There Can Be Only One.... Well, Six Actually

It's about time I get around to these as Christmas is quite a ways back already. Mom put on her wishlist some napkin rings this year. She also sent me a picture of some that where cut out of sheet metal in the shape of some fleur-de-lys. Well, I tried. I made one that looked nice enough after three tries but I doubt seriously if I could make six that looked enough alike to be called a set. Let's face it I'm no sheet metal worker. What I am though is a toolmaker and toolmakers are supposedly somewhat good with machine tools. So my final solution was to make these out of vacuum rated stainless steel. Polished the hell out of them and what you see is the final product. They weight in at a quarter pound each so the napkins they will be holding are not going anywhere but the thought of asking everyone at the table to wear steel toed boots in case someone dropped one crossed my mind for oohhh 23 seconds. Imagine the great story you'll be able to tell to your drinking buddies: I was sitting there enjoying my entre when all of a sudden... Bam! right on my little toe. And that is why I walk with a limp since..... All kidding aside I think mom liked them so that's all that counts really.

Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take pictures of the gift I made for my dad so I won't be able to write it up here until he sends me a picture of the finished product.

Going for Broke

Monday 13th of October and I'm still here. Guess what I'm doing? I'm waiting, sound familiar. If this adventure/ordeal has thought me anything is that one should never count on civil servants to meet a deadline and that I think I've become more patient though I still'd like to hit one now and again.

Last weekend was... no not thanksgiving but my mom's birthday. I had started a brooch for my mom. It was a stainless background bent and prodded until it looked somewhat like water and the idea was that I was going to carve a turtle out of a tiny bit of tropical wood. My mom has a thing for turtles. (I guess I shouldn't tell her that the green sea turtle swims around New Caledonia and that maybe I'd get a chance to look at them or even swim with them!) Anyway, after carving three different turtles that looked more like sick mammals that anything else I gave it up. Maybe one day I'll be able to carve a decent turtle.

Then I got a little package from Celia and in it amongst other things were three rocks. Kinda special rocks she found in england. I don't know if they're agates or some other things, calcium deposits or whatever but when I cut into them with the saw I found some really nice patterns. Anyway, I was slicing this peculiar rock at work and then I though eureka! I'll make a brooch for mom out of this nice little slice of rock. The rest as they say is history. Unfortunate in the picture you can see fingerprints on the rock and stainless background. The break in it is a natural fault in the rock so I decided to call the brooch "Go For Broke" Ha ha!

I also got to meet mom and dads new kitty. She's called Bella. Though I don't think she'll ever replace Chablis, her youth and energy bring a lot to the household.

Serious Jewelry

Here are wedding bands I made for Joanne and Patrick. The picture is not the best the lighting wasn't all that good. Click on it maybe you'll see better. Anyway, they are made of 316 stainless surgical steel and will last more than a lifetime, though the finish may wear off. As you can see, one side is polished and the other is kinda brushed. Joanne is modeling both rings so you can see the order of magnitude in size between the two rings!!

One That Got Away

I made a small bracelet out of surgical steel for kiddo's (my little sister, last time I write it down) birthday. She also got a new digital camera from my parents. So, one plus one>>> Picture of a bracelet, you guessed it! Click here to be magically transported to her blog and see the bracelet. She also put up some pictures of jewelry she's making.