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Post by Mike on Dec 10, 2008 20:57:44 GMT -5
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Post by rusVan on Dec 10, 2008 21:48:29 GMT -5
That's some scary bling Mike! Are they brooches? Are you planning on crafting some in metal?
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Post by Don Tom on Dec 10, 2008 21:51:21 GMT -5
All three of those are really, really cool. Great work, I'd love to see the finished piece.
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Post by Mike on Dec 10, 2008 22:19:17 GMT -5
That's some scary bling Mike! Are they brooches? Are you planning on crafting some in metal? They are just concepts at the moment but if I get the go ahead on the concepts I will Make the one he chooses as a pendant in 18ct gold And black and white diamonds with some other colored stones. Thanks for the nice comments. |
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Post by leeroy on Dec 10, 2008 23:08:15 GMT -5
I love the skulls, great work Mike!!  |
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Post by Stinger on Dec 10, 2008 23:27:50 GMT -5
The second one is my fav.  |
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Post by potatojoe on Dec 11, 2008 1:30:44 GMT -5
Very cool! Has a tattoo flash look
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Post by Mike on Dec 11, 2008 14:42:47 GMT -5
Very cool! Has a tattoo flash look Thanks, the guy does tattoo style clothing, so the brief was to make the designs look like tattoo's. Thanks Lee & stinger. How cool would a blinged out GPK piece be! |
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Post by rusVan on Jan 1, 2009 22:55:37 GMT -5
2nd one rocks Mike!!
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Post by Mike on Jan 1, 2009 23:47:46 GMT -5
Thanks, thats my favorite also. Its also the one I painted first, I don't know if the guys gonna give me the go-ahead to produce any of them yet but if he doesn't I might make the second one for stock in my family's store. |
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Post by rusVan on Jan 2, 2009 0:10:54 GMT -5
 make the 2nd one!! platnium and diamonds ....and Cheap Toy 2nd series plastic inlay!!  
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Post by Mike on Jan 25, 2009 17:17:54 GMT -5
make the 2nd one!! platnium and diamonds ....and Cheap Toy 2nd series plastic inlay!! Well Russ I started making #2 and I thought I would post up progress pic's from time to time. Eventually I will get around to doing a GPK figure but it is difficult to find the time as I have to do them at work and when I'm at work there is always more important stuff to do. Pic #1 shows the block of wax I cut the skull from.  Some close up shots, I didn't have to get the surface on this too smooth as it is going to be covered by other stuff or Diamonds anyway.   And scening as Platinum is a little more expensive than plastic I hollowed out the skull so it wouldn't cost to much, also the finished piece would be stupidly heavy if I hadn't.  I will now start making the other bits to go with it. |
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Post by rusVan on Jan 25, 2009 18:00:30 GMT -5
Ok, I see now Mike!! I'll get some of that wax afterall!! sweet little skull mask! but is this stuff malleable, or it is a hard block that HAS to be carved?
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Post by Mike on Jan 25, 2009 18:19:10 GMT -5
Ok, I see now Mike!! I'll get some of that wax afterall!! sweet little skull mask! but is this stuff malleable, or it is a hard block that HAS to be carved? This particular color wax is really hard which is great for carving crisp detail, although it does have some drawbacks as it is also a little brittle especially when you carve it down to as thin as this is. ( 1mm ) You can get deferent colors with deferent properties some are are little more rubbery. This is SUBTRACTIVE ;D sculpture, but like I have said if you take a little to much off you can always carefully melt some more wax back into it without having to start again. I also forgot to say this skull is a little bigger than a quarter in size & that this wax will be turned into metal by using the lost wax process, but I will show more later. |
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Post by Mike on Jan 25, 2009 18:30:55 GMT -5
When I say the wax is hard I mean it is hard compared to regular wax but you can still easily whittle it away. Its about as hard as chocolate if you were to put the chocolate in the fridge.
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Post by goober on Jan 25, 2009 19:16:06 GMT -5
make the 2nd one!! platnium and diamonds ....and Cheap Toy 2nd series plastic inlay!! Well Russ I started making #2 and I thought I would post up progress pic's from time to time. Eventually I will get around to doing a GPK figure but it is difficult to find the time as I have to do them at work and when I'm at work there is always more important stuff to do. Pic #1 shows the block of wax I cut the skull from. Some close up shots, I didn't have to get the surface on this too smooth as it is going to be covered by other stuff or Diamonds anyway. And scening as Platinum is a little more expensive than plastic I hollowed out the skull so it wouldn't cost to much, also the finished piece would be stupidly heavy if I hadn't. I will now start making the other bits to go with it. Looks like you have a pretty cool job, what exactly do ya do? |
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Post by Mike on Jan 25, 2009 19:34:48 GMT -5
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Post by goober on Jan 25, 2009 19:44:22 GMT -5
I design & make Jewelry , normally a little more ordinary than this though. This is my family's business www.rdg.co.nz/These are a couple of cool things I have made recently.   Thats pretty cool, still looks like a cool job (I'm just a mule for a vinyl siding/replacement window company) looks like what you do is an art, I'm not to crafty so I'll probally be in construction 4ever! |
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Post by RedFan05 on Jan 25, 2009 22:40:46 GMT -5
Those are cool Mike, I'll have to look at the ones on your site.
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Post by UKRob on Jan 26, 2009 14:29:48 GMT -5
Nice Skull Mike....
Youve obviously got a steady hand! How long did it take to carve?
Even though its only 1mm thick and the size of a quarter, thats still going to be an expensive piece of platinum!
It seems a real shame that this will only be replicated once using the lost wax process, rather than having a re-usable mould. What do you surround the wax sculpture in when 'losing' the wax? Ive only ever seen it done in a sand like material.
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Post by Mike on Jan 26, 2009 16:48:48 GMT -5
Nice Skull Mike.... Youve obviously got a steady hand! How long did it take to carve? Even though its only 1mm thick and the size of a quarter, thats still going to be an expensive piece of platinum! It seems a real shame that this will only be replicated once using the lost wax process, rather than having a re-usable mold. What do you surround the wax sculpture in when 'losing' the wax? Ive only ever seen it done in a sand like material. Thanks Rob & Redfan, the funny thing is I actually have really shaky hands but somehow when I'm working they go steady. This one part took about 8 hours to make. The finished piece will be costly for sure, for now I'm just making it I will sort out the price later  I could take a mold & produce multiples if I wanted but I like all my things to be one of a kind, also if I do another one I will try to make it even better. The wax is put into a type of plaster, once that has set the wax is melted out in a oven leaving the shape of the wax in the plaster to be filled with whatever metal you want. the casting is done in a big vacuum chamber that sucks through the plaster to make sure all the nooks and cranny's are filled with metal. |
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Post by Mike on Feb 8, 2009 22:26:13 GMT -5
Progress Report. I had the skull cast in platinum & have now just started roughing out the basic shapes in wax again for the snake and sparrow. I still have a few more snake parts to make, then once I have the new wax pieces finalized I will cast them in gold. The wings on the sparrow and some other things like the snakes teeth & tongue I will hand make in gold rather than wax.   I haven't done anything to the platinum skull yet, that's just what the metal looks like after casting. So far I have about three 8 hour days labor in this piece. Update.20 Feb 09. Cast some parts of the snake and sparrow in 18ct ,now I can fine tune these parts & start making the wings for the bird. Once thats done ill make the last pieces of the snake to balance the wing.  |
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Post by Mike on Mar 3, 2009 20:47:37 GMT -5
Just finished hand making the first wing out of gold rather than wax, I have a few more bits to make then I just need to solder it all together. Oh yeah then I have to drill about a 1000 holes to fit the stones   I have added a few more pics of jewelry in some of the old posts here if you want to check em out. Update 10.3.09 We now have a beak.  Update 17.3.09 I have made a few more parts & have just started cutting and drilling the holes to make room to set the stones. I got a whole bunch more holes to do.  |
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Post by rusVan on Mar 3, 2009 21:33:46 GMT -5
I'm speechless! This goes beyond jewerly! I'm watching a show on egyptian artifacts right now on NG and your stuff rivals anything they did! Congrads Mike, I'd hate to see the price tag on this one though! The snake seems disproportionate to the mask and almost distracts from the BEAUTIFUL skull mask, BUT it makes the snake's power and will overwheming at the same time and the snake seems unstoppable which is interesting. It's quite menacing! In other words, you're a brave artist and you have done a great job!
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Post by Mike on Mar 3, 2009 22:05:47 GMT -5
I'm speechless! This goes beyond jewerly! I'm watching a show on egyptian artifacts right now on NG and your stuff rivals anything they did! Congrads Mike, I'd hate to see the price tag on this one though! The snake seems disproportionate to the mask and almost distracts from the BEAUTIFUL skull mask, BUT it makes the snake's power and will overwheming at the same time and the snake seems unstoppable which is interesting. It's quite menacing! In other words, you're a brave artist and you have done a great job! Thanks Russ ,but im not even close yet, Those dudes were amazing, especially with the tools they had. The snake will look a little smaller once he is covered in the green colored stones, as I learned on Oprah" dark colors are slimming".  The skull is gonna be pretty hard to miss when its covered in diamonds. |
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Post by Mike on Mar 24, 2009 15:08:00 GMT -5
So this is the ugly duckling stage before everything comes together, I have drilled some of the holes to fit the diamonds, I have to put the diamonds in before I solder everything together because I'm not going to be able to get to all the angles once Jake goes on.    I still have to make a fang & tongue for the snake also. |
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Post by Don Tom on Mar 24, 2009 19:02:30 GMT -5
So this is the ugly duckling stage before everything comes together, I have drilled some of the holes to fit the diamonds, I have to put the diamonds in before I solder everything together because I'm not going to be able to get to all the angles once Jake goes on. I still have to make a fang & tongue for the snake also. That looks awesome so far. It's really cool to see how something like that is made. I can't wait to see the finished product. Just curious about how large is it. Also how much does something like that cost, labor and materials? |
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Post by Mike on Mar 24, 2009 19:57:26 GMT -5
Thanks DT, its been allot of work, the size is approx 1.5 inches tall from the top of the wing to the bottom of the snakes tail. If you think this looks good now just wait till its finished the colors are going to be awesome, I have just started collecting some of the Garnets and Topaz I will need.  Sorry not sure on price yet. These are some of the tiny tools I use next to a cheapie so you can get an idea of size, the line on the left is a saw blade with tiny teeth and a 0.5mm twist drill.  Thanks again for the comments. |
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Post by gpkhooker on Mar 26, 2009 5:12:58 GMT -5
Wow..cool, you are very talented....I'ld buy that stuff from you. I actually wear a lot of pave charms when I go out...I'm kind of an old hipster and right now, I'll tell you sparrows, skulls and octopi are the thng...well, skulls are kinda over-killed but new skull designs are alway welcome...Your stuff is very Vivianne Westwood. She is the god-mother of Punk fashion...I love the goose, the skull and anchor and th goldfish a lot too...the Puma with the skull in its mouth would totally rock if you materialized it ....is this what you do for a living?
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Post by Mike on Mar 26, 2009 21:24:25 GMT -5
Wow..cool, you are very talented....I'ld buy that stuff from you. I actually wear a lot of pave charms when I go out...I'm kind of an old hipster and right now, I'll tell you sparrows, skulls and octopi are the thng...well, skulls are kinda over-killed but new skull designs are alway welcome...Your stuff is very Vivianne Westwood. She is the god-mother of Punk fashion...I love the goose, the skull and anchor and th goldfish a lot too...the Puma with the skull in its mouth would totally rock if you materialized it ....is this what you do for a living? Thanks but Barry has dibb's ...........just kidding. Punk is not something I have thought about before when thinking about my work, I do like tattoo art though especially Japanese tattoo art. Yes I am a Jeweler, thanks for the comments good to hear there is someone else that likes pave as much as I do, I dont wear any jewelry myself but I enjoy making it, I'm going to do a butterfly next. I will post a finished Pic of this skull soon. |
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Really cool box. I wish they had the Nasty Nick box too though 