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9/6/2016 0 Comments

Paper Tigers Do It With Mirrors

Just a quick note to say I added two more pages I hope will amuse you about a couple of things I've been involved in over the years: M.I.A.O.W. (a philanthropic company with a sense of humour) and Better Mus' Come, a community event  in Wandsworth. 

The Tiger in question, who comes from a very old family indeed, is called Big Felix MacArroon. "By Jupiter, a Sabretigger, Salient, Guardant, Luna, Gutted des Larmes, Armed and Crowned in Mars, with six Pheons, Son."  Unfortunately poor Felix is slightly dyslexic and there was a bit of a misunderstanding about the Pheons, because he really wanted six phones instead. He does have his own star though, in the International Star Registry. It's called Big Felix and is in the Lynx constellation. Someone gave it to him in exchange for something else, which is how we prefer  to do business here.    

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9/6/2016 0 Comments

First instalment on gemstones published

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The first instalment of A Beginner's Guide to Identifying Gemstones has been published, with links on the home page and the Random Facts page as well as here. It's a fascinating story, I think, and goes back much further than we imagine. Do leave a comment if you feel so inclined. I'll go into more detail in the next installment and add a few pictures to brighten it up a bit.

In the meantime, here is a short poem I wrote in an attempt to explain some of the problems involved in figuring out which stone is which. I hope it will make more sense after you've read the introduction: 

Gemmology

"Remember, said the turtle, his tumbler full of rye,
"The almandine is purple, but do not ask me why,
when sapphires pink and garnets green*
are both confused with tourmaline
and alexandrite's in between.
The alexandrite, cabochon,
is a chrysoberyl catseye,
until corundum grinds it down
to sand that shifts without a sound.
However, courage, faith and hope will
keep the fire alight in a water opal."

*I sometimes wonder if Sigmund Freud
ever considered the demantoid.



 


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7/6/2016 0 Comments

First instalment on early technology published

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Another new page in the Random Facts section about the development of the drill in the Stone Age, and a few other thoughts from a craftswoman's perspective on who designed some of the other things we take for granted that were invented during the Ice Age. Still no pics, I'm afraid, but I hope to get round to adding a few illustrations, if I can find any in the public domain.
I think I might have to change Random into Fascinating, though, but thought I'd wait for some feedback first to see if anyone agrees with me.  So please feel free to comment if you have enough time to read it and feel like doing so. 

Ice Age Graffiti

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3/6/2016 0 Comments

Website Updated

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The answer to the question about the gemstones in the picture I posted last time is diamonds. Like most other stones they come in lots of different colours,  Historically only clear, colourless, translucent stones were referred to as diamonds, which has led to a great deal of confusion over the years.  None of the three stones on the left are diamonds.

As I said in the Latest News on the home page, the Random Facts section is being expanded to include A Beginners Guide to Identifying Gemstones, followed by A History of Gold, both of which will be published in installments. I do hope they will provide an alternative perspective on prehistory and antiquity from a goldsmith's point of view.

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1/6/2016 0 Comments

Recent Developments

I've been meaning to update this blog for ages but  haven't had time or known where to start and have so many projects  in the pipe line at the moment and so many new and interesting contacts to network with, I haven't had much time either.

So I thought to start to post stuff about some of them, like A Beginners Guide to Identifying Gemstones, a guide for beginners about how to identify gemstones, like the ones below, which can't be distinguished by colour alone, even by an expert with a very good eye. 
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Starting with a small quiz about the ones in this picture. Anyone who can tell me what they might or might not be or where they came from originally is obviously a much better gemologist than I am. Whoever gets most of the answers right will be rewarded with a small piece of jewellery made out of silver by me.

Other things I will be posting about, hopefully much more frequently, will include commodity trading in prehistory and antiquity since the ice age, the evolution, domestication and selective breeding of horses, donkeys and dogs, and the evolution and development of boats, the history of beads, and the development of early technology and tools of my trade, which haven't changed much since then. 

 I do hope this will interest some of the people I've met o n Facebook and Twitter and Instagram recently. It's a different perspective on the history of mankind from, based entirely in reality, about where raw materials come from and how things were made out of them as well as where they were made when, and who made them, since the Stone Age. 

I will try and post an image or two every few days and provide the answers to the question I posed about the one on this page next time. So leave a comment with your answer on Facebook or Twitter, or here, if you'd like a unique piece of silver, based if you like on a design you suggest, if it's feasible, weighing no more than half a Troy ounce of silver, which is the equivalent of 14 grammes.  
 
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24/4/2016 0 Comments

The books are here

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The first batch of paperbacks have arrived at last and are on sale in the Store for £9.70, which includes first class postage within  the UK.

I came across a wonderful shop today which turned out to be owned by an international company who promote the work of illustrators and authors of children's books and do free events for kids at the weekends. So I popped in to show them a copy I had with me and they liked it very much and advised me to contact their art coordinator to see if she would be interested.  They act as literary agents too, so we might try to pitch a few ideas to them as well. 
 
Meanwhile I shall be wearing out a bit of shoe leather in Fulham and Chelsea, where there are several independent bookshops and lots of trendy little gift shops and child-friendly cafes, where I might buy a coffee and leave  a book by mistake! 
 


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14/4/2016 2 Comments

Done and Dusted

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Unlike my flat, which could do with a clean-up, the first FlutterBy Press picture book is ready at last and is now available as an eBook as well as a 8" x 10" paperback that will soon be available on Amazon...it takes a while for a new book to be listed, apparently.

So now all I've got to do is market it online and in person, the old-fashioned way, at gift shops and toyshops, as well as in bookshops. I suppose we ought to have a launch party at some point but I'm too tired to think right now. I need a few days off before I plan anything, but I'll keep you posted when I get round to it.

Meanwhile I'm going to take it easy for a few days before I decide which project to tackle next. There are a couple in the pipeline that are almost finished and several old ones that need resuscitating, but I think I'll forge a bit of jewellery first, there's nothing like bashing a piece of metal  for clearing the head, in my opinion. 
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9/4/2016 0 Comments

First Product in Store

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I ordered a few postcards to see what they looked like and they turned up sooner than I though they would and a bit larger than I expected, but I think they look great. So I decided to open the storefront a bit earlier than intended in case anyone would like to order one or two
(buy four and I'll throw in another one for free).  20% of the purchase price will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund to adopt a polar bear or two so we can give them away as prizes in the competition I mentioned a couple of blogposts ago.  

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8/4/2016 0 Comments

Social Networking

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I've never really bothered much before,  but I'm getting the hang of it slowly, in my efforts tp promote the book and the business, although I still keep forgetting to add hashtags sometimes. It seems to be working, but it seems you have to be relentless and try and post something every day, so I'd like to apologize to my family and friends for bombarding them with messages on Facebook.
 
But needs must, apparently, which is why I decided to try and illustrate this old bit of doggerel verse inspired by a remark made by Lord McAlpine in 1993. 
I've never taken this kind of photo before and was wondering what to use when I remembered an old silver jam spoon that hadn't been used for years. It needed a quick polish to remove all the tarnish, but I was quite pleased with the result and a few people liked it on Twitter and Instagram and started following me. Now all I've got to do is think of something to post tomorrow!   
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7/4/2016 0 Comments

Competition

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I've been doing some postcards using images from the book to sell in the shop when it opens (stay tuned), and thought this would make a good one, but it could use  a few words and I can't think of any, so I decided to have a competition in case anyone had any ideas.  

To enter, add a comment that includes your suggestion before the 30th April. Prizes will include copies of the The Butterfly Effect  and a small royalty, too,  on any entries that are published as postcards if and when they sell. 

   


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