Engraved Fossil Ivory

[Belinda Barfield]

I made this pendant a couple of months ago but am just getting around to posting. The ivory is color filled with Ebony Rub-n-Buff. The setting is sterling. I'm not happy that the raster lines are visible which really shows up with the enlarged scale of the pic. Sorry about the quality of the pic, photography is not my strong suite.

LaserPro Explorer 60 watt 70 speed, 50 power, 500 DPI


stork 003-1.jpg

[Bruce Volden]

Belinda,

Looks like a nice piece! I know all about the "raster look".

Maybe next piece you could experiment in greyscale and go from lines to micro dots, this does make a difference. DAMHIKT! Several years ago I sprang for genuine elephant tusk ivory ($$$$$$) sold by the gram and found
that greyscaling worked out for that

Bruce

[Frank Corker]

Nice work Belinda. Do you make the settings yourself?

[Belinda Barfield]

Belinda,

Looks like a nice piece! I know all about the "raster look".

Maybe next piece you could experiment in greyscale and go from lines to micro dots, this does make a difference. DAMHIKT! Several years ago I sprang for genuine elephant tusk ivory ($$$$$$) sold by the gram and found
that greyscaling worked out for that

Bruce

Thanks for the advice Bruce. The ivory wasn't expensive at all so no great loss there. The piece is very small, around 3/4" x 1/2", so the raster lines aren't that visible.

Nice work Belinda. Do you make the settings yourself?

Thanks Frank. Yes, I make the settings myself. There are things I would change on this one. I never make the same setting twice so the next piece will look totally different. On the next piece of ivory I think I will make the engraving smaller so that the setting doesn't overlap the engraving. When I engraved the piece I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, so I didn't think about how the setting would come into play. This is the first time I've incoporated an engraved piece into one of my jewelry pieces. Live and learn.

[Frank Corker]

Well it really is a lovely piece, you are very talented

[Dee Gallo]

Belinda,

If you are going to color fill, you should take a sharp something (like a sewing needle or scratchboard tool) and remove the char from the engraving. That will get rid of the raster lines easily and give your fill better tooth to grip. Scrimshanders originally used sewing needles to do their engravings and so tones were commonly done using cross hatching or dots. They also just used ash to blacken their lines before polishing. Art technique history buff here, sorry if it's too much information...

Attached is a pic of real scrimshaw pieces I did vs. the laser on ivory piece I posted in another thread (Coloring Intricate Designs) which won't load again for this thread. But I find the laser can do a very nice job on ivory and it's a lot easier on the arthritic hands!

Your jewelry setting is really nice, I love the wrapping, it's very organic (like vines entwining the piece).

cheers, dee

[Frank Corker]

Dee, that's beautiful work! I take it that is ivory or ......is it bone? Either way it looks fabulous.

[Dee Gallo]

Thanks, Frank,

Yes, they are real ivory pieces, but not elephant. There's a store in San Francisco that sells old walrus tusk ivory and whale bone pieces to scrimshanders. Little pieces like that go for $5 or more each.

cheers, dee

[Clara Koss]

very beautiful work...it doesn't matter that the silver overlaps the engraving as it looks like a natural vine while you see the bird... post more...love jewelry...

[Ray Mighells]

Beautiful work and very artistic. You can buy legal elephant ivory cut offs on e-bay for $25 - $30 a half pound. you can see what you're buying also.

[Belinda Barfield]

Thanks for the advice Dee. I'll check out your thread on Coloring Intricate Designs as soon as I get a chance. Your work is outstanding!

[Belinda Barfield]

very beautiful work...it doesn't matter that the silver overlaps the engraving as it looks like a natural vine while you see the bird... post more...love jewelry...

Beautiful work and very artistic. You can buy legal elephant ivory cut offs on e-bay for $25 - $30 a half pound. you can see what you're buying also.

Thank you Clara. I'll post photos of anything I make using lasered material. I really need the feed back. Now if I could just reach Dee's level of expertise . . .

Thanks Ray. I bought the fossil Ivory from Boone Trading. The piece was $5 I think. Most of the pieces of ivory I found on line were too large but I will keep e-bay in mind. Thanks for the info!

[Bill Cunningham]

Gee Frank! I just have to comment on your new photograph.. Very becoming!

[Belinda Barfield]

Who are you?!? And what have you done with Frank?!? I having flashbacks to Planet of the Apes!