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Surprise Delivery

Khanjar filigree letter opener; sterling and fine silver
"Khanjar" filigree letter opener; sterling and fine silver

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised when my artist’s copy of “500 Knives” by Lark Books was delivered.  My “Khanjar” letter opener (page 267) slices open envelopes very well, when it’s allowed to see some action. After making it, I decided it was more of a display piece. I need to make myself a letter opener that I am less protective of.

The book contains photos of some amazing works of art, masquerading as very functional knives.

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Fave New Book

I’m loving the book “The Colouring, Bronzing and Patination of Metals” by Richard Hughes and Michael Rowe. (Click on the title to see the book.)
Since I’m more of a “thanks for the suggested starting point” type of person, for the most part I’m using the endless patina recipes in the book as a very nice place to start. Here are a couple of the things I’ve learned….
When you boil sorrel in water to obtain the oxalic acid, and use the water with some of the now sad looking sorrel, you’ll see the copper in this type of blue mess after about a week:

Stay tuned for more photos of what the pieces look like after they’ve been cleaned off.