A little time saver - catching gems

A little time saver. Been using this stuff for catching gems when
setting. It will save you from dropping and looking for tiny little
stones.

Works as a shelf and a catch all an when gems decide to go on
walkabout.


SD

Hello Shannon,

Your ‘stuff’ looks like knead able eraser from a long ago drawing
class.

Great idea and thanks for sharing.

Judy in Kansas, where some recent light rains have stimulated seeds
in the garden. Sorry those of you to the east, wish we could have
kept more of the wet stuff.

Ok. So, what is it?

Vicki S.

Your 'stuff' looks like knead able eraser from a long ago drawing
class. 

It’s poster putty or kneaded eraser, which I think might be the same
stuff. I did post this somewhere else and did add that important
so I’m not a complete moron.

Judy in Kansas, where some recent light rains have stimulatedseeds
in the garden. Sorry those of you to the east, wish we could have
kept more of the wet stuff. 

We just had snow rain hail and sun the last 24hrs here in Wisconsin.
It was 70 last Friday. Winter will not die.

Great idea. I pulled out the Silly Putty that I keep on hand in my
studio and it works just like the kneadable eraser.

Thank you!
Vicki S.

And here’s a tip for when the tiny stone “pings” out and you can’t
find it. Turn out all the lights and use a torch; the little sparkle
in the torch light makes it much easier to see.

Some years ago I dropped a tiny diamond into the lemel tray of my
bench. Although I knew it was there I couldn’t find it. I even tipped
the contents out onto a large sheet of paper and my wife and I went
through it with the proverbial fine toothed comb - and didn’t find
it.

I really needed a diamond magnet.

And then the penny dropped - diamonds sparkle. I turned out the
lights, shone the torch beam and found the stone in about 10 seconds
flat.

That cup is a good idea. Might try GRS thermoloc, thermo-plastic,
instead of poster putty because it would stay put and hold it’s
shape. Mark

The problem with thermolock is it cures too hard. Would actually be
bad in this situation. Not easy to remove and stones would want to
bounce off of it. This stuff gems stay put and you can mold it on the
fly. You need a little more here or there you may push it there right
now not after hearing it up in water.

Thanks Lemel Man! A good tip and a knee-saver!

Right you are. That thermoloc probably is too hard and slippery for
this job. Thanks again for the tip. Mark

It would be nice if you could just track them. Tiny chip lasered into
each gem, that shouldn’t cost too much. It would make my life easier.
The guys I work for, their late father taught us that same trick with
what we call a flashlight. What we call a torch would be pretty
dangerous to be crawling on the ground looking for gems with. The
other good trick he taught us young whippersnappers was to sweep up
if other systems fail, and usually the stone was in the pile and he
tricked you into cleaning up the shop, you can’t just sweep one area.

I use the poster stickum for all kinds of things in the studio. If I
am trying to hold something, especially a 3D item, I press it into a
lump of the stuff. It even works as a rather poor eraser.

Look everywhere it could be 7 times and everywhere it could not
possibly be 5 times.

Esta Jo Schifter
shiftingmetal.com

however it might make for a good external lining - hard rigid
outside, putty sticky inside…