A few years ago … maybe 6 or 7, I bought a box full of curly maple rejected guitar blank backs from Gibson in Nashville. Pieces are miss matched bookmatches, less then 3/8 thick, imperfect offcuts, 6 to 9 inches wide and about 18 inches long. Nice looking wood. Does this count as recyled ? I made sometihing I’d like to enter in the contest and wanted to ask first.

Regards

DAN

I started at 6pm and now it is 10:30.

Includes all the photo editing and the whole nine yards.

added bronze coating and let dry about an hour. used the stuff on far right.

bronzed 6 panel

patina acid materials

panel after 15 minutes of acid soak

let dry with fan blowing on it

spray coat of matte varnish

done !!

the tiles ....

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HEY DUDES !!! THERE ARE about a million photos of my various projects in the body of this blog.

If you ever make it to the bottom of this thread …. leave a message. >grin<

14 hour kiln cycle …. cone 1 … around 2000 degrees

Unloaded this evening. NO TILE BREAKAGE …. first time EVER !!

NO Cracks or anything !! Think the p-clay is the clay for me to use ...........

Photo my first complete 6 panel set !!!

Never in over 8 trys have I been able to get all 6 to survive.

Even when firing mutliple sets one would always break.

photo of the metal coatings material

photo of primered tiles

photo with brass coating

will brush on the bronze and acid tomorrow evening

Stopped working on it, about the time the Carrier plant announced they were closing that facility and moving the work to Monterrey, Mexico. My job changed. .... a whole lot of travel.

Sort of changed my hobby for a while. It took them 2 years to close that plant.

Found this one tonight in the garage, Hadn’t seen it for 5 years,

Will make this carving a priority after I get myself a new power carver.

Got this piece of white ash when we lived in Denver.

Bought it out of a short box at Paxtons Beautiful Hardwoods near Arvada. Was making a rocking girraffe for my son Nathan who hadn’t even learned to walk yet. Still got it. It is in the attic.

Perfect condition, except for the “red cedar” I used for the ears broke off. ... and the 2 inch round white wood googley eyes are lost too.

Eight inches x 8 inches by 6/4.

Sanded to 80 grit

linseed oil

Then again it might be boring.

Well anyways !!

Tiles are sitting on the fiber ceiling tiles you buy from Lowes. Bought the damaged ones real real cheap.

Ceiling tiles are the best for this. Draws the wetness out of the clay and speeds the drying cycle time.

Also have an industrial size box fan blowing 24-7 on them. They’re getting dry extra-quick.

Will start a kiln load sooner then estimated.

Used up 100 pounds of p-clay or sculptors clay in about 25 different handmade molds made from my mahoagny carvings.

70 tiles. Esimate 3 or 4 kiln loads.

Largest tile is over twelve inches high.

Smallest is about 4 inches.

I’ll start the list.

#1

In the summer after my eightth grade, my family moved out of town to a small farm 5 miles outside of Ames, Iowa. Cornfield country.

My father was a bricklayer, but he could make about anything.

Borrowing one of his wood chisels, I started tossing it around like it was a magicians throwing knife. I learned to stick-it into almost anything. Tree. posts, side of the barn, fifty-gallon drums etc. Pretty soon I was hunting with it. Practicing all the time. The whole summer.

I learned to sharpen it on the concrete :to make it pointy again” and everything. Anyhow about a couple days laterl a pack of blackbirds was flying over, landing on the telephone wires. I tossed the chisel and stuck a bird first try.

True Story, believe it on not !!