Hello everyone! It has been forever since I have been in so I thought I'd come in and post a pic of my latest piece. I hope all is well with everyone. Dan and Denise I hope ya'll are well especially. This piece is a slice of a seashell that I found in a bead shop. When I saw it I knew exactly what I wantd to do with it. It is inlayed with welo opal chips. In hand it shows the opal a bunch better. By the way Dan, I tried to email you but I was told there was something wrong with the address. Ya may want to check that out.
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Here is another. Fire agate with gold filled wirewrap.

Absolutuly beautiful stuff there Kudos!!

Hi Jim! That Opal inlayed seashell turned out outstanding, great eye and talent!!
Sweet looking fire agate wrapping also, it flows with the stone nicely. Keep up the good work Jim. We always look forward to seeing your new creations.

E-mails working fine on this end. Dan sent you a forum PM so check your box......

Thanks for the compliments. It has been awhile so I do have several pieces that I can show. Here is another. This is a sweet piece of moss agate that is also wrapped in filled gold. It turned out purty good except for the one place that undercut. You can see it in the light reflection.

Another one. This one is a piece of petrified palm wood with turquoise inlayed in it. Its wrapped with sterling silver. This was my very first attempt at inlay. I used 330 epoxy with black colorant. I just cut the groove then mixed the turquoise and epoxy together and spooned it into a groove cut about 1/8th inch deep in the wood. After letting it set I went to my Genie and smoothed the whole thing over. I was pleasently surprised at how it turned out.

I got more if ya'll wanna see.

Definitely post up some more. The fire and mossy agate cabs are ponderous to look at in macro, just awesome. Your photo skills have come a long way for sure! Love your stuff, keep up the great work.

Ok Swizz here is another. This is another seashell. It is a very thin piece of shell with another welo opal. The shape of the shell stopped me from putting a conventional backing on it. It was so thin that it had to be backed with something. I had a piece of leather and just happened to have a leather string to match so I backed the shell with it. sorry about the opal not coming out in the pic. I still have a heck of a time trying to capture them. The bead is wood.

Another. This is a cheap cameo that my mom had. It was backed with a silverplated brass plate that I hated because the silver was coming off of it. I had the piece of lace agate and thought that it complimented the cameo perfectly. I had no way to suspend it so I beveled the back of the cameo just enough to set the wire in. I'm quite proud of the piece. Macro the back if ya wanna see a killer piece of agate.

I just realized that I had posted a pic of the piece of lace agate on the cameo a long time ago way before I ever knew of the cameo. Anyone seen it?

The turquoise inlay turned out great!
You should be able to go into your control panel and search your attachments for the old pic you're looking for Jim.

Thank you Denise. Not bad for my first huh?

Here is a piece that I did for my son's girlfriend. I had done another piece for her that the opal broke in. This stone is similar to the other one. The wrap is more intricate this time though. It's a piece of Aussie crystal opal. It has blue, green and red poc in it.Kinda hard to see but it's much better in hand.

Another...This is a piece of black obsidian with a welo opal. The opal is not inset. It is glued to a flat spot on the obsidian with epoxy with black colorant in it. After finishing the cab I grooved it and wrapped it with gold filled wire. It is 1 3/8 inches tall. Itook this pic not long after finishing it. The moisture behind the stone has since evaporated out... I think this one is going to be mine. I kinda like it.

Super nice work Jim... that looks great!

Another... Brazilian in gold filled wire.

Hey Swizz!!! Ya oughta like this one.
This is a piece of bone that came out of a slice of ham we had for dinner awhile back. The opal is one of the blacked backed ones.

Jim,
Cool stuff!
I really like the Brazilian, very nice work there.
The bone ring is a kinda crazy work, creative... looks good. I'd be worried a critter might want to snatch it off my finger though.
The blackened back definitely sets off the Opal.
Good work!

Thanks much!!! Actually my doggie knawed on it for a long time before I ever picked it up. So there wasn't much more than bone left.

It has been awhile since I showed my face around here. So I thought that I would show a few of the things that I have done since the ring. The first is a piece of pietersite...probably spelled wrong...that I grooved and wrapped for a friend. Next is my latest piece. Crysocolla, azurite, pyrite mix cab with jade accents, moss agate and silver beads. Next is a brecciated agate cab in silver wrap. This one is reversible. It looks the same on both sides. A few pair of earrings. My first attempt at carving. Fire agate. And a second ring.

Another bone ring?
Your stuff looks great Jim!
The Fire Agate kinda looks like a skull.I've never seen Azurite buffed out into a cab and it looks incredible... the rough specimens I've seen at the shows are always stunning.
Nice work!

Jim your being the ultimate recycler with that bone! :)

Yea another ring. This one is not a ham bone , rather a more traditional medium stag horn that I got from a flintknapper that was at our annual show in Feb. I made this one with my ring finger as a template for size. So it fits me rather well. The cab with azurite was a piece that was traded to me so it was the only piece of that that I had. Sure would like to have a few pounds of it. Nice hard material. The fire agate piece is on a chain around my neck...that one is mine all mine.

This is a ring that I had Steve Wandt made for us. This is the fourth opal that has been set in it. I cut and set this one myself. Australian white. The first one broke across the middle, the second lost it's color,
The third I broke setting it. This time I ground a high spot out of the center of the setting. So far this one is holding up great.

Here's another. This was a high school graduation ring that I removed all the outer work and set a welo opal in. I still have some cleanup to do on it.

I have a friend that makes knives. I had him make this dagger blade for me. I put a mookite jaser handle on it. The two sides came off the chunk side by side so they have very similar pattern and color. Overall length is eight and a half inches.

I have done several knives in the last coupla years.

A purty cool piece. This is automotive paint from a local Nissan plant.

Thought I'd show a picture jasper that I cut a while back. it' about three inches tall. Cool canyon with trees

Those turned out fantastic Jim! That replacement Opal looks great in that setting.
It looks like your doing a bang out job on the knife handles as well, very nice. Keep up the good work, you do an amazing job on the stone work. Thanks for sharing pics of your goodies with us.

Goodness gracious, those are all very pretty and just amazing. Thank you for sharing .. WOW is all I can say ...