My Dealer was Back in Town...

I got a flyer & a phone call from John Garsow, letting me know that the Gem show would be coming back to Seattle in June 27th-29. I took my daughter with me. What I didn’t realize was that it was the same date as Seattle’s Gay Pride parade & Festival, ending in the same location So, traffic was almost as bad as the parking, but she really enjoyed seeing all the people dance on such a hot day at the water fountain. She’s not even four, and she’s already been to a Democratic Caucus, the Oregon Country Fair & a gay pride festival. I think this is wonderful, but now I’m pretty sure this website will be flagged by some church group as a prime example of how the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Anyway, below are some pictures of things I picked up from John at the show. I know for certain that the blue rock is Azurite.





I think the white one is Brookite (which contains titanium oxide) or Barite and I *think* the green stone is Variscite. This is what happens when I bring my daughter places. I get distracted and end up buying things without getting the facts. I’ll add an addendum to this entry once I confirm the exact nature of these rocks.







Of course, the reason I’m getting all these rocks is to crush them and turn them into paint. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Next Entry on Monday, August 4th!

And now for Something Completely Different...

I was able to procure the last batch of titanium sold at the now defunct Boeing Surplus store for Theodore Grey, (creator of the Periodic Table Table, and one who has talked to me at length via email about this project). This incredibly historic titanium unfortunately looked really bland in its original sheet metal form. After talking to him at some length about how to best identify titanium (see his January 2008 column here) I decided to spruce up one of the samples with my friend’s TIG welder. I really like how it discolors! Thank God he had an auto darkening helmet! I don’t think I could have written as well as I did otherwise.









I had a couple of pieces left over after this, so we decided to make an abstract sculpture. This was the first time I welded this metal, and used this session to just get a better feel for it. Since there was no titanium welding rod in his shop, I just had fun melting pieces into each other.

Next entry on Monday July 28th!