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teonanacatl

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Posts posted by teonanacatl

  1. Posted · Edited by teonanacatl

    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.

    • Like 1

  2. Posted

    Todays carving- Guatemalan ice jadeite, this one is for sale too.

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    Group shots- really brings out their individual characteristics.

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    Nice transmitted colours.

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    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?

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    • Like 3

  3. Posted · Edited by teonanacatl

    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.

  9. Posted

    Hahaha Katu the swamp is about 20m from high tide mark. I must admit the other day when I was writing a reply to this topic I spied a 2.5m croc just on dusk making his way onto the beach out the front of the swamp, I did think I should charge more haha. Checked the swamp at night and no tracks into it so whilst there are crocs in there sometimes, there are none at the moment. Had a 2m one there try and get me a few years back. Moved him and he never came back.

    • Like 2

  12. Posted

    Just want to add that I live in the middle of nowhere so postage is really slow from here and I dont go to town much so please be patient with me :)

    Here is a picture of the swamp they are growing in. Been munching on the seed pods too and they are yummy. Can provide seed if people are interested in growing them.

    Ill get some more pics of the flowers when I borrow my friends camera again.

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    • Like 5

  18. Posted · Edited by teonanacatl

    Yeah on first hearing about it I though fuck thats not smart, but after looking at it I dont think its any different to whats out there. The only problem I really see is people eating it and getting a delayed effect, though thats no different to smashing shots. Snorting it will not likely be dangerous as the quantity you'd need to snort would be limiting. The maker said he made it because he like hiking but likes to have a drink at the end and alcohol is heavy to carry. Well alcohol is lighter/L then water and you still have to mix this with water. Fair enough if you're getting water from a stream or tap its lighter but not if you're carrying it, you'd then also need more water to make sure you dont dehydrate.

    This isnt like someone made crystallised alcohol that stays that way at room temp. Palcohol is ethanol absorbed into cyclodextrins. This encapsulates the ethanol and allows it to be treated as a powder- kinda like molecular bottles. Apparently the cyclodextrins can absorb up to 60% of their weight in alcohol.

    Its been sold in Germany and Netherlands for a few years now.

  23. Posted

    Ive got/ tried most of those you listed MG plus kangkong which I love and a native beach purslane which is tasty and nutritious.

    Statakak- that sounds great. Id be keen to see the cassava too as I grow a lot of that!

  25. Posted

    Maybe grab some other media for her to play with, water colour pencils, pencils, paints and stuff like that. Just leave it lying around for her to find as often incentives, pressure and expectations can make the creative daemon go away. Second the holidays art programs, really dig deep to find stuff. Also check out the botanical gardens they might do botanical drawing classes which would be fun for both of you!

    • Like 3
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