How much should you charge for your painted coin flips?
Depends. One measure is the value of your painting. The other main factor is the actual cost of the coin you’ve inserted in the flip — not what you originally paid, but today’s market for that coin in that grade.
Categorically, “pretty okay” coins are going to measure up more or less like this:
All jewelry — in fact, ALL engineered structures — have one thing in common; they are each and every one, no matter how complex or simple, is made up of a collection of elements.
Okay, so what the heck is an element?
It is a single repeatable item — in the case of Jewels of Ancient Lands jewelry, this consists of a bead or a small grouping or series of beads strung onto a copper, silver or 18k gold wire in the following manner:
Okay, now you can wire another element onto that one, and so forth, until you’ve made a necklace, bracelet, earrings or pendant.
This is a set of basic stuff you really need to know if you plan to make and sell jewelry at home. Take a closer look at the photo above, and note that it’s all made from wire and beads — no solder, no casting.
Solder-free jewelry is impossible, unless it’s cast, and both are things I’d rather not do, especially for money, so I developed my line of wire-made jewelry, including wire-linked necklaces and bracelets, and wire-wrapped meteorites and other gemstones.
Gemstones are not typically drilled large enough to allow wire to pass through them, so I have to find gemstone suppliers who are willing and able to drill my stones just a wee bit wider, enough to accommodate a .16 gauge copper, silver or 18k gold wire.
By the way, jewelry-grade wire is already polished, so all it needs is a gentle rub, unless you’ve butchered the metal beyond simple polishing.
Beads as Money — Beads were the first money. Until then, about 50,000 B.C., any exchange was strictly in livestock, food, skins, weapons — some sort of trade or barter. The hole in a bead made it easy to carry on a string or leather thong, so you didn’t have to bury it near your home under the third fencepost as usual. Certain rare beads had definite values, such as seashells in an inland community with no seaport or ocean access. Common early “money” beads were made of bone, shell, wood, and some larger seeds or seed-pods. In some parts of the world, beads are still money, and some beads can bring many thousands of dollars, and even millions of dollars, at public auctions. Continue reading
Just TRY to find that Caesar Rodney counter-clash anywhere for any price, then make an offer! Estimates vary, but it’s in six figures at least, and YOU CAN DO IT, TOO!!!
You’ll need faith, hope, and a good relationship with a SuperBeacon, Matrix & Ammy.
The Caesar Rodney is not the only coin I found with my SuperBeacon Array. I have a dozen 1909s VDB Lincoln Cents in fabulous condition, and a bunch more self-found coins that could fetch upwards of $10,000 apiece.
I’m not offering them. I’m using them to show that it CAN be done. I have no interest in money, except to sort it and collect the rarities.
You don’t have that leisure.
You’ll need money, and plenty of it, to get out of the vise-like grip of Trumpism.
I’ll bet you’re plumb tuckered, totally out of energy to fight against Trumpism, and that exhaustion is what the NPD counts on to make his case and drive home the misery.
It doesn’t take a news program to get you all depressed, because everyone on the street is talking about how bad things are, and at the same time, they’re afraid to mention the word “Trump” for fear of retaliation from both or all sides.
For Trump, Against Trump, Indifferent to Trump — these are positions that are all now very dangerous to take. Best say nothing, put your head down, look at the floor and put your hands in your pockets.
Tremble and be thou afraid. O ye hypocrites, ye generation of vipers — a generation of vipers is not a group of milleniums, and it probably should read “spawn” of vipers, to make sense in modern English.
Children of the Serpent.
Jeez, you’d think they’d send the boss, but no — just the kids.
The constant assault on your personal freedoms and on Democracy itself takes its toll on the honest citizens who are just trying to get along in peace and harmony with all the others on this planet, including plants and animals. There just isn’t room for honest people anymore.
Once you understand that the creeps in control will BE in control for the next fifty years, and you realize that it is a solid fact that YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE YOUR FREEDOM, you’ll make adjustments, just as the Russians did under Stalin, and the Germans under Hitler, and the Italians under Mussolini, and the… but you get the idea.
America will no longer be a Democracy, but that’s gotta be okay, because there’s nothing you can do about that. You’re just a little creature trying to avoid getting crushed by the steamrollers on your street. Continue reading
Here are a bunch of personal notes expanded from a short stack of Post-It notes by my coin-searching pad. I hope you can use this information to gain a better understanding of the technique and liberating technology of Soul-Searching and Sweep-Searching under the 3 Aspects of Coinology which together form the triple-faced Goddess of Coinology, Solaria.
If, on the other hand, you have a favorite god-form, don’t hesitate to assume it for your searches. So, with a lot more further ado than you might like to see, here are the aforesaid previously mentioned “personal notes”, which are, as I’ve already indicated, expanded from much shorter notes written on sticky note paper and plastered by the side of my coin search table and adequate Soft-White lighting.
The biggest hurdle in coin-searching is knowing exactly what you’re looking for, and that really is hindered by studying photos. They simply don’t convey the “feel” of the coin, and once you’ve had an example of that particular error coin in your hand, you’ll not likely forget it, and you can and will SEE the error, thus giving yourself the confidence needed that you WILL RECOGNIZE that coin when it comes up in a search. No doubt about it. Continue reading
When we exhibited the museum installation “Ancient Faces” at the JAL — Jewels of Ancient Lands — show in Rancho Cordova, it took over the better part of half an acre of commercial space, and drew a crowd in the thousands, but where did they all end up? You’re right, the gift shop, and in the gift shop, this is what they’d see and buy.
Famous Faces Fascinate Folks Ferociously. Not just local fame, like Elvis and the Beatles, but everlasting fame, as in Goddess faces. The Goddess Solaria is the Mother Goddess of Mother Goddesses.
She can be any God, Goddess, Buddha or Ascended Master you care to name her. The face above has, literally, billions upon billions of variations, most of them slight, most variations would not readily be discernible by the unpracticed eye. Continue reading
Read it and weep — we’re going to wade through a bit of negative news first, but I assure you that there’s GOOD NEWS at the end of the trail — here is a list of the top 14 eBay searchwords for ART, listed in the order of their relative importance, most-popular searchword in the first place, least popular searchword in last place, thus:
This Dinosaur Skull is my “take” on T-Rex, but it could just as easily be read as a super closeup of a brontosaurus feeding on the top of a tree — it’s all in the label, in this case, but you could get very good at reducing the elements of a meat-eater predator as opposed to a leaf or branch browser.
Of course, ANY animal will work here, alive or dead, currently in stock or extinct.
You’ll want to sharpen your skills at shapes. Note that the teeth are long and sharp, and very exaggerated, as are the double-circled eyes, bulging out from the top of the skull.
I like to sign these opposite the majority of the “weight”, so in this case, I signed it on the eastern side of the rim, meaning the right side of the image. Continue reading
My Extra-Terrestrial Alien UFO Flying Saucer Spacecraft is typical of the smaller “Scout Ship” types you see around New Mexico and Arizona. They are piloted by greys, but the larger, flatter steel-gray crafts are from Orion and Sirius.
Of course, there are also trans-dimensionals and trans-time voyagers, plus thousands of species of reptilian and several worldsful of Arcturan visitors.
I’m including this little videoclip in the blog format, in order to underline the fact that I’m not a wild-eyed alien freak, or at least I’m among a growing number of former high ranking government and agency people who are finally starting to talk about the many visitors to Planet Earth, among whom are Canadian Minister of Defence Paul Hellyer, who testified before Parliament that there are more than 80 known species of aliens and that humans are in contact with at least four, and that this is being covered up by an international Cartel that hopes to take over the world with alien technology and with them as rulers. Continue reading
My style of embossing is free-hand and free-style. Unless illustrating by example some technique or interesting embossing tool, I use only one very basic tool — a very tiny ball-tipped embossing stylus, and that’s about it.
Once in a while, I’ll use the nylon tip on the other end of my basic tool to make a larger dip in the metal from the back side, but other than that, it’s just one tool and the movement of my hands and fingertips.
You can’t just “straight draw” on metal, even foil. It doesn’t LIKE to be pushed around, and it will fight you and make you go crinkly and lumpy and weird.
Curved lines are the bane of every engraver. Spend a few hours mastering it before you screw up hundreds of pieces that COULD have worked, had you taken the time to discover how to make curved lines work in metal foil.
If you’re working in the thicker material, you’ll have to find your own way. It’s not easy to work that stuff, and anything thicker than .36 gauge will probably defeat any beginner, although there’s always beginner’s luck.
“Pueblo in the Sky”, illustrated above, uses straight lines against curves to achieve its effect. You start by drawing in the sidewalks, then add the building on the right, starting with the left top and working your way toward the doorway, actually a triple arch, if you’ll take notice. The dots on the sidewalk can also be circles or squares, to add to the illusion of depth.
Straight lines are easy to emboss free-hand on foil. They will tend to look exactly the same as your drawings on paper. As a matter of fact, even your sculptures and ceramics will reflect your drawing skills or lack of them.
If you’re not very good at drawing, try some of my art books on the subject. I can help anyone learn to draw, even if they can’t even draw a stick-figure. Continue reading