Post by LCARS on Oct 19, 2007 16:45:47 GMT -5
Well, I have been pretty busy the last couple days building up my "cheapy item" stock in preparation for the Sunday flea markets come spring...
One thing that's fairly cheap and easy to make is Sticky Candy!
When I started my "candy" batch, I went through all of the tumbling tidbits I had stashed up and assembled a batch to specifically make a quantity of "attractive", yet fairly inexpensive trinket items for those cheapskates who browse the flea markets. ;D
I also used that "babied" batch as the perfect excuse to get some of my pendant projects that have been left in limbo to finally come to fruition. (That same batch was delayed over three weeks and almost ruined by cross-contam)
It's easy to make "attractive" fridge magnets out of any stone with a reasonably flat or slightly concave side. Just put a dab of jewellers epoxy on a magnet, tweak it into place on the stone and wait 20 minutes. I can dop 5-8 of them at a time to a glass plate using hot glue, spaced 3" or more apart. I can usually get that many done before the epoxy starts to set unlessi have problems with one.
You never consider things like ferromagnetic concentration and distribution in a stone until you try to glue a magnet onto the middle of a tiger eye only to have it slide over to the hematite end while you're working on the next one.
I first started making these after KD pointed me to what I think is the best website to buy magnets from that I have seen so far, K&J Magnetics.
They have a wide variety of magnets, good service and often have monthly & periodic surplus discount deals going on. If you don't already know about them you should check it out.
I made a small combined order with a few other locals to offset the shiping cost and then a few months later more of us got together and placed an even larger co-ordinated bulk order. If you can afford to buy large quantities you can save quite a bit per magnet and that really counts when it's hard enough to pry more than one measly dollar out of someone these days for anything.
Anyways, the pics should mostly be loaded by now for the dialup people so I won't bore you much longer with my pretext.
These are not my best photos, took them in a hurry last night as the epoxy was still hardening on a few and had to use an alien photoshop program to correct colors & such but here is the better part of all the sticky candy that came from this last batch!
(sorry dial-up users, I wanted large pics for the captions)
Top row left to right:
picture jasper, "rock box" agate, VI (BC) agate, VI quartzite, some kind of orbicular agate (those white patches have little orbs)
Bottom row left to right: Tumbled geode slice, next two are red jaspers, last one is mugglestone
The geode slice measures W:40mm x H:18mm
Left to right:
leopardskin jasper, VI rhodonite, chrysocolla, amethyst, white lace agate, BC garnet (almost black dark purple)
The amethyst measures H:25mm x W:9mm
Top left to bottom right:
2 tiger eyes, tiger iron, "rock box" agate trimmings, 3 mugglestones, 2 more rock box agates
The first tiger eye measures 20mm x 20mm
Top row:
green moss agate, something resembling jet but in an agate, purply agate with some banding on the side you can't see, either darker than usual aventurine or something closely resembling it...
Bottom row:
rock box mystery agate, 3 rock box agates
The "black one" measures W:11mm x H:26mm
A lot of the tumbler pickins weren't labelled so if you can correctly ID anything, go for it!
Top row:
Oregon moss agate, 2 more rock box mystery agates, VI quartzite "beach cab"
Middle row:
Another orby rock box mystery agate, 3 more VI quartzy beach cabs, saw trimming and the only piece of this nice mystery lavender agate I got from "the box"
Bottom row:
2 Okanagan snow quartz, white lace agate, rock box agate trimming[/b]
The top-right "beach cab" measures W:18mm x H:24mm
Small Bloodstone (Heliotrope)
Sorry for the yucky dynamics in the low end, it's the alien photostudio's fault
Small tiger eye close-ups
gold, green, red
Assorted VI & red/brec jasper
The "Tweet shots" ;D
I use 3 different sizes of super strong rare earth neodymium magnets depending on the size & weight of the stone.
Sometimes in cases like this, it's better to have two
...but just TRY to keep the second magnet in place while the epoxy hardens with that other magnet so close!
It either attracts or repels so you have to hold it for the 4-5 mins it takes to set, that's why I do a few singles first and then save this one for last when the epoxy is starting to harden, then I don't have to hold it for sooo long.
Well there it is folks, lot's of sticky candy just as promised.
Once again, I hope you enjoyed this second installment in this three part candy series!
Comments, questions and accolades should be posted below as usual.
Cheers!
Rob
;D
One thing that's fairly cheap and easy to make is Sticky Candy!
When I started my "candy" batch, I went through all of the tumbling tidbits I had stashed up and assembled a batch to specifically make a quantity of "attractive", yet fairly inexpensive trinket items for those cheapskates who browse the flea markets. ;D
I also used that "babied" batch as the perfect excuse to get some of my pendant projects that have been left in limbo to finally come to fruition. (That same batch was delayed over three weeks and almost ruined by cross-contam)
It's easy to make "attractive" fridge magnets out of any stone with a reasonably flat or slightly concave side. Just put a dab of jewellers epoxy on a magnet, tweak it into place on the stone and wait 20 minutes. I can dop 5-8 of them at a time to a glass plate using hot glue, spaced 3" or more apart. I can usually get that many done before the epoxy starts to set unlessi have problems with one.
You never consider things like ferromagnetic concentration and distribution in a stone until you try to glue a magnet onto the middle of a tiger eye only to have it slide over to the hematite end while you're working on the next one.
I first started making these after KD pointed me to what I think is the best website to buy magnets from that I have seen so far, K&J Magnetics.
They have a wide variety of magnets, good service and often have monthly & periodic surplus discount deals going on. If you don't already know about them you should check it out.
I made a small combined order with a few other locals to offset the shiping cost and then a few months later more of us got together and placed an even larger co-ordinated bulk order. If you can afford to buy large quantities you can save quite a bit per magnet and that really counts when it's hard enough to pry more than one measly dollar out of someone these days for anything.
Anyways, the pics should mostly be loaded by now for the dialup people so I won't bore you much longer with my pretext.
These are not my best photos, took them in a hurry last night as the epoxy was still hardening on a few and had to use an alien photoshop program to correct colors & such but here is the better part of all the sticky candy that came from this last batch!
(sorry dial-up users, I wanted large pics for the captions)
Top row left to right:
picture jasper, "rock box" agate, VI (BC) agate, VI quartzite, some kind of orbicular agate (those white patches have little orbs)
Bottom row left to right: Tumbled geode slice, next two are red jaspers, last one is mugglestone
The geode slice measures W:40mm x H:18mm
Left to right:
leopardskin jasper, VI rhodonite, chrysocolla, amethyst, white lace agate, BC garnet (almost black dark purple)
The amethyst measures H:25mm x W:9mm
Top left to bottom right:
2 tiger eyes, tiger iron, "rock box" agate trimmings, 3 mugglestones, 2 more rock box agates
The first tiger eye measures 20mm x 20mm
Top row:
green moss agate, something resembling jet but in an agate, purply agate with some banding on the side you can't see, either darker than usual aventurine or something closely resembling it...
Bottom row:
rock box mystery agate, 3 rock box agates
The "black one" measures W:11mm x H:26mm
A lot of the tumbler pickins weren't labelled so if you can correctly ID anything, go for it!
Top row:
Oregon moss agate, 2 more rock box mystery agates, VI quartzite "beach cab"
Middle row:
Another orby rock box mystery agate, 3 more VI quartzy beach cabs, saw trimming and the only piece of this nice mystery lavender agate I got from "the box"
Bottom row:
2 Okanagan snow quartz, white lace agate, rock box agate trimming[/b]
The top-right "beach cab" measures W:18mm x H:24mm
Small Bloodstone (Heliotrope)
Sorry for the yucky dynamics in the low end, it's the alien photostudio's fault
Small tiger eye close-ups
gold, green, red
Assorted VI & red/brec jasper
The "Tweet shots" ;D
I use 3 different sizes of super strong rare earth neodymium magnets depending on the size & weight of the stone.
Sometimes in cases like this, it's better to have two
...but just TRY to keep the second magnet in place while the epoxy hardens with that other magnet so close!
It either attracts or repels so you have to hold it for the 4-5 mins it takes to set, that's why I do a few singles first and then save this one for last when the epoxy is starting to harden, then I don't have to hold it for sooo long.
Well there it is folks, lot's of sticky candy just as promised.
Once again, I hope you enjoyed this second installment in this three part candy series!
Comments, questions and accolades should be posted below as usual.
Cheers!
Rob
;D