things are settling in

[piranha]

J is doing steadily better, see paramour's report.

my nervous energy is dissipating. i'll probably lie on the couch for a week to recover, *snicker*. but hey, having a clean house is nice. except my room isn't clean yet -- even the most energetic mood can get overpowered by large amounts of stuff.

i finished my wire jig -- 181 holes on a small grid, all drilled to the same depth. i'm using finishing nails as pegs, and it's working quite well. i'll need to cut up some dowels for pegs with larger diameters. here's an image with the first test piece. the jig measures only 5x5 cm; i think i'd like to make a larger one.



also, since firecat asked -- i've not finished the cabochon completely; there's a hairline crack running through the black, and i want to fill that with epoxy before giving the cab its final polish, but i need to order the right epoxy. it does look pretty good as is, however, so i took a picture of it on top of part of the original material:

Comments

[firecat]

Gorgeous!

Ages ago I had a summer job part of which involved making cabs. I wasn't terribly good at making them (they tended to be lopsided) but I enjoyed it.

cabochons

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

this one is a wee lopsided as well -- i made a mistake early on and took one side down too much all at once. i could have compensated for that by taking the other side down more as well, but... i couldn't get myself to do it, and i wasn't in the mood to push hard.

silly, since it was just a practice piece anyway, from a discarded piece of slab; i should really have gone for it. i have a weird fear of destroying something beautiful, and at the same time something can be flawed and yet beautiful, so the fear tends to win out over perfectionism.

was that the same summer job in which you glued wiggly eyes?

oh, i dreamt about you last night!

Re: cabochons

[firecat]

It's beautiful just the way it is.

Yep, also wiggly eyes.

Oh? What did you dream?

Re: cabochons

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

you had some fascinating summer jobs!

the dream was interesting, *snicker*. i was visiting you and your (fictitious) female partner, and you tried to help me with my intimacy problems (i wasn't doing so well with that in the dream). you also made an excellent waffle breakfast. your partner showed me how to properly eat it (there was a special way to pour the syrup on, *heh*).

Re: cabochons

[firecat]

hehehe! I have talents in other people's dreams that I don't have in real life (haven't ever cooked a waffle).

cabochons

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

here's a picture that shows it more precisely -- see how the bezel line gets more narrow towards the top? on that side the cab is a bit less rounded than on the other end. i don't think it's noticeable unless one gets that close to it -- the cab measures 30x22 mm.

Re: cabochons

[firecat]

Definitely can hardly see it. Fabulous job!

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

What a lovely stone. There's a part of me that can't quite believe that people can make things like that at home, as a hobby. I guess that could explain some people's reaction to some of the clothes I've sewn.

craftsmanship

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

*nod*. and i think that sewing is considerably more difficult; my first sewn project didn't look anywhere as good as this. but i share this odd mental block; as long as i haven't put my own hands on something, i can't quite believe that one might do that, and without having gone to university for 4+ years. :) i had pretty minimal instruction, though i had read up some on techniques, and it impressed me how quickly i got a feel for the power of the grindstone, and the movement across it. i don't have the zen of it yet, but contrary to some other things i've learned (sewing!), i can feel the edges of it.

the coolest thing for me is that i can actually go out there and collect this kind of material, not too far from where i live. which means i can create beautiful things with stones as much from scratch as anyone would want to these days (i don't have any particular desire to smelt my own ore. ok, i lie. i do have such desires, but i restrain myself. most of the time. just today i was thinking about how to build a cheap crucible furnace :).

Re: craftsmanship

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

i don't have the zen of it yet, but contrary to some other things i've learned (sewing!), i can feel the edges of it.

Yes, I get the sense from your posts that you have an affinity for rocks. Whereas I have an affinity for sewing, and it took time to understand that other people don't have it.

And I saw the other post about the furnace and laughed, I have to admit. As long as you have fun.