Gina Halteman-Formica...a great artist!

 A few months ago, a lady in a beautiful part of Pennsylvania saw one of my finished cabs on line and asked to buy it. I sold her the piece and asked if she would send a picture when it was completed...and she sent TWO!

 The stone was the one in the middle of these three- a stunning example of Mexican Crazy Lace Jasper!

So the artist- Gina Halteman- Formica- took the stone and made it look even better by creating an amazing, unique setting. (Sorry for the picture quality but it is hard to photograph silver.)

And I absolutely love her connector- a hand fashioned sliding bail that attaches to the back of the setting so the stone seems to "float".

I really enjoy her work because, like me, she makes a lot of her own findings and connectors and she does a lot with upcycled copper. You really should check out her work at lovegwireworks.com

I'm back on the CabKing and here are some recent pieces- part of my 100 Cabochon project. This diverse grouping of agate and jasper are all local! What amazing material I have to work with!

And just a reminder, if you are travelling near Digby NS, we are now open most days.

Cheers!

Shop Update and Opening

Hi all. We have been given permission to open and our province has decided to let some travelers cross the NS border so on the off chance we might encounter a tourist, we're open!

Right now, most of the action is centered on my shop- The Lap of Lapidary- where I am getting around to cutting some of the finds brought to me by "She With The Agate Eye". And I have to say there is some pretty cool stuff!

The last one is a real mystery. I don't know if the outer "shell" is a weathering effect or not but it's all silicate. If anyone has suggestions, let me know!

So now I am defining shapes and using the trim saw attachment on the Cab King.

There will be some beautiful cabochons if I can get it done without any disasters. I'll keep you posted.

And if you are in the neighbourhood, drop by. My "free tumbled rock" box is overflowing!

Cheers!

My Summer Lapidary Project

 I am blessed to live in an area where there is beautiful rock- agate, jasper, amethyst, carnelian, petrified wood- you name it and "She With The Agate Eye" will find it!

Because of Covid, this summer promises to be pretty quiet tourist wise so I felt it was a good time to work with some of my "inventory", a small fraction of which is shown here in my hi-tech plastic bag rapid retrieval system.

So my goal for this summer is to produce at least 100 top quality cabochons!

The first step was to fire up the Hi-Tech 10 inch slab saw (as shown here - mine ain't quite as clean!) It's a win/win as after I have done a bunch, Vickie cleans out the sludge and uses it to make pigment for her (real) art. She even sells the stuff!

I am cutting slabs and slices and then after a close examination of the rock, choosing the best possible shapes and sizes to maximize colour and patterning. They then look something like this.

Then I install the trim saw attachment on my Cab King. Honestly, I now do this in under 5 minutes- start to finish.

I love this saw for several reasons. First, it is an excellent trim saw and the Cab King blade is REALLY good. Secondly it is easy to clean. And lastly, putting the saw on the right I can still use the coarse grinding wheels at the same time I'm using the saw. Now don't get the idea that I'm good enough to cut and grind simultaneously but sometimes it is handy to move from the saw to the wheels and back.

So then I end up with a bunch of what are called "pre-forms". By the way, notice the extensive use of plastic meat trays!

As you can see, I make lots of small cuts to minimize the amount of rock I have to grind away thus saving wear on my coarse wheels.

Sometimes, if a rock is really small, I'll attach it to wood blocks to make it easier to handle and I find that, with a little practice, you can cut thicker slabs in two when you want thin slices for earrings etc.. I use double sided Gorilla Tape but it's not really vital.

So the project has begun and I'll update you on my progress and try to show as many pics of the finished product as I can.

Hopefully, at some point, Covid is in the rear view mirror and you can come and visit in person but in the meantime, if you see anything you like in our shop (www.seawallemporium.com) or on the blog, just let me know.

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!

The Value of Imperfection

 Perhaps it's been being married to an abstract artist but as I "create" more, I've come to see the value of imperfection. We live in a society where perfection is in high demand- a perfect diamond, perfect smile, perfect teeth, perfect skin- the list is endless. And while perfection may be beautiful (and expensive) imperfection intrigues me more because it's ...interesting. The stone I am currently working on is a "perfect" example.

I love working with agate but agate is never symmetrical and it's the impurities that create the amazing patterns and colour shifts. Without them it would be a bland piece of quartz. This stone is a highly imperfect local agate. If you look closely, you can see a fissure in the center where the crystals have grown together and there are areas of inclusions and impurities. But these all contribute to the structure and banding and make the stone interesting. I'd look at it a lot longer than I would a flawless gem. 

I set the stone in upcycled copper that starts off looking like this.

I'd love to leave it looking like this but people don't like copper oxide rubbing off on their clothes! So I do the next best thing- I leave imperfections. Look closely at the copper setting above and you can see some scratches and areas where I haven't removed all the patina and the forms are not identical. I have the equipment and materials to make it flawless but I choose to leave it slightly imperfect because it makes it more interesting.

My shop is called The Artist's Mark NOT because my name is Mark (a question I get regularly from visitors) but because I want people to see the mark of the artist in the finished product.

Don't get me wrong, I am not denigrating those who set perfect gems in perfect settings. They have their place and require patience and expertise I admire but don't possess. But think of it- we remember imperfection- the crooked smile, freckled skin, unruly hair. So I'll stick with my style and, hopefully you will find the pieces...interesting!

Solveig's Song

 Solveig was a unique and amazing woman whom I was fortunate to meet through my wife's family. She, like they, was Norwegian and lived in Montreal, where she had a beautiful apartment downtown and a rural chalet in St. Sauveur that was straight out of the mountains of her home country. She was an impressive woman in many ways, having married five times and standing at least 6 feet tall with a truly striking appearance- in other words, she looked like a modern Viking.

But Solveig had another side. While very wealthy, she valued and enjoyed simple things and she especially admired intelligence and determination- two traits she had in spades.

In Montreal, there was an entity known as the Norwegian Seamans' Church and while ostensibly a church, it became the hub for all things Norwegian in Montreal, including the many Norwegian sailors who visited the port. At that time, many Norwegians were emigrating to Canada and my father-in-law, Thorleif, was one of them. He arrived in Montreal with little besides a dream, having left his wife and small daughter, Wencke behind until he could afford to bring them over. And that's where Solveig came into their life. She was an active benefactor of the church and tried to help get people established. She helped Thorleif and when his family arrived, showed them much kindness as well. 

She took great interest in Wencke and even helped pay for her McGill tuition. She and her husband Larry shared Wencke's love of reading and especially science. And Solveig and Wencke both loved art and became accomplished artists. They shared another thing. Both had Norwegian names that Canadians found hard to pronounce so Wencke became (my wife) Vickie and Solveig became Silvia.

Solveig was an extremely accomplished artist and sculptor and it's a shame she didn't get to see Vickie's talent or this piece I created but I just know she would have loved it- both for its beauty and the fact that someone she knew had acquired the skills to make it. So I give you Solveig's Song.

 The necklace is made from a copper Viking Chain that I wove from 24 gauge copper wire and drew through a series of draw plates until it was 3 times as long. Then, in honour of this modern Viking, I hung a Viking axe charm framed by copper beads and spacers.

Finally, I finished it by adding lengths of metallic copper, premium leather cord (for comfort) and finished it with a hand made clasp. I can actually see Solveig wearing this and treasuring it as much as her diamonds and jewels because that is who she was.

My Creative Process

 Many have asked how I come up with the ideas for my pieces so here goes.

First, I should make a few things clear. There are NO absolutely unique creative ideas. We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. Secondly, I am very fortunate to be married to an extremely talented mixed media artist. That helps in many ways, one of which is that she has squirreled away one of EVERYTHING so I have a vast array of materials at my disposal.

I'll explain my process by going through the development of my latest effort which started when I saw a piece of Vickie's jewelry- a pewter pendant from Denmark.

I loved the fact that it was so mobile but there were a few problems. I wanted to make it in copper, which is lighter in the thickness I use. I also didn't know how I was going to duplicate the patterning without a mold. The first effort lacked any real eye appeal 

but as is often the case, over coffee one morning, the REAL artist offered a solution to both problems. First, she suggested using a double plate- the back being new, flat copper plate and the front being my beat up reclaimed copper

She then offered to beat the daylights out of it to create an interesting texture. This actually solved another problem because it got a lot of pent up aggression out of her system that might otherwise have been directed at me at some point! So after I cut and filed and sanded the edges, she used several different hammers on the raw unsanded surface to create some amazing texture which I then highlighted by burnishing the "tips".

The next question was what to hang on the end of the paddles I had fabricated. Here I have to interject another fact. Remember when I said that Vickie has one of EVERYTHING? Well, that includes beads! I love the fabrication process but readily admit I do NOT have the Artist's Eye. Fortunately, she does- in spades. So after much coaxing and a promise to cut open a lot of the rock she has amassed, she agreed to choose material from her endless "stash". As usual, her choice was awesome.

She selected beautiful agate balls that she funky wrapped onto the paddles. I then finished it off by hanging it on a beautiful leather cord and using a beautiful clasp technique which the REAL artist taught to me.

So by now you should know that I am a fabricator with the good fortune of being married to a true designer. Sure, every once in a while I have an idea on my own. Here's one.

But even here I tend to be more "functional". The micro bolt at the top is  not really a design element but needed to keep the stone in place.

So there you have it. My ideas start with some amazing materials including local stone, beads and metal plate. I have an idea of something I'd like to create. The REAL artist then tells me what I REALLY want to create and I then use the skill set she has taught me to do the fabrication.

Thank you to those of you who have offered so much encouragement. We will be reopening the shop this summer and hope that, at some point, you can visit. But until then, you can see our efforts at our on line venture- the Seawall Emporium (www.seawallemporium.com ). I'm in The Lap of Lapidary while the REAL artist shows her work at Seawall Art.

Stay safe and sane. Hope to see you soon!