Happy new year from Jamaica!
- Thread starter workinforwood
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workinforwood
Member
I would like to thank everyone for another year of success at masterscroller.com and exoticblanks.com, we couldnt have done it without you!
My shop is currently closed and i hope to get things fired back up in a few days. I walked down there this morning and it was 34 degrees. Sunday 2 weeks ago we lost power in an ice storm for 8 days straight and my generator is not able to run the house and the shop so i had to close up. Several days in the power outage we went to celebrate Christmas and new years in Montego Bay Jamaica, and so the shop has been unheated for 2 weeks. I will be ordering more resin today and need to throw away about 18 gallons :/ but such is life sometimes.
Jamaica was beautiful and i have a great sunburn and certainly drank a year supply of rum and shine! Never let anyone tell you its a dangerous violent island, although there is crime, its no more or dfferent than you can experience in the USA. I would recommend it as a winter vacation spot that should be high on the bucket list.
As you see i did smuggle back a bit of wood on my trip. It is extremely difficult to obtain wood from jamaica. They do not like their wood leaving the sland and there is no stores where you can buy nice figured burls and exotic pieces. Jamaicans just walk into the rainforest with a machette and take whatever tree they want to use. I saw so many incredible burls, damn near every tree and clump of roots is burly and wildly figured, its kinda depressing you dont have a chainsaw and shipping container
In this photo i snapped of my counter is two carvings i purchased, a local native carved those from lignum vitae! They are super heavy, that guy had crazy patience! On the left is a stump of Sea Grape that i collected off a staircase at Bamboo Beach. Took me about 30 min to fight through the rainforest and find that staircase that was on the side of a cliff, i could see the stairs way off in the distance from the beach but had no idea why they were there and when i managed to get there the stairs went nowhere. There must have been something there long ago and now only the concrete stairs remain. The stump was growing on the concrete and i kicked it free and threw it in my bag.
The piece in front of that is decent size and no idea what it is, i suspect it is almond. It is partially rotted but still solid and i found it laying by the same beach.
Right infront of my mug is a piece i found floating in a root clump at Dunns River Falls. I cant even guess what it is but it is very heavy. It is either a very dense iron type wood or it is full of limestone. Trees that fall into that river become encapsulated in limestone and become almost petrified looking, its very cool!
The last smallest piece is also from dunns river. If i slice it carefully i can get 4 blanks out of it i think. It is from the tree that makes the jerk spice. I managed to break it off from one of the trees roots.
Eventually i will make pen blanks from all these pieces but they will need several months drying time first.
Ok, well i better get out there and start shoveling my house and shop out from all the snow. I hope 2014 will be your best year ever!
My shop is currently closed and i hope to get things fired back up in a few days. I walked down there this morning and it was 34 degrees. Sunday 2 weeks ago we lost power in an ice storm for 8 days straight and my generator is not able to run the house and the shop so i had to close up. Several days in the power outage we went to celebrate Christmas and new years in Montego Bay Jamaica, and so the shop has been unheated for 2 weeks. I will be ordering more resin today and need to throw away about 18 gallons :/ but such is life sometimes.
Jamaica was beautiful and i have a great sunburn and certainly drank a year supply of rum and shine! Never let anyone tell you its a dangerous violent island, although there is crime, its no more or dfferent than you can experience in the USA. I would recommend it as a winter vacation spot that should be high on the bucket list.
As you see i did smuggle back a bit of wood on my trip. It is extremely difficult to obtain wood from jamaica. They do not like their wood leaving the sland and there is no stores where you can buy nice figured burls and exotic pieces. Jamaicans just walk into the rainforest with a machette and take whatever tree they want to use. I saw so many incredible burls, damn near every tree and clump of roots is burly and wildly figured, its kinda depressing you dont have a chainsaw and shipping container
In this photo i snapped of my counter is two carvings i purchased, a local native carved those from lignum vitae! They are super heavy, that guy had crazy patience! On the left is a stump of Sea Grape that i collected off a staircase at Bamboo Beach. Took me about 30 min to fight through the rainforest and find that staircase that was on the side of a cliff, i could see the stairs way off in the distance from the beach but had no idea why they were there and when i managed to get there the stairs went nowhere. There must have been something there long ago and now only the concrete stairs remain. The stump was growing on the concrete and i kicked it free and threw it in my bag.
The piece in front of that is decent size and no idea what it is, i suspect it is almond. It is partially rotted but still solid and i found it laying by the same beach.
Right infront of my mug is a piece i found floating in a root clump at Dunns River Falls. I cant even guess what it is but it is very heavy. It is either a very dense iron type wood or it is full of limestone. Trees that fall into that river become encapsulated in limestone and become almost petrified looking, its very cool!
The last smallest piece is also from dunns river. If i slice it carefully i can get 4 blanks out of it i think. It is from the tree that makes the jerk spice. I managed to break it off from one of the trees roots.
Eventually i will make pen blanks from all these pieces but they will need several months drying time first.
Ok, well i better get out there and start shoveling my house and shop out from all the snow. I hope 2014 will be your best year ever!
ed4copies
Local Chapter Manager
Good to see you on IAP, Jeff!!
For those who may not know, Jeff was one of the very first artists at ExoticBlanks.com!!
At the time, he was scroll-sawing images into blanks and filling the image with resin. This was around 2009---NEW stuff at the time!!
Now, as the industry evolves, so has Jeff!! He purchased a CNC cutter and taught himself how to program it. The resulting products are what we call "Rotacrylics". You can see the many patterns he has developed, here:
Exotic Blanks :: Guest Artist's Blanks :: MasterScroller Artworks :: Rotacrylic Blanks
Jeff continues to do some scrollsawn pieces, which we show here: Exotic Blanks :: Guest Artist's Blanks :: MasterScroller Artworks :: Hand Scrolled Blanks
AND he is doing some full pine cones, embedded in Alumilite, as well as just colorful Alumilite blanks.
Jeff has a remarkable eye for color!! His blanks are very "different" combinations that blossom as they are turned into full bloomed PENS!!
You can visit Jeff's pages on Exotics, here: http://www.exoticblanks.com/MasterScroller-Artworks/
And Jeff himself is very witty. We sincerely hope we will see more of him in "Our little corner of IAP"!! Jeff is a valuable asset to the IAP community!!!
While he is exceptionally busy with a full-time job as well as producing pen blanks, we hope he can find a few minutes each week to visit with us, and YOU here!!
Comments welcome, as always!!
Ed
For those who may not know, Jeff was one of the very first artists at ExoticBlanks.com!!
At the time, he was scroll-sawing images into blanks and filling the image with resin. This was around 2009---NEW stuff at the time!!
Now, as the industry evolves, so has Jeff!! He purchased a CNC cutter and taught himself how to program it. The resulting products are what we call "Rotacrylics". You can see the many patterns he has developed, here:
Exotic Blanks :: Guest Artist's Blanks :: MasterScroller Artworks :: Rotacrylic Blanks
Jeff continues to do some scrollsawn pieces, which we show here: Exotic Blanks :: Guest Artist's Blanks :: MasterScroller Artworks :: Hand Scrolled Blanks
AND he is doing some full pine cones, embedded in Alumilite, as well as just colorful Alumilite blanks.
Jeff has a remarkable eye for color!! His blanks are very "different" combinations that blossom as they are turned into full bloomed PENS!!
You can visit Jeff's pages on Exotics, here: http://www.exoticblanks.com/MasterScroller-Artworks/
And Jeff himself is very witty. We sincerely hope we will see more of him in "Our little corner of IAP"!! Jeff is a valuable asset to the IAP community!!!
While he is exceptionally busy with a full-time job as well as producing pen blanks, we hope he can find a few minutes each week to visit with us, and YOU here!!
Comments welcome, as always!!
Ed
Last edited:
PR_Princess
Member
Jeff! Glad to see posting!!!!!
And you made it back to Michigan save and sound! Bet you had a great time in Jamaica - I'll want to hear all about it!!
BWT that is some awesome looking wood!
And you made it back to Michigan save and sound! Bet you had a great time in Jamaica - I'll want to hear all about it!!
BWT that is some awesome looking wood!