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How about giving family and friends something practical, simple and a pleasure to do!
Slate "hot Plates" for the BBQ Table or Kitchen.
Taking an idea Ian S/K showed me at the last Oz Letterheads, I am doing a series of these as gifts this year.
Basicly they are 12" slate tiles, gilded with varigated and plain copper leaf. Woman thought I was mad rummaging thru their seconds pile at the flooring shop, but at $2 each for some realy interesting colours and textures who cares!
Painted the graphic on with "imitation gold" 1-shot as size. Gilded with copper leaf (about 2 leaves max). Outlined with black enamel. Sealed letters with enamel clear. Glued a felt square on the back, so it won't slide or scratch the table. Hey presto! A unique gift that is a bit of you.
I used this chinese character that Ian gave me ... means "love & affection" or something like that. Just liked the flow of the elements. Going to do some with stylised animals, flora,fauna etc. on them. Maybe a nice script of the person's name. Even a house number!
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Thanks for the idea. I have a customer that is giving me her old sample tiles. I have sandblasted some bith names and such but really didn't have a good marketing idea. This just may be the ticket.
What would be the best way to glue either felt or cork to the bottom?
-------------------- Dave Sherby "Sandman" SherWood Sign & Graphic Design Crystal Falls, MI 49920 906-875-6201 sherwoodsign@sbcglobal.net Posts: 5401 | From: Crystal Falls, MI USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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Hey, this IS a neat idea!!! I wonder what i could do with the roofing slate i have? I used to oil paint on it, but maybe I can try something else... Hmmmmm.....
-------------------- The Word in Signs Bobbie Rochow Jamestown, PA 16134
724-927-6471
thewordinsigns@alltel.net Posts: 3485 | From: Jamestown, PA 16134 | Registered: Oct 2002
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This was something that Rob Cooper began doing years ago. He did an article on it in SC. Don't remember the issue, but I do remember it was on the cover, so shouldn't be hard to find.
I've done a lot of these. Slate does a number on chisels, but you can pick up some inexpensive chisels at wallyworld that will work just fine. Clean any rough areas in the cut by scraping with an exacto blade.
And yes, the make nice presents. Another great use is for house numbers. Rob would frame them sometimes with a strip of pretty wood along top and bottom.
Bobbie, roofing slate works GREAT! And by the way, slate sandblasts easily, too.
[ November 12, 2005, 05:25 PM: Message edited by: Don Coplen ]
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I've done a lot, carved, then gilded, like Rob's ones, and made a little stand for them. They're great for when you don't know what to give to a good friend, but they take some time & effort to carve- the appreciation you get is worth the time & effort though!
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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I agree, Ian. Way too much time involved for selling for a profit. But, a great present for a loved one, where a smile is better payment than money could ever be.
Wood accents, with an oil finish, look wonderful to set off the slate.
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I was going to carve them but didn't have the time last week. The top two slates were for 60th Birthday presents for friends this weekend. Both cooks. Blew both of them away.
Sue's buying me a "Dremel" for my 60th and Xmas next month. Going to give it to me early so I can use that to carve some more.
I clear sealed the backs and glued the felt on with PVA craft glue and trimed to size afterwards. The clear on the lettering seems to be holding up ok. The dark slate is mine and has survived the "sunday breakfast BBQ" every week since the Oz meet.
The top one I did two (?) years ago for my mother- it's the character for 'love' (thanks to Crazy Jack!)
The middle one was done at about the same time for some friends who have some young children who are a 'bit rowdy & not so disciplined' - it's the character for 'serenity'. It took them about a year for them to get it translated, when a Japanese exchange student they were hosting, managed to explain it to them. On that particular day, the kids had been especially noisy & antagonistic to each other, and the irony or humour in the slate had them in hysterics!
The bottom one was done for some friends of ours who emigrated from Canada about 6 years ago. (it's 'love' again.
I wanted to do a couple with 'welcome', but in both Chinese & Japanese, it's a huge word or series of characters, and the bit of slate hasn't lent itself well to that layout. I might try Rob Cooper's way of going around corners, and do it on a fence post, some time.
Jon, I have a dremel too- but here's some advice: don't use it for slate carving! It's too easy to make a mistake which becomes harder to rectify than a chiselled mistake, and you lose that 'hand-done fluidity' of using the chisel, and you tend to go to gouge out more than necessary then wish you hadn't as you try to even it out. You can use a wood router with a tungsten tipped bit too, but do it at your own risk, & you tend to do too much & go too deep & it's hard.
With a chisel, you'll need a stone- either a whetstone/oilstone to touch up the tip, or a little diamond sharpening stone. Every 5 or 10 minutes, you just touch the tip up a tad & get back to it & it makes chiselling better. No need to go for a 45 degree angle- 15 degrees is plenty for the effect, 20 even better.
Good luck! (post some progress pix of your trials!)
[ November 13, 2005, 03:27 AM: Message edited by: Ian Stewart-Koster ]
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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In the stone carving class I took a few years ago with Karen Sprague, we used cold chisels, sharpened often- work well for scraping as well Cat
-------------------- Catharine C. Kennedy CCK Graphics 1511 Route 28 Chatham Center, NY 12184 cck1620@taconic.net "Look at me, Look at me, Look at me now! I't's fun to have fun, But you have to know how!" Posts: 2173 | From: downtown Chatham Center, NY | Registered: Feb 2004
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Isn't it bad to used lead-based paints around food? One would think that these things would give off fumes when heated. (not that 1-S has lead in it anymore) Love.....Jill
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Jill Marie Welsh: Isn't it bad to used lead-based paints around food? One would think that these things would give off fumes when heated. (not that 1-S has lead in it anymore) Love.....Jill
Lead based paints around food will make a person grow tall.
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Righto, Sheila. I did several a few years ago and sandblasted, then sprayed clear, primer and gold paint with the stencil still on. Much easier, cheaper and faster than carving and leafing - but still makes a beautiful gift.........
-------------------- www.signcreations.net Sonny Franks Lilburn, GA 770-923-9933 Posts: 4117 | From: Lilburn, GA USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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