For Ford

[Guest DFogg]

This worked pretty good for the first time around.

 

 

Fire scale is incompressible. I mixed up some epoxy and made lines with a toothpick then sprinkled pulverized fire scale into the epoxy. Heat in a fire and pressed it.

 

 

I am going to have to play with the photo setup some more because I couldn't get the shadows to show the detail. I also tried Ford's tea trick, thanks. Work in progress.

[Jim Kelso]

Cool. You there Ford?

[Guest ford hallam]

Hi Don,

 

thanks for posting those images, always interested to see what you get up to.

btw, do you use an acid to remove the firescale or do you hammer it off at the end?

 

regards, Ford

[Guest DFogg]

I wire brushed the scale off, but after the pressing I put it back in the fire and scaled it repeated, wire brushing in between and that eroded the intial impressions. The final treatment was boiling vinegar to remove the last of the deep scale.

 

 

This is the color from the tea, more accurate than the previous image. I am working on the photography and the piece really. My wife says it need an accent meaning I need to work on it more.

[Guest ford hallam]

Hi again Don,

 

the second image is far better, actually a very intriguing texure. Your wife may be right about the accent, to relieve the somber or austere aesthetic. i could apply a few delicate touches of gold on the edges of the " bubbles", a bit like tiny traces of moss.

 

Ford

[Dick Bonham]

Hi Don, Jim, Ford,

Very nice tsuba Donn, the texture is really interesting. What kind of press did you use to impress the texture. I was looking for a different metal color and was playing with these two tsuba that someone cleaned with naval jelly. I tried Jax brown bronze patina on both. I dipped them and let them air dry. Repeated that twice and let them sit over night. The right tsuba was boiled in tea as Ford suggested which gave it a black tone. I scanned the tsubas for the picture so the colors are not exact but it gives the general idea. They both fall into the color range of old tsubas. You probably have many ways to color steel but I thought another might come in handy. The moss idea sounds good.

Dick

[Guest DFogg]

Ford, do you want to work on one? I will have to make another because I need to finish this up and ship for groceries. It would be great motivation for me to push this idea a little further.

 

 

This is where she is going.

[Janel]

Beautiful metals, Don, of tsuba and blade. OOooooo!

 

 

Janel

 

Can't do that in wood!

[Jim Kelso]

Wow, Don. How did you keep the back of that blade straight during quench?

 

I agree. Some little bits of gold would be nice. It's a beautiful ground.

[Guest DFogg]

Dick, I haven't tried the Jax, but nice to see the color on the pieces you posted.

 

Janel, I have a friend who carves wooden dolls, but instead of Barbie his are bankers, bikers, and regular people. He did one installation that was set inside a Cape Cod fishermans cottage. He had a wooden table that he distress the top by using a very simiar process by pounding on it in the driveway. It looked real when he was finished.

 

I have a picture of a Viking that I worked with him on. Michael Langton's Viking

[Janel]

Very interesting! Thanks for the link. Little, tiny tools! Was it fun to make such small items?

[Guest DFogg]

As you know there is something fascinating about working in a smaller scale. I was cheeky and made the pattern in the steel of the sword an exact duplication of the famous Sutton Hoo sword. It helped that a friend, Scott Langton, had figured out the pattern and published it, but doing it on that scale was the fun part.

 

I think the reason Mike stayed with dolls so long was that he enjoyed making things in that scale. Eyeglasses and buttons. The fabric was specially chosen to be in scale, the stitches minaturized.

 

The other day while fooling around with the dental burrs I couldn't resist making a knife blade out of one. I can only see it with optivisors.

 

What is it about the scale that is so interesting?

[Janel]

"What is it about the scale that is so interesting?"

 

Reverence, awe, curiosity, patience, challenge, inspiration, disbelief, magnification, discovery, joy, interconnectedness, addiction...

[Dick Bonham]

Hi Don,

Miniatures are indeed fun to make. As someone who has made many of them I can tell you that they are much easier to make than the real thing. It is much easier to polish and etch or engrave a six inch miniature sword blade than the beautiful tempered full sizeds blades you create. Making small things takes a great deal of skill and patience. Making full size pieces takes the same skill and patience but much, much more sweat. The viking doll is great. I bet you had fun making the sword and axe. Here is a 12" "GI Joe" prototype I made for Cotswalld Collectibles afew years ago.

Dick

[Guest DFogg]

We hit a vein! Lots of details in that figure, I am going to have to study him.

[Dick Bonham]

Hi Don,

Here are the prototype acessories on the 12" English Civil War figure in the previous post. The armor, sword and dagger blades and the wheellock lock are steel. All other metal pieces are brass. The drum is hand painted. Everything has been fabricated. I can do this kind of stuff but couldn't begin to create something like that beautiful sword you made. Forging steel, tempering to create that beautiful hamon and polishing to that mirror surface is beyond my imagination and capabilities.

Dick

[Doug Sanders]

That tsuba texture really came out well. Would it be possible to apply the epoxy/scale through a stencil for control of the effect, or maybe use a resist of some sort?

 

Curious,

Doug

[Guest DFogg]

I just brain stormed up this approach and I am sure that it can be refined. What makes it work with hot steel is that you can pile the scale up to differing heights and higher it is the deeper the impression it will make. I used epoxy, but there may be other substitutes. It has to be viscous enough to let the scale settle within it.

 

I have a hydraulic forging press but a fly wheel press would work.

 

The accouterments are wonderful, thanks for sharing.

[Guest DFogg]

I added some gold and my wife is happy now.

 

 

It is another photography challenge and I am not happy with the pictures, but I think this is one of those objects you have to see to appreciate.

 

 

Oh yeah, the gold was added using a modified granulation technique that I came up with.

[Guest ford hallam]

I added some gold and my wife is happy now.

 

Hi Don,

 

it`s funny that, Having spent many years working as a professional goldsmith I always found that the addition of gold made wives happy.

 

I think your granulation works very nicely, as you suggest though,

I`m sure it is even more appealing "in the flesh," or should I say steel?

 

Hi there Dick,

 

I`m pretty impressed with your model making, something I`ve always had an urge to have a go at. I fancied making a 12th scale Greek hoplite armour in brass, they are just so beautifully sculptural, Oh, and naturally, a suit of Japanese armour! I`d have to get Don to forge a tiny katana.

Perhaps our facination has to do with the fact we never spent enough time playing with dolls as children?

 

regards, Ford

[Guest ford hallam]

I`ve just had a quick peek at Don`s link to his press gallery,

I reckon there are a lot of bladesmiths out there who obviously did`nt get enough time playing with their construction kits as children.

 

Obviously I would`nt dare suggest that over on the bladesmith forum...

 

Ford,

 

P.S.

 

Dick, sorry I`ve not got anything new to post, been a bit busy with a load of old stuff!

[Dick Bonham]

Hi Ford,

I guess we didn't get to play enough with dolls when we were kids. I know I have had a lot of fun as an adult. And it payed for my kids to go to college.

This is the Hoplite we did. This is a production piece hand made in India by a family who for generations made arms and armor for the Maharajahs. They now make toys. As happened many times my prototypes were destroyed in the production of dies and molds. I am also including a picture of a prototype for a French Cuirassiers cuirass, helmet and sword. The other pieces were added to give a sence of history. Everything in the picture was fabricated. I also made some South African pieces. Let me know if you would like to see them.

Dick

[Guest DFogg]

These minatures are really nice. Where do they sell them?

 

Ford,

 

I have been waiting for a chance to build a minature katana, I am ready when you are.

[Guest ford hallam]

Hey Dick,

 

those are really amazing, now I`ll probably end up buying dolls, hope this does`nt get out. armourers reduced to making toys, talk about beating swords into ploughshears.

 

Don,

 

A tiny katana with grain and a hamon would be amazing. I would have to make a gold habaki and a tiny tsuba to suit. I`ve got just the thing for minature ray skin too. Those knots on the wrap will be a bit fiddly though!

 

Ford, ( happy childlike smily )

[Dick Bonham]

Hi Don and Ford,

Thank you. I have a whole wall of "dolls". I made all of my 1/6 scale pieces for "Cotswald Collectibles". They were bought out by another company which ceased production because of a nasty divorce. I think Cotswald is still producing some items and are planning on doing more in the future. However, many of my pieces were done in a limited edition and are no longer avaliable. Many of my prototypes dissapeared and are lost. I have made many "one of a kind" miniatures that are in the hands of collectors.

Here is another 1/6 scale set of prototypes. This was for a Highlander officer of the 42 Regiment. The blades are steel and everything was fabricated. All of the badges were done by chasing and repousse much like menuki.

Dick