Sammi's Stick

Good Morning,

... and the reserve price on the commemorative stick is $195

So, let's talk a little bit about sweet Samantha's stick.  It's Ebony, 6.75", featuring a main body inlay of maroon Biwa pearls, with the scales and mini borders in goldstone.  The wide bands are a mixture of deep blue/purple Biwa pearls and blue goldstone.

I'd like to take a moment and describe the process by which I make these types of sticks, so you can see how we arrive at a price of $195.  You may recall the posting where I addressed the .25" minimum stick diameter for the stick's integrity (so it won't break).  When creating this type of full body stick, I have to turn the entire main body to a pin with a diameter of +/- .26".  Paua for example is an extremely thin and brittle shell (.014"), and by the time I adhere it to the pin, I'm usually in a finished diameter neighborhood of .28" - .30".  If  I end up with a diameter greater than .30", I run the risk of hitting the center pin with my tools when finishing the stick.  Once the paua is adhered, it's then cast in resin, turned to it's final shape, engraved, inlaid and finished.  I live in a hundredth's of an inch world.  While it took me quite a while to figure out how not to break the shell when wrapping and adhering it to a .26" pin, I did eventually figure it out and it's a relatively easy process for me today.  The price on a full body paua inlay, as many of you know is $150.

Sammi's stick is in essence the same process, but we used maroon Biwa pearls instead of the paua.  With the mathematics being what they are, I have to inlay the entire body of the stick with the crushed pearls, and end up with a diameter not greater than .30".  Now, referencing back to another posting, "grinding vs. cutting", I can't cut this inlay, if I attempt to do so, it's a guaranteed break.  That only leaves one alternative, grinding and sanding.  Once I'm at the correct diameter, I have to completely finish the center pin to a high gloss, and then it's cast in resin, turned, engraved, inlaid and finished.  The additional $45 above the paua price is simply because it's much more difficult than applying pre-finished paua shell.

So there you have it, stage one is completed.  More to come this weekend (hopefully).

Have a great Friday!