Metalsmith Action figure?

So, perhaps you’ve heard of the librarian action figure? You can
see it at http://www.mcphee.com/amusements/action.html.

They also have the albino bowler action figure and the Edgar Allan
Poe action figure. So naturally, I thought, what if there were a
metalsmith action figure?

What would it look like? What would the accessories be?

Not that there’s a market for it. (There’s a market for albino
bowler?)

But it gets at the question – what is the essential bit about being
a metalsmith? If you can sum it up in an action figure, then you’ve
really distilled it.

So? What do you think?

Elaine
Elaine Luther
Metalsmith, Certified PMC Instructor

Hard to Find Tools for Metal Clay

A hammer and loupe? A sort of blacksmith crossed with the mad
Scientist from Back to the Future. I have been told that I do not
look like a Jeweller. So what does a Jeweller look like? Interesting
query about the action figure. I’ll be watching this string as I am
certain it will get even more interesting.

My input on the action figure -

He/she would have to be wearing a t-shirt full of holes from
splashing pickle… and gray polishing powder smudged above the nose
where the mask sits… and probably really bad hair from the wearing
a magnifier… My poor UPS man has seen me like this many times…

There must be some other good suggestions…

I think the action figure would need at least three heads for all
the hats we wear as metalsmiths and twelve arms for all the jobs we
need to get done, each equipped with tools of the trade, saw frame,
torch, calculator, files, etc.

Sara D. Grinnell
Studio C Designs
C&L Gems LLC
6005 Wayzata Blvd. Suite 100
St. Louis Park, MN 55416
Ph: 952 797 7777
Fax: 952 797 9065

Geeky vision accesories, that is my suggestion to the metalsmithing
action figure. That and too many tools to fit in any space provided.

Sam Patania, Tucson
www.patanias.com

This is an interesting questions, Elaine. I did go to the site and I
really like the little Benjamin Franklin action figure. Perhaps a
metalsmith could be holding a shinny smithing hammer lifting it up
and down against a tiny stake. For the sake of breaking stereotypes,
I think the figure should be female.

marilyn smith

   This is an interesting questions, Elaine. I did go to the site
and I really like the little Benjamin Franklin action figure.
Perhaps a metalsmith could be holding a shinny smithing hammer
lifting it up and down against a tiny stake. For the sake of
breaking stereotypes, I think the figure should be female. 

Good idea Marilyn to have a female figure. However, the more you
think about it, the more difficult it gets to pinpoint one single
activity that would indicate “silversmith”. You would need one arm
hammering, another arm polishing another arm cutting a stone, still
another with a torch, a stone setting hand, and don’t forget a
drawing hand, another with beads. Quite a figure it would be. Like
some mythical god. Interesting question indeed.

Kay

You can go to this site and have a Super Hero Jeweler Action Figure
made to look like you! http://www.imatoy.com/

If anyone has one made, post it.

don’t forget the dirty fingers and a visor…

-julia

Just make sure it has very dirty fingernails.

James in SoFl

Hello Orchidland,

Actually, I don’t think you could even see the action figure because
s/he would be completely surrounded by wonderful tools! Admit it
folks, we’re all tool fools!

Judy in Kansas

  Perhaps a metalsmith could be holding a shinny smithing hammer
lifting it up and down against a tiny stake. 

That reminds me of a charm that I made about 15 years ago of a
squirrel next to a tree stump. On the back of the squirrel was a
small lever that when pushed, made the squirrels forearms move up
and down to ‘crack a nut’ on the stump. A man had it made for his
wife because ‘Squirrelly’ was his petname for her.

Ed in Kokomo

Judy, I met a woman on one of the Tucson shuttle buses. She was
dragging around a HEAVY box of tools, and had to ask the driver to
make an unscheduled stop, 'cause she couldn’t get the box from the
regular stop to her hotel.

She described herself to me as a “tool slut.” which I thought was an
hilarious self-description.

David Barzilay
Lord of the Rings
607 S Hill St Ste 850
Los Angeles, CA 90014-1718
213-488-9157

folks, we're all tool fools! 

Ha! I was at Frei and Borel in Oakland at the tools counter,
waiting for something, when my eye fell on a tool in the case below
the counter. I must have made a noise because the guy at the
counter started cracking up. “I know you’re a jeweler,” he said.
“That’s the kind of noise they make when they see a tool they have
to have.”

Anyway, my Metalsmith Action Figure comes with lots of accessories.
She is standing on a base covered with sparkling little objects from
all of the beads and gems and pieces of metal that have fallen on
the floor. In one hand, she has a torch and in the other a flex
shaft. She is wearing an Optivisor and an apron with lots of
pockets, all of which are filled with small tools. You can buy her
a bench that comes with all the bells and whistles including a top
surface already cluttered with more tools, and it has a little foot
pedal beneath. You can buy her more tools, like a grinder and
polishing wheel that really spins! Buy her the polishing pack with
blocks of tripoli and all colors of rouge. Or how about a tiny
little rolling mill that really turns, with packs of sheet metal to
put through it.

Admit it

I’ve forgotten much of my comparative religion class but I am sure
that there is a Hindu god with many arms. It could be Shiva. That’s
what we need. Of course, there are those that think mothers come
equipped with many arms and hands not to mention that eye in the
back of the head. So . . .there are models to think about.

marilyn

She described herself to me as a "tool slut." which I thought was
an hilarious self-description. 

Being male, “slut” wouldn’t work so well for me, as some might view
it as misdirected wishful thinking… So I use the term
“tool-a-holic”.

Peter

Gemnbeads has it - No action figure ever is sold as a complete set.
EVERYTHING is sold separately. Create the basic figure and give her
the apron, optivisor, and flexshaft. Then everything else is sold
separately. What a bundle we could make!! This thread has been fun.

Betty

I was thinking that this action figure really ought to have a name
and a comic strip.

The figure could be named Silver Streak in partnership with Golden
Girl. They would be known as the Diamond Duo.

Their evil nemeses would be the vaporous Chlorina, who could weaken
and ultimately dissolve Golden Girl in her presence…, and
Fire Scale, who casts a dark pallor over Silver Streak and renders
Silver embarrassed to show his or her face in public.

Golden simply has to make certain that she is never in the same
vicinity as evil Chlorina, but luckily, Silver can don his fantastic
Cuprinil body suit to repel the dark forces of Fire Scale.

Just think of the adventures these two could have!

Stopping gem stone smugglers, improving safety conditions in foreign
mines, capturing jewelry thieves, aiding the Jeweler’s Vigilanty
Committee, upholding the Patriot Act(!)…

And along the way, they could be jewelry store owners in their
civilian personas, with all of the “white gold mine” stories and
other humorous customer encounters that we have cumulatively amassed
adding to the daily interest.

The cartoons could ultimately be printed and compiled into booklet
form and available as a fundraiser for Orchid.

Any thoughts?
Karen Olsen Ramsey
http://www.artjeweler.com=

Karen,

What a wonderful idea! Thank you for starting my morning with a
great laugh. Maybe they could even be lured into exploring the
transwarp mysteries of the rolling mill god. “Chlorina”, how
wonderful a name! Maybe this strip would help increase readership in
Lapidary Journal. Metalsmith?

Thanks

Bill Churlik
@Bill_Churlik
www.earthspeakarts.com

This just in from “The Supreme Orchid Lurker”. I can’t wait for the
first issue. Fantastic concept! Keep me posted.

Peace,
Ken Weston
www.kenweston.com (now under serious construction)