in the last picture though? That's not backlit; that's front lit. The light is pretty bright and directional since it's first thing in the morning, but still way brighter than before. That last picture was taken in the shade with hardly any light.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 28, 2017 11:07:58 GMT -5
Oh cool, good to know about the glass glue! I would guess since it's meant for glass it *might* be formulated not to discolor over time either.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 27, 2017 17:14:06 GMT -5
Yeah, I have to research glass cutters. Good idea. I did the second half of the sandwich now, as the epoxy was already set pretty well with the lamp heat. I tried the "epoxy on both surfaces" method. Thanks!
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 27, 2017 14:55:29 GMT -5
Fun! The thrill of the hunt!
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 27, 2017 14:53:44 GMT -5
Will let you know Erich! I still have to clean up the garage! There might be more down there.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 27, 2017 14:52:50 GMT -5
Thx! It's really great not having to go outside to cut something here and there, and not having to save up my preforms in a big batch for a cutting session.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 27, 2017 14:42:04 GMT -5
We'll see if this turns into a tutorial or a "what to avoid doing" post! I've only ever made doublets before (white stone or black stone behind, transparent slab in front), and have never worked with glass or mirrors. Never made a triplet or a quaduplit. There's a first time for everything! So I found a few pretty nice little Woodward Ranch slabettes at Q this year that were (amazingly) a very affordable price. The one in this shot was $1. I was digging through a giant bucket of them and holding them against a piece of howlite to inspect them (no sun!). I observed an interesting thing - the light shines though brighter when you hold the slab about half an inch above the howlite, rather than right on it. More opportunity for the light to get back there I guess. That gave me an idea. I wanted to try making a triplet with a layer of clear glass between the backing and the stone in front. And set the whole thick little sandwich in a prong setting to let the light in. It's going to be a bit on the tall side, so I'll have to do something with the setting to make it lay properly as a pendant (probably set it in the center of a much wider backing sheet with some sort of decoration). So here's the sandwich I ended up with, after a little experimenting: Backing: cheapo hand mirror. It's about 1/8" thick, and is a regular mirror, not a front surface mirror. A thicker mirror would have allowed me to do away with the sandwich glass layer but I didn't have one. Filler glass: From a picture frame. It's about 1/16". I don't know anything about different types of glass. Maybe there is a better type to use? It didn't look too greenish at least. Slabette (forgot to get a pic before I trimmed it. It's around 3/23" thick. The top had a fracture I didn't like or I would have left it taller. About this time I decided to use a cap too, since I thought I'd grind away crucial parts of the plumes if I domed the slabette itself. Didn't have any optical quartz in this size handy, so I just cut another piece of glass. We'll see if I have to grind it off and redo it later. The pieces after cutting in my Ameritool trim saw with the BD303c blade: Of note: the glass chipped pretty badly and the metallic backing on the mirror chipped horribly. Luckily I had cut the pieces big enough to allow extra space around the edges that I can grind off gently later to get down to the good mirror. Here's a pic of the back of the rest of the mirror, to show the chipping. There's like a 1/8" chipped border! Since there are 4 layers, I had to start with two sandwiches, and later I'll combine them. With the E330, it dries so slow that sometimes it moves around, so gluing and clamping all 4 at once seemed like a bad idea. You mix up the E330, very gently. I put my blobs on a paper plate, and mix slowly with a toothpick. The E330 allows enough working time that you don't have to stir fast. You can tell by the color change when it's mixed. Then smear on a bunch and cover the entire surface of one piece (don't want any gaps). Place the top piece at an angle and slowly close it (thanks for the tip to ___(whoever it was can't remember) about that recently.) Then, mush it around to make sure there is glue covering the entire area the surfaces are touching. Push down firmly to push the excess epoxy out the sides and check again that it is lined up how you want it. Clamp, check AGAIN that it is still lined up right, and wait. Incandescent bulb speeds things up somewhat. (these little clamps from Amazon have been great).Then, clean epoxy off of yourself and your camera with Acetone. Am I the only one who always manages to get it all over me? Will update the steps as I go. I'll probably glue the sandwiches together tonight, and start grinding tomorrow evening.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 26, 2017 15:34:57 GMT -5
Yeah it's very tidy and cute and (as of yet) clean!
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 26, 2017 15:34:19 GMT -5
Gorgeous. Are you sure the Llanite cabs aren't Larvikite? I love flashy rocks. The morgan hill is my favorite though - I haven't seen one with black poppies on yellow background before! Very cool.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 26, 2017 12:56:19 GMT -5
Lol Dave. Glad for somebody to cut them up right away rather than sitting around with nobody paying any attention to them!
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 26, 2017 11:24:54 GMT -5
Does anybody want either of these two boxes? For scale, the surface of the wicker stool is about 8" x 10". First, a box of pretty high quality Lavic Jasper, self collected. I have too much of this stuff, since it's so easy and fun to collect. Some are face cut. In fact looking at them makes me want to go pick up some more! Brecciated and Moss mostly. Couple not sure's. The cut ones are solid. Not sure about the uncut ones, but probably. Second, mixed box. Has an (I think) orange calcite partial sphere preform, chrysocolla in quartz, Montana Bark stone, CA Dumortierite, Jade type thing from Area 54, a small lace onyx, bubble obsidian (made a pretty cool cab), and a small baggie of so-so quality rutilated quartz. None of these rocks is super high quality, but they're all solid and cabbable (and some like the bark stone turned out to just not be to my taste. The rutilated is quite cloudy and included, but has strong rutile. Small piece of so-so AZ pet wood. You pay the MFRB price (13.60 each it appears and they're yours).
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 25, 2017 10:57:42 GMT -5
I found my slice of Royal Sahara Jasper and will cut as soon as I work up the energy. That's picture jasper right? I purchased one nodule once and only ever cut one slice off of it (by hand). It took like an hour, at least.
Even indoors in Socal, I think I'll probably have to heat the water in the drip bucket!
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