Starting AT 3 & 4

  

This is the beginning of my next two Akhal Teke presentation sets.  I'm cutting 3mm silver squares into thirds and then 'curling' each tiny 1mm x 3mm bar longways, into more of a tube shape.  This is accomplished by hitting it, silver side down, with the dull chisel, in the wood groove.  The bar's edges are gently mashed, 'broken in' and pushed into a more tube-like shape.  At this scale most of what I'm hoping for is a change of texture.  The tap of the mallet changes the bar from a flat tile to a more rounded, realistic metal-spot.

Why so much work?  In scale-model miniatures, little effects matter a lot.

My two recent post-qualifying subjects chose FB rather than blogging.  It's always hard to choose when the content is small.   But now I'm going to try a short blog post.  I need to explore the sweet spot between the immense blog post (such as one on puzzles [38 so far!!], or remembering my car [12 years!!], or a canoe trip [movies!!]) and the necessarily short FB post.  Already this one has grown beyond FB even though there are only 3 pictures.

The two bowls on the left are genuine Oriental pieces I inherited from my Grandmother.  She traveled to Hong Kong twice in her life, a remarkable record for a woman born in 1900.  She collected Oriental porcelains and jade trees;  I remember vases, bowls and mantelpieces from childhood.  These tiny dishes are perfect for model tack use;  I couldn't care less about the edge chips.  :)

The one on the right, however, was picked up in a Cedar Key Florida gift shop just last Christmas!  I'm pretty sure it's an ashtray!  It's in for a delightful change of purpose, for my whole family is vehemently anti-smoking;  you have only to know I was a brass player to deduce this.  I looked through every dish in the store before choosing this unique one.  The photo doesn't show it well, but the colored crystals in the center are beneath a thick clear smooth glaze.  It is the most lovely little thing; I was entranced.  My dear husband got it for me as a gift.  It stands now as a reminder of a wonderful trip taken in the freedom of the Before Times.

Each Akhal Teke set will use around 327 of these tiny bars.  I've found it takes me about an hour to make 30 of them.  Can you say boring.  This is a good time for Mares In Black.

There is an earlier blog post about this process:  Akhal Teke Jewelry Decisions.

And here's a reminder of what this is all about:

Thanks for your patience.