A Mother of a Ring...

This ring I finished recently as a present for my MIL.  This is the first time I have used Katalox, and the finish is just wonderful.  It has the texture and finish of Ebony.  Paired with the Katalox, is Mother of Pearl Shell.  Together they make a great piece.

Katalox Wood Ring with Mother of Pearl Inlay

Walnut Wood with a Spalt...

I have been working on some Christmas Orders recently, 2 Walnut Pens with Satin Silver finish on the hardware.  I just happened to have a Spalted Walnut blank that would do 2 complete pens, or so I thought.

I started out preparing the blanks, and getting them ready to turn.  Everything was going great and then I got a catch with my skew.  The entire blank blew apart.  Now this is something that can happen regularly when turning pens.  The wood is so thin at times, and if there is a defect or crack in the blank it can explode.




Spalted Walnut Key chain w/ Chrome Hardware



No worries though.   Since my slimline pens are made from 2 separate blanks, and those blanks are the same size as a key chain blank. I was able to finish out the other side, and turn it into a key chain.

The spalting does not show up as well on this key chain, but it does still have a great color.

Artfire Launches Shop Local...

Ok,  I realize that I am about a month behind the times, but I just found out about this feature.   Artfire has added a new search criteria that will allow you to limit results to local items only.  This is a great way to support your local economy, find items that could arrive quicker since they do not have to travel as far.  Or save on shipping costs.

To use this, just do a normal search, and then change the results from Best Match to Best Local Match. You will have to put in your Zip Code so that it can calculate the distance.  You can then choose from within 50, 100, 200 miles, or Everywhere.

If you haven't seen Artfire.com please check it out.  Artfire is similar to Etsy, but does not charge the artists re-listing fees to keep their items high in the search ranking.

Cocobolo with Powdered Lapis Lazuli

It still amazes me how often this happens. I can have a specific Design idea, but the wood/ring wants to be something different.

This ring started out to be for a customer that wanted a dark wood with Amber Inlay. I got the ring sized, and was ready to start placing the stone. After placing the first couple pieces of stone, I realized that they looked clear. The Amber was so transparent, and the wood underneath was so dark, that you could not see any of the beautiful honey color. I stopped instantly and contacted the customer. We ended up deciding on going with Cherry for a base with the Amber.

So now what to do with this nice Cocobolo Base.

Amber for Amber...

Recently a customer contacted me to see about having a couple of rings made with Amber as an Inlay material.  I had not worked with Amber before, but after some research I found that Amber is very soft on the MOHS scale.  Making it very nice for inlay and finishing.

I tracked down some Baltic Amber and placed an order.  The Amber I received ranged in color from a Dark Honey Red to a creamy yellow.

Originally the customer wanted a dark wood to go with it.

1st Artfire Collection

This is my first Artfire Collection.  I have been getting a lot of requests for Wooden Wedding Rings lately.  So I decided to put together a collection of Wooden Wedding Items.  Please check out these great items from Artfire Sellers.

Wooden Wedding

  Curated By: madeouttawood

ArtFire.com

Indie Design

How to Show different content to Fans...

In this post I will show you how I created a tab on my Facebook page that will show different content to those people who are not fans.  I use this feature to run specials from time to time for Facebook Fans only.