Amazonian Posted November 8, 2014 Hey teo. Very impressive indeed. I am very takon by the box/display stand. What wood did you use for that, burl? . It all comes together as a beautiful piece. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teonanacatl Posted November 8, 2014 The box is a Red Coolabah burl that I bought online, Ive still got more which Im excited about Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mutant Posted November 14, 2014 looks like a grinder for millionaires 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teonanacatl Posted April 15, 2015 Bit of a theme for some new carvings at the moment- mobius strips. 10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MountainGoat Posted April 15, 2015 Dude, that's outrageous. I'm well keen to commission a piece if you're interested. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teonanacatl Posted April 15, 2015 Flick me a message if you're keen! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teonanacatl Posted April 16, 2015 Mobius from "celestial blue" Guatemalan Jadeite. More of a grey blue then a true blue but in some light it shows up a light blue. https://www.facebook.com/LarridinyaCarvings 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted April 16, 2015 (edited) Always a pleasure to view your carving art's =) Thank You. "Logan river? In SEQ?" yes, you can find green tree pythons down there. Very hard to miss - ID such a snake. often coiled up in the morning glory covered tree's by the river's edge. I know, most, if not all data here, is horridly outdated and no longer correct. Dont think Jungle pythons get 8 meters plus long in SEQLD either. but guess what.. they are here too. Mt. glorious. =) What types of bits do you use to carve these materials? I only have stone setting burr's and other such types for silver, gold, platinum etc. not cheap, I wouldnt want to use them on rock's. Are you running the cheaper diamond burrs? Anyhow, I look forward to viewing more of your carving's in future. All the best. Edited April 16, 2015 by ghosty 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teonanacatl Posted April 16, 2015 (edited) Thanks Ghostly! I use diamond and silicon carbide tools to grind the jade away. I have some cheaper diamond burrs that I use for rough work but they dont last long. Everything quality with diamonds on is exxy! Basically I cut it on a diamond saw close to shape, shape with a hard 6" diamond wheel 180 grit and a soft 280 grit 6" wheel. Then its to the bench to work with a hand tool with diamond burrs, once most of the carving its done its back to the soft wheel for 600grit smoothing where ever I can get it. I paint it with a red ink between each step and sand till all the ink is gone. Then its diamond sandpaper or silicon carbide sticks to get in where the 6" soft wheel cannot reach. Anything with a polish needs sanding to 1200 then dry sanding with 600grit silicon carbide then its hand polishing with diamond paste in 3000, 8000, 20000, 50000 and maybe 100000 grit till the desired polish is reached. Again between each step red ink is applied and sanding/polishing is done to remove all the red. For a good polish you can double the time it takes, for a matte finish like above I only go to 1200 grit then oil. The polish possible depends on the quality of the jade, as an example the Guatemalan jadeite has quite large crystals and isnt very "tight" which means I would have struggled badly to get a GOOD polish. The Burmese jadeite (light blue mobius) however is tight and fine and would have taken an amazing polish. I started to polish it up but it looked better matte, I eventually settled on a semi polish though I still think the matte looked better (That took me 1 whole day of fucking around hahaha). The green NZ jade mobius is a nephrite so its fibrous and whilst not a particularly tight stone I just smashed it till it took a polish- I think 6-8 hours of polishing. Edited April 16, 2015 by teonanacatl Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teonanacatl Posted April 17, 2015 Todays carving- Guatemalan ice jadeite, this one is for sale too. Group shots- really brings out their individual characteristics. Nice transmitted colours. This is my last piece of Burmese jadeite ~6cm across. Have a nice mobius idea for it though Id initially planned to try and carve a more traditional Chinese relief landscape into it with green as leaves etc. Who knows, will be a while before I get to it What do you see? 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mysubtleascention Posted April 17, 2015 bare - chineese .. cannabis goddess dragon ! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted April 17, 2015 Koolies =) thanks for your response. Have you used cerium oxide to polish these yet? if so, how did it work out? I had a feeling diamond burr wouldnt last long.. I can help but wonder if the "blue hubble" would polish the softer stones? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teonanacatl Posted April 17, 2015 (edited) Tried ZAM (aluminium oxide and cerium oxide) but it orange peels the softer jade and doesnt polish well, or at least I cannot get it to do anything. Tried it on the ice jadeite today and it wouldnt even scratch it. In the past for curiosity sake used ZAM on a polished piece and it reduced it to orange peel. Only tried diamond paste otherwise so cant really help otherwise sorry. More important then the polishing is the sanding and prep! With good prep and a good stone polishing is easy. Im limited by me gear too, in terms of what can afford so some things I do are a bit about face just cause thats all Ive got. Edited April 17, 2015 by teonanacatl 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mutant Posted April 17, 2015 make a leaf out of it! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted April 17, 2015 (edited) Aluminum oxide might be to abrasive. I'm yet to finish my rock saw / grinder /polisher / (possible faceting) tool. so just gaining info in the meanwhile. Used cerium oxide on opal though, worked a treat =) opal is soft yes? I'm not into the mos scale yet =P in time.. I hear you about the tools you need and the cost! I wish to go further, every part of my system (the numerous tools you need to get started with any material, let alone if you want to work, glass, metals, stone, wood etc. etc as do i). Like my hydrogen, oxygen, hexane torch system is designed from scratch to allow me to work without gas bottles, rent on bottles, transport of deangerous goods on my motorcycle. Also it means i can pay myself more and still retain ability to be competative on a world market. The torch system is a very good tool that was about 7 months in the making and not too cheap either. my digital top-hat flat-bed glass kiln is halfway built too. etc. but in saying that I will not have garbage tools in my house. trust me when i say my time trying to skimp tool costs is well over. I even made a "lab-glass birkeland eyed reactor that makes my nitric acid to recycle and re-alloy my metal scraps (2-3 months for 1 liter strong to just fuming clean acid) I make tools most i need. You have not farted about when you bought your grinding / rotary tools (industry standard) so I'm not supprised at your abilites with limited tools. In saying that, you have an eye for fine detail and impart a passion to your work's. This shows =) Perfection is important to you, me too. I like your work very much and will buy some in time just to own "one of your early works". Thanks for your imput on these polishing compounds you've tried. Edited April 17, 2015 by ghosty Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teonanacatl Posted April 18, 2015 Diamond and silicon carbide both out rank Aluminium oxide in hardness so I doubt its too hard. Polishing opals which are soft is different to polishing hardstone. If I could start from scratch with my tools I would, for example Ive got a double arbor grinder. Id happily fork out the $ to buy a 6 or 8 wheeled setup with a good trim saw, also Id love a good slabbing saw- mine is shit. But Im working with the $ Ive got. Having all the wheels you need ready to go saves time. Likewise for polishing. There is a never ending list to the tools Id have/find a use for! Your tools sound interesting, have you got plans for the torch? Ive been meaning buy one but Im remote so getting gas is a pain except LPG. Ive just been using my stove and a cheap butane torch. My best advice if you get into stones is join a lapidary club, things I could have learnt from people in 10mins took me 10 hours. Another way to look at spending $ on it is a uni degree will cost you $20-30k and 3 years, if I invested that in carving/jewellery Id be well on my way! But the no interest loans on uni courses helps Keen to see some of your work, got a link?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted April 18, 2015 yeah, i know thats true about the diamond and SIC compounds. Hmm, been meaning to do a video on the hexane torch system for youtube. To show others what the can do if they need to. the reason i bought parts to make it was the same reason as you have. LPG and butane... I got sick of that really fast. hard-pressed to cook a steak with it hey. I will draw a diagram and photo it today for you along with the tool itself. might even make a video too. The hard part was finding parts and fuel for it here. as normal for me. much of my stress comes from 40 years of never being able to get anything i need to make anything.. Will go get coffee and start my day, and sort out some troch info for you. I understand your advise to join clubs uni etc. but that form of education doesnt work for me. I dont deal well, with teachers waffling on, and handing out small packets of data over long time frames. What i could / would learn at uni in 3 painful years, i would teach myself in average 7 months. I'm the type that must overload themselves with all the info they can scrap together and work things out. I have tought myself everything i know =) Silver-smithing, jewelery, motorcycle rebuilds / repairs / mods / cusomizing, website designing and SEO work. Airbrushing, glasswork, leatherwork, botany, medicines, etc. and now The rocks.. yay I tent to make most my tools as those i could buy, are often totally substandard (like if you want a glass kiln here, all just low-grade hobby rubbish). Anyhow my motorbike and coffee are calling, back soon to grab the camera and shall place troch stuff here, if there is a preferred place for it, im sure some will move it. In the meanwhile you could look at russia's HHO-BOX system. based on transistor welder is very clever indeed. great tank design. lacks pressure regulators for each line though. but, is another way to fo it with HUGE output. I will end up making a similar dry-cell system one day, based mine from a bought cheap system as such unit's offered me some fuel bubblers to use. (mine based on chinese flame polisher 150 L/h with x2 of the bottles it has as extra's to build the system.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted April 18, 2015 placed info on the torch system here- http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=41194 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teonanacatl Posted April 18, 2015 Ive actually been looking at making my own burrs. At the world jade symposium there was a talk by a fellow in Europe that does cameo pieces. They use a metal burr with diamond paste and they make all their burrs on a lathe each week. Only this way could one achieve the details they do! Im the same with learning- I learnt all I needed in 1.5years for my 4 year degree. But polishing is one of those things that I wish I could have seen done in person a few times. I spent my time trying to achieve a perfect water wet shine but when I saw pieces in the flesh I found many left them matte, or did what I considered terrible orange peel jobs, ie they werent finished. If your wanting to do many types of stone Id imagine this would be a bigger issue. Going to a club/event allows you to find good finishes and talk to those who themselves do them. The internet was full of opinions on how to polish jade but mostly I think time is what worked. Most seemed like witchcraft to me Thanks for the torch info! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted April 19, 2015 (edited) Yeah I hear that =) I'm a "monkey see" type too. Though I like to piss-about making stuff / trying stuff till i get it right. I dont mind the time, I like the Journey of learning an art of sorts. By pissing about making tools / playing with different materials or concepts, I find I learn more about them and sometimes, if i'm lucky, a better way. Always open to hear advise from those with many years expirience on something though, it can speed up your learnings for sure. Can have an insideous effect of keeping my mind "in the box" though to. That frightens me a bit so i tend to avoid to an extent. In saying that though, Very good advise for most others getting involved with such arts =) Have you seen those mini-lathe's for metal? Think i saw one for for about $300.00 at jaycar here once. the price shocked me for where i live as i recall. perhaps though, they are much much cheaper? I'm going to have a look at some super solft bright-shine metal polish compounds on soft materials soon as i get that tool finished (should do some work on it now..) compounds such as "blue hubble". will post results when the time comes. I'm just waiting on metal prices at this time, then will do, and post some items i intend to produce soon. Reckon most you mob gunna love em =) Edit, Couple of things I must learn yet, so that lesson (always trying the hardest possible way first) will be a very complex ring. Made from sterling silver, fine silver (this i shall make from my home-made birkeland eyed reactor nitric) as i need atomic sized powder, 9ct gold (yellow), and platinum. stupidly rich with fine detail's. I expect about $230.00 to make. Along with a shitload of time. That ring should appear somewhere in this site in about 1 month =D Edited April 19, 2015 by ghosty Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted April 19, 2015 (edited) this post will be re-created in "make a soldering torch system" Edited April 20, 2015 by ghosty Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teonanacatl Posted April 28, 2015 Was trying to do some commission pieces for a lady who has bought some of my stuff, she only buys stuff from NZ jade (pounamu). She wanted some stuff with crossovers in so after 15 hours of drilling holes and roughing out stone I had one fall to pieces in my hands and realised that the others wouldnt be strong enough for my intended designs. The jade is lovely, just chatoyant and very "chippy" which makes it difficult. So instead I went along with what the stone wanted and made these pieces. Will make some more tomorrow as they were a fair bit of fun and gives me a lower $80-$150 market. The dark green stone is very hard and if I can get a suitable piece should take an awesome polish. Anway they are more simple than normal and much more organic and natural- I like them, I hope you do to! 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teonanacatl Posted April 29, 2015 Kawakawa cobble and totoweka freeform and toki necklaces. Few more pieces of pounamu to carve then back to mobius carvings and Ive got plans to do some butterfly chrysalis's. Also have a lifesize peyote that I started carving a year ago that needs to be finished :D 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
in_spirit Posted April 30, 2015 where did you get the jade from teo, that stone in the first pic looks super nice ??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
