Starting on my Metal Stamps

I toured up to my studio and spent only 5 minutes on playing with the new stamp tools

I took one of the pieces - the ends are pretty rough - the piece was cut at the metal supply place

rough and sharp 

 to quickly clean the edges I used my grinder

cleaned up fast on the grinder 

hardly had to to do any work - ground it flat on top - then angled the sides so that it was  more pointed -  now its in my vice - note \i am using some foredome foam edged so they dont dig into the metal so I can go to the next stage -   

I need to find my fine tip sharpie so I can draw the design - ( I want to do a flower ) 

but that may not happen till next week - 

New Toys !

Picked up my  tool steel  pieces to start to play with

they are just wrapped in some tape to keep them together 

and got my Kinkajou bottle cutter - they had a sale and you got the finishing kit free - I really want to try this out on some wine bottles

What to do What to do

I have started this year being rather lazy and not working on any jewelery -  playing with paper and my cutting machine but other things are on my mind

I want to go to studio and play

I've ordered stencils for fusing, watching niobium anodizing videos (I've had the stuff to do this for over 12 years - so I want to get on this

and I am so interested in making my own metal stamps -   so today I ordered the tool steel
I had to find out what  O1  vs A2 meant when I called in  - so I ordered 3 ft of the O1 - 1/4" round  (oil harden tool steel - used for this type of work )  so here in canada the total came to 16.24   plus tax  for a 3ft piece cut for me in 3"  lengths (4" looks too long for holding control- but we will find out )  so that gives me 12 pieces to cut and play with

Evidently the tool steel comes soft  to work with  and I have watched how to harden the ends by torching them so they become non magnetic  and then how to harden the shaft without softening the design end that you have hardend  (you want the whole piece hardened so it does not shatter - that sounds dangerous)  I have to check in to kiln hardening the whole thing at once as that sounds actually better -

by the time I get to that stage I want to have some designs done at least on the tips

Yet another craft to take on but its needed to add to my own designs - if you can make your own punches I say go for it - and basically the price is right for me  as it works out to  1.35 each of raw material plus kiln/torch

picking up the pieces today - probably wont play till the weekend - and hoping maybe since its milder out I could make a trip to the studio

best part too is that I have all the tools - (or so I think) to start this project - so I only had to buy the raw material to start - we shall see -

Rework the House

Evidently I got ahead of myself and forgot she wanted a purple base rather than a green one I put on
so I tore the green off and cut and glued the new purple base
Actually I like the purple better and of course she is much happier now

Finished another House with my Granddaughter

Yup did another little house with my granddaughter - she wanted one for her teacher for valentine day

Looks like I'm starting a town - they work up pretty quickly once you do the first one - you know where everything goes 

RANGOLI STENCIL- what the heck is that

I have been seeing this video around - a guy using some sort of stencil and sand/sugar art  to make a beautiful manadala -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eza67LRxIN0

this one I found is actually using the ones I bought off ebay so super bonus to see that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpyWEJLJnas

I can only think glass frit when I see it and want to try - so hunted down the stencils - bought them off ebay  of all places -

RANGOLI STENCIL

they are 8" in diameter - a good size to try for glass - comes with a little shaker
I bought 2 - only 11.00 each cdn  (7.93 u.s.) with free shipping - cant beat that to try out
so waiting for them to come - takes time  and they even wanted to activate the powers of the mandala

I cant wait for them to show up - I may even brave the cold to try it out -  

Paper House coming along

Who knew this was so much fun ........
I cam home and was finishing up with the pieces I had cut -  just a few more pieces and its done - learned a lot from the first one -  and not as hard as I first thought -  seeing all the pieces was quite inundating  when first looked at but  it all makes sense now - just like sewing
Like a puzzle just in 3D

Starting to assemble some things for the spring to try out once the studio is open again (looking for WARM) 

Some Paper Cutting Fun

I have  a Brother  Scan N Cut cutter -  Love this machine -
I bought just before Halloween a Haunted Forest theme kit for 6.99 from SVGcuts.com -   provided all the cuts needed to make a cute house - stands a good 10" high and is a ball to put together - much like a puzzle - even after watching the tutorial I  glued some of the pieces backwards but saved it any - its like sewing  - the first one takes longer and a lot of errors later - but  when you go to make another your ready to roll - there is a good tutorial but I should have laid out my pieces and watched it all the way through first - but we were so excited -  converting the svg to the scan n cut format took a while - lots of pieces - then we started cutting  -

My Granddaughter wanted me to make this - suddenly it was just me making it !  but having a ball putting it together and learning more about my machine

so far I have most of the house (even if it is backwards) and started putting the base together - all thin construction paper and colored pattern paper -( I did not cut or install the inside liners - I'll do that next time -

  but next time I want to buy the Halloween paper from Graphic45 :  http://www.g45papers.com/an-eerie-tale?keyword=halloween for a more visual effect

but what paper I had around the house looks pretty good too .... (the scissors are more for weight while the glue was drying - everything else is cut by my cutter