The Saga of the Heart Pendant.

 

I was asked to make a heart pendant, similar to one she had seen in a shop window and that matches the one she already has.

 

Grotty.

And in the past they were two separate pendants that were hacked together by someone who liked solder and did not particularly make very nice awls.

So I had to make a single heart pendant that was bigger than these two.

OK, so a heart pendant is not a difficult thing to make for me.

So I made her a wax model first.

She thought it to wide.

No problem.

So I made her one she drew out, but I could see this one was not suitable.

Luckily these samples take me 15 minutes, so they no problem.

Eventually it came down to the actual heart in 18 kt with all the diamonds stuck on with bees wax to show her first.

( I forgot to take a picture)

She loved it, so I finished it and started setting 120 diamonds into it.

She wanted them set in a random fashion.

 

And eventually arrived at this piece.

She loved it.

Here she is wearing them like she wanted.

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Three days later she came back and said she didn’t like anymore.

She didn’t like this and that and she wanted me to remake it.

But for less money, because it was partly my fault .

I should have ‘ guided’ her better.

 

I shut up and just made a new silver model for her approval.

She liked this one more.

And the next time I set the diamonds, she wanted them more spread out.

Yes’m.

And then I made and set another one, more or less the same.

And when the time came to pay, she paid me 30% less for this one……….…sigh.

240 diamonds set pave.

I actually earned about the minimum wage rate here in Germany for the hours spent on this job.

A bit blurry photo.

A kak customer.

If I had more work would not do her work anymore.

But I don’t, so I don’t.

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Building the Palindrome Cannon display.

 

I made a special shelf in the corner of the shop for it.

 

Now I am giving it a final polish and then sealing it with a clear lacquer.

I think I should be finished by about Monday.

I am seriously gatvol but I am sooo close to finishing it.

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There was one warm day last week, so we went cycling.

 

German version of  a park bench in the ‘wild’.

Sweet, but then the weather turned lousy and has stayed so ‘till today.

So these last four photo’s could be regarded as a trip down memory lane.

Spring has Sprung.

And the flowers did flower.

Kinda nice after such a bitchin’ winter.

In every class room, there is always a runt.

The same thing happens with flowers.

This was the runt when he was a teenager.

Even the train likes the blue sky.

Uncle Fritz took the first opportunity to get away from his bag.

 

Schpeckles is playing hide and seek….. Such a turkey.

Spring also brings out the cool cars.

This one was spotted outside the local hardware store.

Great little runaround for fetching the odd nail or builders plank.

 

Spring also brings out the hop heads.

This happened to a shop a block away from ours.

So when I went to go take a photo the owner comes out and asks me why I’m taking pictures.

So I say it happened to us as well.

“ What did the police say?”

“ No, I didn’t report it”

“VHY NOT?”

“ HOW DO YOU ZINK ZEY VILL ZOLVE ZE CRIME?”

“ Actually, because I have better things to do than waste three hours at the cop station.”

Storms back into her shop.

Sigh, there is a cop gene in every German.

 

There, I fixed it.

Painting with Enamels.

 

The Palindrome Cannon took a long, long time and then eventually you get gat full of that kind of work and you long  to do something different.

So I have been teaching myself to paint with enamels and my first one  after plenty of failures was tentatively finished.

 

But then my Crimson Breasted shrike went crackly.

The clear overcoat of enamel that I fired over the  shrike cracked in a circular fashion because I let it cool down to quick.

Another firing and a slower cooling will do the trick and fix it, I hope.

Besides, I under fired the clear over coat because I was a little to cautious.

This is the real size of the painting.

 

My next one was a Orange Breasted shrike.

One thing that happens when you teach yourself is that everything is experimental.

So I learned lots with this attempt.

I am sure that when I have answered all the questions, I will get better, but this one is so so.

Here is the real size of the enamel.

I use a ceramic support and I fire the piece at 800C for about 2 minutes, but that also depends on the colours of enamel.

Anyway, this one was an experiment with a white background instead of a blue background like the one with the crimson breasted shrike.

So I used ceramic colours only.

This one was fired about fifteen times.

But I screwed up, of course.

I didn’t put enough counter enamel on, so after the tenth firing, I realized the I would end up with a buttercup if carried on.

The most irritating thing is that if you want to paint with oils, ( that is mixing the glass with oil),you have to burn the oil  off, and that is a mission.

To quick and the oil burns.

To slow and you die of old age before it is vaporized.

Painting with water is much easier, because there is no residue.

Except that it dries to fast.

What you need is a solvent that dries at the speed that you like to paint at.

Gillie Hoyte Byrom   uses pine oil to paint with.

She is really, really good.

Try getting pine oil in Chermany.

Just not obtainable.

I am ordering it from Amazon

The UK one, that is.

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The next one I want to do is a Fiscal shrike which is basically black and white.

I want to concentrate on the bird, not the background so much.

Windows and stuff.

 

Well, eventually the glass guys came and went.

It took more than three weeks to fix the broken window, and in that time I kept the boards up in the front.

This was so no one sees the bust window.

Kind of lowers the tone of the neighborhood stuff.

So then It was time to make a new shelf.

So I glued the shelf brackets to the window.

Turns out the silicone glue had gone bad and refused to harden.

Sigh. 

So I used a two component glue and it did the job, even though I don’t like that glue much ( too brittle).

I cover the wood with beaten copper and it looks nice.

Anyway, it is finally an operative window again.

Our friend Barbara from Saba in the Caribbean came over to Germany to renew her passport. So she came to visit us and naturally we went to our favorite restaurant. A great time was had. She is a lovely, bubbly person.

I also added some diamonds to her ring which was a present to herself.

This is a common thing amongst self-employed people.

Giving yourself presents, that is.

I mean, there is  no boss to whip out the company cheque book and sent you on your merry way with a hot cheque in your grubby little paws to go buy yourself an IPod or some such thing.

So you give yourself a present.

The difficulty is pretending to be surprised when you unwrap it the next day.

Best thing is to get blind drunk, wrap it in a dark room and the open it the next day.

That way you never saw what went into the gift and because your were pissed you forgot anyway.

I joke mon.

The other day it was warm enough to go to Anne and I most favorite spot to do some people watching.

We stand on top of the esplanade and she drinks her tiny bottle of wine and I quaff large quantities of beer down.

And we watch the people and comment to ourselves on every good or bad thing we see.

Like this dude—Mr. Patience himself, waiting while his vroutjie finishes her social call.

At least 20 minutes.

What a wuss.

Now my sister calls me sexist, ( I am not) but I do like looking at all the pretty angels that come out in warm weather.

I must say, there are plenty more beautiful ladies than handsome men although  there are many more good looking German and Dutch men than there are handsome men in other countries, in my opinion.

Except in Australia.

When you watch the GP’s in Aussie all you see are dogs, male and female.

Aussies are really most unattractive people.

The men have all got the Prince Charles runaway chin and the women all look like they have just been unpackaged from an DHL speed delivery box.------ I would fit in quite well, I’m sure.

 

This is the final picture of the Palindrome Cannon, I promise.

Just a top view.

The only other picture I am going to post is when it’s in the display case.

I was going to gold plate the whole thing, but it is proving to be too complicated to warrant the cost.

So I found a specialized product called Incralac, which is specially developed to stop corrosion on brass and copper.

It is easier for me to import it from the UK than source it here in Fritz land.

Watch this space.

You got to click on this to make it larger.

The Truth, make no mistake.

The Palindrome Cannon Nearly Finished.

 

OK, when I say nearly finished, I mean that:

Rough polish done-check.

Basic assembly done-check.

Gold plating done – non check.

Display case made – non check.

Buyer found – non check.

But does it look mean or what.

 

It spans about 600mm wide and about 350mm high and it weighs about 8 kg’s.

The rear end, one that the devastated enemies mostly see.

If they are alive, that is.

 

So now I have to make a display case, which is another mission.

I think I am going to put mirror on the bottom of the case so the underside detail can be seen.

This is the typical piece that suffers from ‘project creep’, as I name it.

I swear, my next one is going to stay in tight parameters this time

I think I said that as well when I finished the Dragon Cross bow.

Here is a video I uploaded to You Tube.

I had to make a spinning kind of table so the thing can turn around and then I lay on the floor and hand turned it while Anne did the camera work.

Sophisticated, if nothing else.