Alloys and Ankhs

So I have been playing with alloys lately. With my playing has been a load of research and math, but I decided to cast a single piece in every alloy. Here they are: The Alloyed Ankhs!





Because of what this symbol means to me, each alloy is an individual piece. The reason that I originally designed and created this piece was because I never felt as if I belonged in any group. Throughout my life, I struggled with social settings and situations. However, I found one place where I fit in and where I mattered: Frightworld. Frightworld became my home, and my co-workers my family. I designed this piece to give to people close to me at Frightworld. They were cast from brass and given to people that I greatly respected. I then cast multiples in Sterling Silver to share with the rest of the world, and make everyone my family. This piece is actually so important to me that I had it affixed to my body in a tattoo.





So the pieces are all given a name based on the alloy. These are the names from left to right of the picture above.





The Steampunk Pharaoh's Ankh (Sterling Silver), The Frightworld Pharaoh's Ankh (Jeweler's Brass), The True Pharaoh's Ankh (Custom Brass Alloy), The One Pharaoh's Ankh (Shibu-Ichi), The Divine Pharaoh's Ankh (Tumbaga). The reason that Jeweler's brass was used for the ones given out was purely because brass reflected the Egyptian gold the most. The custom brass alloy, the Shibu-Ichi, and the Tumbaga were all mixed and poured by me.




See you space cowboy...

Experiments of an Alchemist (Kind of)

So I decided to play with some things that I haven't, and many people haven't, played with before: Alloys. There are many common alloys out there, but I came across one that peaked my interest. As many people know, I am not only a jeweler, but I am also an Anthropologist working on my BA in Anthropology with a focus on Cultural Anthropology. In some research that I was doing for my class on Mesoamerican Archaeology, I came across an alloy called Tumbaga. Tumbaga does not have many set standards for it, but is an interesting alloy because it essentially fire scales with gold coming to the surface. In fact, the gold is so strong in the alloy that the Spaniards confused it for solid gold upon its discovery in Central America.

In some journals written by early explorers, I came across the magic numbers of 5:15:80. That is, 5% gold, 15% silver, 80% copper. So I decided to figure this out for myself.

Here is an image of the math that I sat down and figured out to make the Tumbaga using scrap gold and sterling silver into the mix. This math accounts for the varying qualities of gold, as well as the dillusion of gold using silver and copper.



So those of you who don't care so much about this topic, I recommend that you turn away now. Because this will get long and drawn-out. But feel free to stick around as I explain why I used the math that I did.

First and foremost, I weighed out my gold in grains.

18k:10grn
14k:70grn
10k:8grn

From there, i figured out the perecentage of gold in each part of alloy. I did this by using the standard of 18/24, 14/25, and 10/24. This means that 18k is 75% gold, 14k is 58% gold, and 10k is 41% gold. These alloys are cut using silver and copper, meaning that in 18k, 12.5% is copper and 12.5% is silver. This division of remaining percentages was also used on the other alloys to figure out those contents.

So then I figured out just how much of each metal I actually had.

.75 x 10 = 7.5grn gold (1.25grn copper, 1.25grn silver)
.58 x 70 = 40.6grn gold (14.7grn copper, 14.7grn silver)
.41 x 8 = 3.3grn gold (2.333grn copper, 2.333grn silver)

7.5 + 40.6 + 3.3 = 51.4grn gold

The total amount of gold that I had was 51.4grn, meaning that 5% of the total alloy was 51.4grn. So to figure out the necissary amounts of the other metals, I used 5% (using a root 20, essentially, which is ironically the root of Maya calculations), to figure it all out.

51.4 x 1 = 51.4grn gold
51.4 x 3 = 154.2grn silver
51.4 x 16 = 822.4grn copper

Now, that's how much metal is needed. However, because of the varying qualities of gold, there is already a base amount of copper and silver. So add those base amounts up.

1.25 + 14.7 + 2.3 = 18.25grn silver, 18.25grn copper

Then subtract those base amounts from the total metal required.

154.2 - 18.25 = 136grn silver
822.4 - 18.25 = 804grn copper

So the total of metals necissary is:

51.4grn gold
136grn silver
804grn copper

Add those up to find out the total amount of alloy available.

991grn of Tumbaga.
991/24 = 41dwt 7grn = 2ozt 1dwt 7grn

The other major issue that I came across was the issue of specific gravity. There is no standard for the specific gravity of Tumbaga. So I worked for hours on trying to figure this number out. Here's how I did it. Now, I don't know for sure that this will work. But I will find out.

Specific gravities:

Gold: 19.3
Silver: 10.4
Copper: 8.9

I took these numbers, and applied them to the alloy in relative proportion of the metals. I did this again by using a base root of 20 (based off of the 5% gold).

19.3 x 1 = 19.3
10.4 x 3 = 31.2
8.9 x 16 = 142.4

Add them up
19.3 + 31.2 + 142.4 = 192.9

Divide that by the root of 20
192.9 / 20 = 9.65

It appears that 9.65 is the specific gravity of Tumbaga, if this math is even remotely applicable. I guess we'll find out!




See you space cowboy...

Blue October

So this past Wednesday, we went and saw one of my all-time favorite bands in a small venue in Rochester called the Water Street Music Hall. It was an amazing show. Nice and intimate.

Here's some pictures:

It really was an amazing set, and they played songs that I did not expect. They opened with Ugly Side, which is an awesome song. But they also played Come In Closer, X Amount of Words, and The End, which are songs that I did not expect to hear but was super happy to hear them. Especially X Amount of Words.

Definately check this band out if you get a chance. Look them up online, go to a show, whatever it takes. Their newest album, Approaching Normal, is an amazing album but I first heard them with their album Foiled, so I really highly-recommend that one.

See you space cowboy...

Charity Time!

Wow. Well the world has needed some help lately! Yesterday was the Bijutsu sale at Buffalo State College. I'll tell you, I went to help set up the sale and was astonished and awed by the amount of artwork that was donated. The sale lasted several hours, and resulted in a total of about $7000 for the Japan Relief Fund. 100% of that is going straight to the fund, so Buffalo made a difference this week! I'd like to thank Sumiyo Roland and Megan Cosgrove for their tireless work on the event, and I'd like to thank all of the artists and patrons that made the sale a huge success.

The next charity that I am involved with is the Slime City Double Feature benefit this coming Monday (May 9) at the Dipson Theatres Market Arcade Film & Art Center (639 Main St. Buffalo Corners, NY). I really encourage everyone to come and support this cause which will help Benjamin Heppel, a local 8 year old boy with lukemia. There will be give-aways, raffles, and a back-to-back viewing of Slime City and Slime City Massacre. These are two amazing horror movies, both filmed right here in Buffalo.



One of the prizes that you can win at this event is a custom, one-of-a-kind Slime City pendant from my A Cymbal as a Symbol series. I enjoyed making this piece, and I can't wait to see who gets it! Here's two pictures of it.



It will be on a genuine leather cord.

So come support some great causes and get some great artwork!



See you space cowboy...

100th Blog Post!

Well, this is the 100th blog post that I've done on this blog. So for this one, I will cover some up coming information!


On May 4, (Yesterday), a large collection of my work (which includes the Myconocle: The Eye of Psilocyborg, The Amazing Extending Body Poker, The Lost Archaeologist's Amazing Digging Device, the Mechanical Eye of Aman-Ra, and the Frightworld Pharaoh's Ankh) are being photographed in LA and in Death Valley, CA for a spread in Lip Service Magazine. The article is on the top Steampunk designers in the world. I feel privelaged to be among that category.



On May 6, a charity event called Bijutsu is going on. It is being organized by Megan Cosgrove, Sumiyo Roland, Sunhwa Kim, and Bob Wood and will feature a large amount of artists and designers that have donated work to sell in an attempt to raise money for the Japan Relief Fund through the Red Cross. At this event I will be revealing and selling a new line of jewelry that is only for charity. It's called A Cymbal as a Symbol and is based on my previous cymbal pendants.



On May 9, I am involved with yet another charity for a young boy with lukemia. This event is taking place at the Dipson Theatres Market Arcade Film and Art Center on Main Street in Buffalo. This event is going to be fun because it is a double-feature of two locally-made horror films called Slime City and Slime City Massacre. I am good friends with one of the special effects designers for these movies, so I was excited to get involved. For this event, I am donating a custom Slime City A Cymbal as a Symbol pendant to be auctioned off.



On May 13-15 I have a weekend full of photo shoots for Rio Grande in order to show the new Steampunk Components line that they recently released and had me test and review. Modeling my work (which is essentially the collection that Lip Service is shooting plus a few extras) will be two fellow designers. Furniture Designer Eric Rose and Jewelry Designer Natasha Horeth will be modeling for this shoot.


Tonight I also updated JPHii.com to include a feed to my new Etsy shop! The site also now has a link to the Etsy at the bottom, as well as an updated contact page and some new pictures. So things have been crazy!


See you space cowboy....

Website Update

I recently updated JPHii.com. There's is now a page where I will be adding images of exhibitions and special events. So keep an eye on it. There's also images of new work, as well as new accomplishments added.

See you space cowboy...

New Piece

I've been very busy lately, but I decided to make a new piece with some very heavy cultural reference. One of my recent pieces (the most recent) is called The Lamellain Barb and Thread of Autosacrifice. This piece is modelled after the needle and barbed thread used by the Maya in autosacrifices of bloodletting where the spine and thread were pierced through the tongue, forskin, or labia of a person. The thread or paper on the ground would collect blood. In some cases, the thread or paper was burned. In some cases, the blood would fall or or be applied to corn which was then used to bake sacred breads. This piece is made of copper, brass, leather. and hemp.



Dark? Yes. Creepy? Yes. Just my style? You bet ya!

See you space cowboy...