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I turn all of my miniatures on my Jet mini lathe. My turning tools are mostly Robert Sorby mini tools; the skew and scraper are the ones I use the most. I also have a variety of home-made tools that I use. For sharpening my tools, I use a simple bench grinder and diamond whetstones for a fast, sharp hone.
Most of my minis that are made from wood are finished with a home-made French Polish, which consists of shellac, linseed oil and denatured alcohol. It took me a while to come up with the right ratio for me, and it looks great when polished up! I also use CA glue to stabilize and fill cracks.
I've turned miniatures out of wood, ivory, nuts, acrylics, corncobs, corian, dymondwood, decora, talc, alabaster, wonderstone, tru-stone....just to name a few! My inlays consist of genuine stone like turquoise, malachite and lapis lazuli, genuine .999 pure silver and genuine abalone shell and coral. I NEVER use material that looks like silver (powdered aluminum) or gold (powdered brass).
Please know that I am very aware of where all of my wood and ivory originates from. Because I make little things, I can use scrap that otherwise might be thrown away. I don't like to purchase new exotic wood if I can help it, because I don't want to impact the rainforest deforestation that goes on. The large majority of my wood stockpile is scrap from a pool cue manufacturer, that I obtained many years ago. Back in 1982 I obtained some Gabon Ebony scrap, and I got a lot of it! This ebony is superior to anything available today. I also use wood that is reclaimed from logs that sunk to the bottom of Lake Superior over 100 years ago; the trees from which this wood came from were cut down when they were as much as 400 years old!
The ivory I use varies. I use genuine Elephant Ivory that I purchased on eBay a while back. This ivory is legal, pre-ban elephant ivory, and I purchased some small scraps. I can only ship minis made from this ivory within the United States. I also use Woolly Mammoth ivory and fossilized Walrus Tusk ivory. The mammoth ivory is found as tusks buried in permafrost, in Canada, Alaska and Siberia, and is legal to sell and ship worldwide. Mammoth ivory is interesting, because the ivory can range in color from white to a deep smoky brown color. The fossilized walrus tusks are found on beaches and old settlements.
I also use ivory substitutes, which are mainly tagua nuts and ivory palm nuts. These have a subtle grain pattern and the color looks like ivory. It's hard to tell the difference!
If you ever want to know where the material I use for a particular mini comes from, just ask and I'll be happy to furnish you with the origin.
Hello, and thanks for dropping by my website!
Inside you'll find information about me, my miniatures, and where you can find them for sale, which is on eBay (auctions) and also my CDHM (Custom Dolls, Houses & Miniatures) Gallery, where you can use Paypal to purchase my minis I list there. Just click the links above; it's not a site with all kinds of bells and whistles! It's pretty simple to find your way around!
This is a new site for me, so check back often, as I intend to keep it "up to date" as much as possible. Most recent update: October 1st, 2008.
Thanks for stopping!
Mike
