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[wampidy]

I call this experiment "night sky" and the jury is still out on whether I like it or not. I should have gone with black jade instead of this fake stuff from Arizona because this stuff is a bear to polish and doesn't look that good when finished. It would be nice if I could inlay the stars but those tiny pieces of opal are just too small for my eyes and shaky hands. I don't think there would be as much twinkle with them inset.

Good or bad hit me with your best shot. Fire away. Lots of colors to choose from.






Another experiment that is not finished because I have had to back up a couple of times. I will get there some day but for now it is what it is, PIECES. My sailing vessel that will eventually have an opal moon on the sail. Metal is brass plus silver wire for rope to be added last. The stone is a landscape rock that I picked up in the yard. Hey, dumb rocks deserve some love too.



Jadeite out of Myanmar or Burma.


Common opal from a paper sack given to me by the sister of a friend. Hard to find pieces without fractures.


Sodalite from Tony in Q. Other than that I do not have a clue. Don't even know where it is found.



Hope ya liked the show. More to come when I get them photographed. The angelite on cedar in the background of some of the photos will be coming up when I get the finish on the wood and lights mounted inside the stone.
Jim

[Asianfire]

How are those opals affixed on the background?
How secure is that method?

Like your experiment. Your stary night would have been a hit on our Challenge last month. 

[lithicbeads]

Great post. I will find you a piece of Washington black jade to cut. I have a few small ones around.

[LithicStrings]

Nice post.  I like the contrast of the opal moon and stars against the black that isn't so highly polished.  It might work better than if you had used a highly polished black background (just my opinion)
Thanks for sharing

[hummingbirdstones]

I like it too, Pat.  Uhhh - I mean Jim!   

I agreed with Frank that the mat black looks good as a background to the twinkling stars and moon.  If it were highly polished, I think it would have distracted from the little opal chips.  Nice job.  BTW, the Taurid meteor showers are going on now.  The 10th and the 11th are suppose to be the best nights to see them.  Vince saw one last night though.  I missed it.   

[lithicbeads]

That was the littlest  lithic with the matte idea. The big lithic still thinks Jim should try some of our black jade.

[hummingbirdstones]

Oops!  My bad.  Pardon me, Mrs. Lithic.   

[wampidy]

KK The stars and moon are glued on with E6000 glue and I am quite sure that I could pick the stars off fairly easy. I wanted everything to be removable in case I did not like it. Not sure how I could put them on any stronger unless I drilled a tiny dimple in the stone to set them into. Food for thought though.

Strings, now that you mention it I think you are probably correct. The night sky is not shiny and if it was we could not see anything out there.

I have been thinking that maybe the stone should be domed so the moon will set more forward than the stars. Practice makes my brain tired.

And thanks all for the input and compliments. I love it when people are honest.
Jim

[Asianfire]

But if you domed the background, your moon would be doomed :)  as you either would have to give him precise curvature or bury him.
In any case, a challenge in itself.

[hummingbirdstones]

I vote no dome!  On top of being incredibly difficult to curve the back of the moon to match, as Kurt said, it would throw off the whole picture of the moon and stars.  If you did want to affix all the stones more securely, I would do what you suggested -- i.e., drill a small divot for the chips (a diamond burr in a flex shaft would work just fine) and use some type of 2 part epoxy like Epoxy 330 to hold the stones in place.  I would probably do the same for the moon.  It needn't be that deep, but enough to inset it just a bit into the stone.  Make sure the back of the stone is slightly rough (not polished) and the rougher texture of the ground out moon on the stone would give the opal enough tooth for the epoxy to hold it securely.

[Helene Fielder]

The sail ship with the gravel rock looks like fun.  I like fun.  Are you drilling the long hole for the sail to attach to the silver?  If so, let me know how long that takes you, or took you.

[wampidy]

I vote no dome!  On top of being incredibly difficult to curve the back of the moon to match, as Kurt said, it would throw off the whole picture of the moon and stars.  If you did want to affix all the stones more securely, I would do what you suggested -- i.e., drill a small divot for the chips (a diamond burr in a flex shaft would work just fine) and use some type of 2 part epoxy like Epoxy 330 to hold the stones in place.  I would probably do the same for the moon.  It needn't be that deep, but enough to inset it just a bit into the stone.  Make sure the back of the stone is slightly rough (not polished) and the rougher texture of the ground out moon on the stone would give the opal enough tooth for the epoxy to hold it securely.

Oh my, you must not know me well enough. ;) I have a hard time finishing things and you are adding a bunch of work that could leave this piece at least a year out for completion. hahaha But what you are saying would make a much nicer piece out of it.

As far as curving the back of the moon I would start with a little filing then lay a piece of 400 sand paper on the top of the cab and slide the moon back and forth until I had no skin left on my thumb and first finger if not all of them. Easy peasy if you do not count hours and skin.

After all the comments I guess I would have to agree that domed would not be better. Oh but how I would love to see how it would look. Maybe some day.
Jim

[wampidy]

The sail ship with the gravel rock looks like fun.  I like fun.  Are you drilling the long hole for the sail to attach to the silver?  If so, let me know how long that takes you, or took you.

It will take a photo to explain but I am not drilling the stone for the mast. This is like half a boat and the stone will be glued to the mast (twice glued and twice broken) but I have to add more brass behind the stone for gluing stability. I am a bad one for not being real concerned about how the back of something like this looks. After all, it is only seen when put on and taken off right?

I did drill the right side of the stone and glued in a tiny piece of brass with a hole in it so the wire (rope) can hold the sail out stiff. Or something like that. hahaha
Jim