Back in The Paint Business

The weather has changed and we are now in the crisp, sunny days of fall. For anyone planning a trip to Nova Scotia, this is a great time to come.

 One of the things I really enjoy when visitors come to the shop is showing all the things we actually do. Earlier in the summer we had a visitor who also does lapidary and when I showed him how Vickie made paint from the rock sludge, he said he would send us a piece from his stash and sure enough, he did. It was a fist sized piece of jasper from Africa that was amazingly fine grained and the most beautiful orange/ red colour. After cutting a small slice to use in making some jewelry pieces we proceeded to use the Cab King to grind it down to a fine powder.

Then Vickie got to work collecting the dried rock dust and here is just a fraction of what she was able to get.

She then did a test run to see what quality of paint she could make and was very pleasantly surprised!

Here's how it looked using slightly different mediums and paper.

And with the slice I kept, I was able to make several pieces. Here's a ring showing how beautifully it polished. I'm working on a pendant earring set and will post pics when it is finished.

The dark specks are actually little cubes of pyrite which, depending on the light, show as black or metallic gold.

We are calling it Cox jasper in honour of the donor. Thanks again Bill!

The Fun of Cutting Rocks

"Life', as Forest Gump so famously said, "is like a bunch of chocolates". He was referring to the unexpected surprises (good and bad I guess) that serve to make our lives interesting. 

Cutting rock is much the same. Surprises, both good and bad are revealed. True, if you know what you're doing, you have an inkling. But you never REALLY know.

The weather on Digby Neck has warmed up enough so that my water cooled lapidary machines can be fired up and recently I did a bit of cutting. Here are a few interesting pieces.

The first piece looked pretty good on the outside, with nice pink colouring.

But it was only when cut that the beautiful patterning was exposed, including the gorgeous pockets of fortification agate.

The next is a piece of petrified wood found on a beach. It had all the earmarks of petrified wood on the outside.

But when I cut it, the beautiful organic structure became evident and the great colouring also showed up.

Sometimes you get a complete surprise. On the outside it looked like a nice piece of agate.

But on the inside, there was an amazing array of colour and patterning. This will make a couple of amazing cabochons!

I'll be doing more cutting next week so stay tuned. And if you are in the area, come by and see our retail shop as well as my "Lap of Lapidary!

Latest From The Lap of Lapidary

 While we have had more visitors recently, I've still had time to get out to the shop and do some cutting. Here are some recent efforts.

The first is a beautiful piece of our local moss (some call it plume) agate.

This one had some nice colour and patterning and the inside sure didn't disappoint!

It shows the typical gorgeous golden plumes and some beautiful blue/grey pockets of fortification agate.

The next one was a real surprise. Quite frankly, this one had me stumped on the surface.

It had some nice yellow colour that always suggests sagenite but not much in the way of patterning. But inside...

This one has everything including the kitchen sink. There is definitely sagenite but also fortification agate and deep chocolate areas of what I suspect to be haematite. If I can get this to polish, I'll get some amazing cabochons! And to that end, I've already cut some additional slices.

By the way, these rocks are both local from Digby Neck. Stay tuned!

What's New at The Shop?

 Like the rest of the world, we have been in a state of suspended animation and isolation. We thought we would have the shop open all summer but then we had another total shut down and now it looks like early July might be our opening- if we open at all this summer. We sure do miss all our visitors!

Anyway, life goes on. I am back in my Lapidary workshop- the Lap of Lapidary- and have had both the 10 inch Hi-Tech saw and the Cab King Lapidary unit along with the trim saw attachment humming at various times. I have cut a LOT of rock, which I'll show in subsequent posts but today I'd like to show some of my recent completed projects. Last year I cut a beautiful piece of rhodochrosite from a mine in Argentina and I've just completed a set using one of the pieces.

The rock is so beautiful and since it was found in a silver mine, I thought it appropriate to combine it with sterling silver. I just love the way it turned out and I have two slices left!

I have also worked several stone to completion. The one in the center of this pic was sold to a lady who saw it on Instagram. It is a great piece of Mexican Crazy Lace Jasper and I can't wait to see what she does with it!

The weather here is still not great- sure wish global warming would show up! But the tumbler is on its third load and I have spent the really cold days making Viking knit chain in copper and sterling silver.

Just love the way they transform when drawn through smaller holes on the draw plate.

So we're keeping busy and if the shop ever opens, will have plenty of great pieces for you to see along with our amazing selection of hand dyed premium Seawall Fibres yarn.

In the meantime, check out our on-line shop- The Seawall Emporium, at www.seawallemporium.com

Stay safe and sane!

Anatomy of an Agate Pendant

 It starts, as it always does, with a stone. In this case it was a nice hunk of peach coloured agate that "She With The Agate Eye" brought back to the shop. As she is want to do, she insisted that I should cut it because there was treasure inside- she just knew it. Over the last 50+ years, I have learned to go with her hunches so I cut and by pure chance, cut right through a crystal druzy pocket not visible on the surface. I cut a slice and then cut a shape and after grinding and polishing on my Cab King this was the result.

It is a really beautiful stone but it lacked "pop" against any light background so I decided to try a copper backing. Now all my copper is reclaimed and upcycled. I have several sheets (thanks Dan) and it starts out looking like this.

It would be a stretch to get someone to wear copper like that so here's my process. First, I have to come up with some ideas and I was fortunate to have two other talented artists "in residence" at the time. Here are some of the ideas we considered.

The one on top was very interesting but not workable (sorry Sandra) so we eventually settled on the one in the lower left. From that, I made a pattern 

and then I cut a rough version of the shape from the copper plate. After a lot of filing and sanding, I had an exact fit to the pattern and now it was time to make the copper beautiful. To do this, I first flattened it by running it through a rolling mill and then started sanding the surface. I could use a Dremel but prefer to do it by hand and after starting with 100 grit, I keep working it through 12,000 grit. That takes time but the results are just what I want- a burnished piece of copper that retains the vestiges of it's previous life.

As you can see, backed by the copper, the stone takes on an amazingly warm hue and the druzy really stands out because of the spot of burnished copper that shows through. I now drilled holes in the bottom of the plate to hold a copper chain from which we suspended a nice matching Swarovski crystal and after rolling the "tongue" to create a bail for the neck cord. this is the result.

My objective is always to showcase the stone as best I possibly can and I'm pretty happy with this result. As usual, feedback is greatly appreciated and this piece will be available for purchase either through my "virtual store"- The Seawall Emporium (www.seawallemporium.com )- the Lap of Lapidary- or at the real store- The Artist's Mark- on Digby Neck, Nova Scotia. Hope to see you this summer!

Latest Creations

While it has been a pretty benign winter to date, it is still too cold to do much in the lapidary shop so the focus shifts to the jewelry bench. Over the past months, we have been busy creating items for sale on our new on-line venture- The Seawall Emporium. First, we created a number of pendants featuring beautiful petrified wood from Arizona.

Then we started working on copper pieces and made everything from the simple to the complex.

The REAL Viking artist taught me how to make Viking Chain and we made several beautiful bracelets.

And recently, we started working with an exciting new material- used guitar strings! These strings are amazingly complex and have characteristics that offer exciting design opportunities.

We were so excited we formed a new collection- The Phoenix Collection- to celebrate the potential for this upcycled material. It can be used for lightweight earrings (above) as well as more elaborate pendants and necklaces (below). In fact, we're just starting to explore the possibilities!

And we even had time to create some commissioned pieces.

So what's next? Well, the days are getting longer and soon we'll be back on the machines. I have a big backlog of rock to be slabbed. We have decided to open the Artist's Mark Shop this summer and while we don't expect as many visitors as in previous years, we look forward to meeting some new friends so if your travels take you to Nova Scotia, look us up!

An Exciting Announcement

 In the five years we have had our shop open on Digby Neck, literally thousands of people have come through the door and many have left with one or more of our pieces. Often, they or their friends contact us later about purchasing items online.

Although there have been no cases of the Covid virus in our area, we were unable to open this summer because of government restrictions and we really missed greeting new guests.

                     Introducing The Seawall Emporium

Our daughter Lisa, has established herself as a world class hand dyer of premium yarns which are sold through her company, Seawall Fibres. We sold thousands of skeins through our shop and since she already had an on-line presence, we decided to piggyback on it.

At the Seawall Emporium, you will find four small shops belonging to artists and craftsmen driven by quality and uniqueness.

At Lisa's store-Seawall Fibres, you will find an extensive and beautiful selection of hand dyed yarn in all weights.

If you are a knitter or know a knitter, you owe it to yourself to check it out!

Then there is Mitchell Brook where Sandra Mitchell offers her selection of premium goods geared to travel and leisure. She often creates what she can't find so you will be sure to find something truly unique such as these beautiful key chains containing gemstones from the Seawall on Digby Neck.

Next, you come to Seawall Art. Vickie Turner is a mixed media abstract artist recognized as a signature member of the Federation of Canadian Artist but she literally creates everything! Since she is also an acclaimed teacher in the field of polymer clay, you will find gorgeous, museum quality jewelry along with fine art, whimsy and, from time to time, the artist's own "secret stash"!

And finally, there's The Lap of Lapidary, where retired geologist Peter Turner turns gemstones into rock jewelry and unique and beautiful stone guitar picks.

So take a step back in time and visit the Seawall Emporium- where there is no need to wear a mask or practice social distancing. Grab a cup of your favourite beverage and visit four unique shops, all from the comfort of your own home.

Time To Move To "Studio B"

 Well, the days are getting shorter (and cooler!) and the sun is rising farther south each day so it is almost time to shut down the machines in The Lap of Lapidary and move to my little corner of Vickie's studio (she's the REAL artist!) to start fabricating new pieces from the stones I have finished. This winter I intend to do a lot of metal work and one thing we needed to address was the lighting. We were getting by on a hodgepodge of fluorescent, incandescent and halogen and it was sometimes dark and difficult to take good pictures. 

So yesterday we installed halogen track lighting with 18 lights and boy was it worth it- even the cats approve!

Here's a video of the end result.

I also intend to make several more pieces incorporating used guitar strings. The customer was very pleased with the first one and I really like the way it works with larger stones. It actually makes them feel lighter.

Here's the first one in its new home.

For this one I used a steel string and combined it with an antique sterling silver bail that matched perfectly. Who knows, I might even try to weave a bracelet! All these pieces will be available at our new web site- the Seawall Emporium- when it is up and running in a week or so. I'll keep you posted.

Stay healthy and sane!

Time to Shut Down The Cab King

 Half way through the summer I bit the bullet and bought a Cab King cabbing machine and it has exceeded even my high expectations!

It was so much fun that even the lady with the agate eye tried it out!

But now the days are getting shorter and it's getting pretty chilly in my Lap of Lapidary Shop so it's time to shut 'er down and do a clean up and let me tell you, it will be a lot easier with the Cab King! I may even be able to con "The Real Artist" into helping if she wants to collect the rock dust to make pigment!

My last task was to finish a bunch of local Bay of Fundy agate and jasper I had rough cut earlier and I have to say they turned out even better than I had hoped! The Cab King is awesome!

I also finished off some more petrified wood so there will be lots to work with on the jewelry bench when the snows are being blown around by our winter gales. And speaking of that, we are going to get a visit from Hurricane Teddy on Tuesday with wind gusts supposed to top out at 130+ KPH so that should be exciting!

Work is continuing on our new web site- the Seawall Emporium- and I have about 35 pieces ready for photography with a goal of having 50 listed by the end of October so stay tuned!

Stay healthy and sane!