Stamp Collecting- A Fascinating Hobby

 Most of you that know me are aware of my interest in lapidary. But I have another life long hobby- stamp collecting. I used to collect stamps from all over the world but now I limit my pursuit to Norway- my wife's homeland. I not only collect the stamps but also interesting postmarks. Here's part of that collection.

Stamp collecting was huge in the 70's and earlier but interest has dropped dramatically in recent decades. People who thought of the hobby as an investment have been disappointed but it is still a great hobby. A few factors are accounting for a bit of a revival. The internet is connecting buyers and sellers and collectors from all over the world. Also, a lot of collections that have been dormant for years are now being inherited. 90% want to sell (if you do, don't expect a gold mine) but 10% are intrigued enough to want to keep and even expand the collection.

Stamps are fascinating little pieces of art- loaded with historical and geographical information. Some specialize in collecting stamps from countries that no longer exist! The internet has allowed me to make friends with collectors and dealers all over the world. Here are some stamps that I am sending off as a trade to a collector from the Netherlands.

Sourcing stamps is not as easy today since fewer letters are being mailed and fewer still use postage stamps. But the beauty of a market in decline is that stamps can be bought in bulk at very low prices. For instance, I sell 800 different stamps from Norway for $50 U.S. - shipping included.

Stamps, and stamp supplies can be bought from on line dealers and I want to mention a couple.

stamps_from_norway  run by a Norwegian named Per offers Norwegian stamps at very reasonable prices and shipping costs. After several transactions he has become a friend. Look him up on EBay.

Recently I met a dealer in Toronto named Don Wainwright. He is located in Toronto and he sells a lot of stamp supplies at very reasonable prices through his company- Stamp Wright. Don has an extensive background- especially in stamp publications and sells an amazing array of items. It's not easy being a stamp dealer in Canada these days. U.S. tariffs have made selling into the U.S. difficult, time consuming and expensive but if you are in Canada or the rest of the world, look him up. If you look up his store you can see his great price list.

So is stamp collecting something you might enjoy? If you have a collection sitting in a closet, get it out and have a look. Who knows? You might just get the bug again.

And if you have any questions relating to stamp collecting, drop me a line and I'll do my best to help you out.

A Very Nice Surprise

One of the reasons I have the shop is because I love meeting people. last summer a lady came by and was very interested in my technique of cutting a perimeter groove in my cabochons to do a simple wire wrap. Later she sent an email asking where to source the bits and bit size and I sent the info.

Imagine my surprise when I got an email recently that said a thank you surprise was on the way. I received a box containing an assortment of rock slab pieces and half a thunder egg! Here are just a few.

 

There were beautiful pieces of banded obsidian, agate, jasper and my favourite- mookaite and some lovely pieces of moonstone.

I can't wait to get back on my machines and make pieces with these. 

Again, to the person on the other end of the gift- thank you!

Making Viking Knit Chain

This time of the year, with all the sports on television, is the perfect time to make my Viking Knit Chain for next season. This particular piece is made from 24G half hard sterling silver wire.

First I weave it onto a metal dowel which is about as thick as my thumb.

 I try to create as few wire joins as possible so I use about 8 feet of wire at a time. For this piece the final length on the dowel was 21 cms.. When I take it off the dowel, it's wonky in spots and the chain isn't totally even.

But now I start to pass it through my hand made draw plate.

Some use metal plates but I prefer wood because there is less chance of scratching or damaging the wire. A soft wood like pine works well but the wire is strong enough to quickly damage and enlarge the holes. So I have settled on a nice piece of oak. I make two passes through each hole and for most of my bracelets and neck chains, I stop after the 7/32 inch hole.

As you can see the chain is now much longer (40 cms.) and has become much more uniform. The weaving has become "locked".

Now all that is left is to pull it against a wooden rolling pin to remove any kinks and make it nice and supple. This length will be used to make three nice women's' bracelets (one already spoken for). I'll make a few more in silver but will make more using 24G copper.

Creating this length will have taken me about 4-5 hours in total but most of that is spent in front of the TV watching sports so I don't begrudge the time.

Cheers!

Happy 55th Anniversary!

 On December 11, after a very difficult year, we celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary. Don't ask me why and how Vickie has put up with me for that long. Heck I don't even know how I got her to marry me in the first place!

It was a wonderful  evening with bubbly sipped from the modified flutes sent to us 5 years ago by our good friend Ted (who lives in Australia).

We found the flute revisions didn't affect the taste one bit! Of course, when you live in Nova Scotia, you have to have lobster.

And we had plenty!

What made it even better was that we got to share it with our daughter Sandra and son-in-law Sean who live in Dartmouth.

And also, via Zoom, with our other daughter Lisa and son-in-law Jarrod who live in Freeport, Grand Bahama and our dear friend Charlene who lives in southern Ontario.

All in all, it made the year, on balance, a great year!

Best wishes to you all.

Winter is Coming

 Slowly but steadily The Neck slips into winter. A few days ago we had our first "sundog". This is how it looked from our morning coffee spot.

But the views from the deck were a lot better.

And today we are in the middle of our first big winter storm. So now the scene of activity shifts to production. Recently I finished a project to produce some new guitar picks.

They turned out great with only a few "disasters" which are bound to happen when you take crazy lace and moss agate down to 2 mm.!

We've made a few statement pieces like this gorgeous rhodochrosite stone set in sterling silver and hung on a hand made sterling Viking Knit chain.

And we have at least one more show stopper in the works.

Some of you may know that I had a major operation in October and we had to close the shop early but things are looking pretty good and our plan is to be open as usual in the spring with exciting new items.

We still have a good selection of hand dyed yarn at a fabulous price so make plans to visit beautiful Digby Neck and stop by my rock shop- The Lap of Lapidary -and see our studio and gift shop. Everybody gets a free piece of Digby Neck!

Have a happy and healthy winter!

PS: I am about to reach 200,000 page views on this blog so thank you for all who enjoy it.

Back Cutting Rock

 This has been a weird summer. First it was cold and wet but since the beginning of July we have had virtually no rain and while most of Nova Scotia has been under a heat advisory, here on Digby Neck the temperature has rarely gone above 20 C.

On top of that, I've been dealing with a significant medical issue that is now mostly resolved. So I haven't been doing as much in the Lap of Lapidary but recently, the Lady With The Agate Eye came back with some interesting looking pieces so we fired up the Hi-Tech 10 inch and went to work.

This is a beautiful example of our local agate with pockets of Fortification Agate. It interests me enough that I will make a couple of cabochons from the two halves.

This is another beautiful example of our local agate showing amazing colour and patterning. This piece also is good enough to be cabbed.

This piece is unusual for our area. It almost looks like onyx. This one I will probably tumble to see how interesting it looks polished and then decide if I will cab it or not. 

In any event, thee Cab King cabbing machine will be fired up to work on these pieces plus I have to make more guitar picks to replace what has gone out the door recently.

If you are in the area, stop by, say hi and tour both my lapidary shop (The Lap of Lapidary) as well as the gift shop where we sell our family creations.

No Animals Were Unnecessarily Harmed Making This Post

 There is a very talented woman who lives in Iqaluit, in Canada's far north. From time to time, it is necessary to harvest a polar bear and when that happens, they make use of every possible part. She makes beautiful customized fur parka hoods and we also buy pompoms she makes using other fur.

Some time ago, we received a genuine polar bear claw.

My wife Vickie is a very accomplished polymer clay artist. She can duplicate pretty much any rock I can find and the joke is, "If I can find it, she can fake it!". So she embarked upon a quest to duplicate this claw. After she made one that passed her test, we decided to use it as a focal point in a necklace that also included some of her hand made polymer clay beads. Here's the result.

The claw focal point is spectacular.

This piece is available on line or in the shop. Hope to see you some time this summer.

DISCLAIMERS:

Note to animal rights activists. I have rescued several animals and do not hunt. This animal had to be harvested. Would you be happier if it had been left to rot?

Note to those concerned with cultural appropriation- this isn't and I will ignore any negative commentary in this regard.