Does anyone know where to point me for (Websites,
printed media) on doing channel inlay with crushed stone? I am
bored and would like to play around with it.
Try Silver Streak. 602-894 9628
Good Morning, Sandy:
You can also mix china painting pigments with epoxy which gives
you a fairly wide range of colors. Tempera might work too.
Gayle
Hi Sandy,
I can’t point you to any resources, but I can give you some tips
based on personal experience. First, use the commercially
crushed material. In several attempts, I have not been able to
develop a crushed material with the fineness and uniformity
required. The technique I used originally was to fill the cavity
with stone, then drip the (non-yellowing) epoxy over it. This
was problematic, as the epoxy was not viscous enough to penetrate
effectively, and tended to pull the material out of the cavity.
I then stated mixing the crushed stone into the epoxy then kind
of spooning it in with a spatula. A little gentle warming with
a light bulb seems to help it settle a bit and release trapped
air bubbles.
After it’s thoroughly hardened (24 hrs. or more), rough grind
with water, with lapidary tools, to bring the surface of the
inlaid material flush with the metal. Then continue to sand/fine
grind and polish, as you would any lapidary project.
I’ve generally used castings with cavities for inlay, but it is
possible to fabricate your own settings… although that’s
usually reserved for channel inlay using solid pieces of stone.
It’s kind of like setting up cloisons for cloisonnTheta, but you have
to solder the joint of the channels where they meet. If you want
additional about that, let me know. I have a
pamphlet put together by the Tims brothers, who are pretty well
known for their solid stone channel inlay.
As a side note, I have a project on a “back burner” of my bench
where I inlaid crushed stone into an overlaid piece of silver
work. I pierced a rose and leaf design into a relatively thick
piece of silver, then sweat soldered it onto a thinner plate. I
filled the rose areas with crushed coral, and the leaf with
crushed malachite. I haven’t yet done any grinding… but this
was a new approach for me. I’m on hold with this project until I
build a new bench for some lapidary equipment I bought last
summer.
I hope this help… let me know if you have additional
questions!
Dave Sebaste
Sebaste Studio
Charlotte, NC